French Butter Keeper or Butter Bulb (TM) with holes

Whenever I make one of my French butter dishes, (I call mine Butter Bulb (tm) because of their butter chamber shape) large enough to hold 2 sticks of butter, I like to include the holes in the flange that dips into the water below. The idea being that the holes allow the water to enter the butter chamber and keep it closer to the butter, thus less air to spoil the butter. This can also help to reduce suction when pulling the top out.

I really love these little gems. It took me a long time to come up with a French butter jar design that I found appealing and these are the result. The big dots on top I call happy dots. I sell them at my Etsy online shop.

2009 June Tacoma sculpture set up

We installed our sculpture yesterday at Gallery 301, in Tacoma, WA.
In this pic I've got wall faces and baby kings. Those are baby kings crawling down the wall and more sitting on the pedestal. In total there are 20 baby kings. All can sit or hang.
I've got the South and East walls and managed to snap a pic before we closed up for the night.
We open again this Saturday , June 20th, 2009, Noon-4pm.

2009 Sculpture Exhibitions, June and July

July 7th-August 4th, 2009
Sculpture by Barbara Dunshee. Painting by Cathie Joy Young.
Opening Party during Second Saturday Ballard Art Walk, July 11th.

Annie's Art and Frame
2212 NW Market Street
Seattle, Washington 98107
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June 2009:
Begetting Times Two
New artwork by Barbara Dunshee and Jennevieve Schlemmer

Two days only-
Opening Reception: Third Thursday June 18th: 5:30-8:30pm
Last chance for a view: Saturday June 20th: Noon-4pm.

Gallery 301
301 Puyallup Ave.
Tacoma, WA 98421

Carved French Butter Dishes -I call mine Butter Bulbs (TM)

My simple French Butter Dishes continue to entertain me. I do call mine Butter Bulbs (TM) because of their butter chamber shape.
I've taken to carving into the soft clay during the trimming on the wheel. I'm experimenting with designs that play particularly well with my current glazes. Of course, as the French butter dishes get more refined the walls become thinner and the challenge is to get enough glaze on the piece itself. These are the times I wish I had a glaze spray booth! The water content of the glaze becomes less of an issue when spraying. When dipping into a bucket of wet glaze, the water needs to escape into the clay body. The thinner the piece, the less capacity it has for taking on that water. I've seen blisters form in the glaze coating as the water backs out, finding it has no place to go. Once the glaze has finally dried I can de-air those blisters and not end up with glaze faults. But if I miss one blister, it will "crawl"(pull away to bare clay during firing) and the piece becomes a "second". Not something a potter wants, especially with complicated lidded pieces with elaborate carving. But I love the thin walls because the pieces are lightweight. They also fit nicely in your hand and have plenty of room for butter! They're available through my etsy shop.

December 2008 Snow in Seattle

We seem to have some other city's snow. This is not Seattle snow. I'd like to borrow it for just a little bit longer.



This is a night shot, camera on tripod, slow exposure.



Next morning.

My pottery on Etsy.com

My Online Catalog of Pottery:

New postcards and business cards!

UPS delivered my new postcards and biz cards today.
Plaid Tractor Design created them.
Aren't they gorgeous?!