Blue Herringbone Chip and Dip Platter

Description

Bluer Than Blue --Michael Johnson
Kind Of Blue --Miles Davis
For You Blue --The Beatles

This is my new(ish) blue glaze. It's a matte to eggshell surface. The liner for the small bowl is a deeper cobalt blue. I like interior contrast like that. It adds depth to the piece -- even in a small bowl like this.

The straight lines are raised -- slip trailed straight across the plate. The wavy lines are brushed in with wax and the glaze is a double layer. The rim of the plate has a fine line trimmed into it for added detail and distinction. It's a simple thing, but it frames the piece in an important way.

Function is the key to why I make these plates the way I make ‘em. For instance, I note (and am sometimes asked about this) that other potters make these plates (chip and dips, whatever you call ‘em) with the bowl permanently attached.

Oh, I’ve seen some really great, really creative ones – ones with farm or sea animals depicted with their cute li’l faces for the bowl, or flowerdy (I know that “flowerdy” is a word because I heard it on the Andy Griffith Show) bowls stuck atop foliage-like plates, or even plates like starry night skies with bowls like shiny UFOs flying through them. Okay, I made that last one up. But someone oughta do THAT one – “To boldly go where no dip has gone before……aboard the StarChip Enterprise”

I choose to make my Chip/Dip/Salsa/Veggie platters with the bowl un-attached. I do it for the following reasons:

1. It broadens the function. Rather than being just one piece with a narrow assignment, the two pieces can be used separately. The platter can be a platter to serve anything (I keep the bowl’s “target rim” very low so that the bottom of the platter is virtually flat). And the bowl can be used as a bowl.

2. It stores more easily. Imagine trying to stack or lean or otherwise make a platter with attached bowl fit into your cabinet. Done imagining? …tough one, innit?

3. You can microwave whatever’s in the bowl (cheese dip, etc) without disturbing what’s on the platter.

See? I’ve thought this thing out.

Thanks for looking at my pottery. As with all my pots, shipping is included in the listed price.

Added on Aug 22, 2009