As part of the celebration of my wife’s fiftieth birthday, our family went in together, and got a Groupon from a company called “Seize the Clay”. This is a shop where you pick out and then paint or glaze a piece of pottery. They call this bisque pottery—bisque is pottery after the first of two firings. I am confident these are not handmade pieces of pottery. One of the pieces I chose had “Made in China” stamped on the bottom. After you pick out your pottery, you decide how you are going to paint or glaze it. Once you are through painting or glazing your pottery, you take it to the counter, pay for it, and leave it for the second firing. This second firing brings out the colors in the paints and glazes, and seals the piece for use. We painted our pieces on Saturday and they were ready to pick-up the following Wednesday. When we got to the store, I wandered around looking at all the plates, platters, bowls, cookie jars, figurines, and pottery shaped like pieces of fruit. I spotted a gravy boat. It had an oval shape, and looked to be about 4-inches wide, 7-inches long lip to handle, and about 3-inces deep at the center. This was my “Made in China” piece. I kept wandering around looking for something else. I was looking for something that might sit inside my gravy boat, making a homemade scuttle. I looked at the bowls. They were too round and would not nestle inside my gravy boat. I kept looking and looking and looking… I wandered over to the more decorative pieces of pottery. Then I spotted what looked like an oval shaped bowl. At the top, it was about 4.5-inches wide, 5.5-inces long, and 2.5-inches deep. It was oval with steeply slanted sides. I set it down into the gravy boat and, eureka, the birth of my homemade scuttle was going to happen. I think the design of my decorative piece looked like a cut and hollowed out watermelon. It had leaves around the outside, and teardrop bumps or raised spots, seeds, inside the bowl. Woohoo, I was one happy camper! I found a couple of example tiles with three glaze colors on each tile. These two tiles also shared one color. I picked out the five glazes; both pieces would share one glaze. I used one set of three on the boat and the second set of three on my makeshift lather bowl. Attached are some pictures of my homemade, handmade (or should I say at least hand painted) scuttle. I have used my new scuttle for about a week and it works great; I love hot lather!
Nice pottery and a neat idea. I've done something similar with two metal bowls, but that wasn't anywheres near as nice...
I have been using my "Gravy Scuttle" for about a week now. I use the hottest water I can get from the tap and it successfully keeps my lather warm 30 minutes. This is more than enough time for me to get in a 3-pass shave with touch-ups.
I think I've settled on a combination of your suggestion and the one I created. I have officially christened my scuttle the "Gravy Boat Scuttle"!
