On the drawing board...

These photos show my beginning attempts to make a lidded serving vessel via slabs of clay. Over the holidays I realized I didn't have any nice lidded serving ware to set on the table. The metal pot I'd cooked the dish in wasn't very handsome.

The top photo shows first attempt at modifying another form I make. The lid needed a flange on the inside to secure it on the pot. This pot has modest lump handles on the side that were an afterthought, so wasn't too happy with them. The first rolled handles looked clunky and the extra time it took to make handles more incorporated with the pot was too much.

In the second attempt I made a shape that should be fairly easy to pick up without true handles. I draped the slab lid into the pot to get a nice custom shape and left more 'overhang'. I'm hoping that the overhang will grip the shape of the vessel enough to forego a pesky flange on the inside. Wet, it fit snug enough without feeling like it was going to slide off. After the greenware drying stage it still fits nicely. We'll see how it goes after bisque firing. And, I'll have to make a couple more to get them a little less clunky. You can see I couldn't cut a straight line on this one.