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florida_joshua

In need of some opinions

18 years ago

So this is kinda related to the kitchen. . . I love making stuff, so I'm always taking scrap pieces of soapstone and making different things to either give away as gifts and such. My newest creation is kinda different and I wanted to get everyone's opinion on it.

It's like a chip and dip tray. . . or whatever you want to put on it.

{{!gwi}}

{{!gwi}}

{{!gwi}}

It's not perfect, nor was it created to be. I call it my artisan tray. . .lol. . .

Let me know what you think. . . good and bad, or even some idea's that I may not have thought of.

Comments (15)

  • 18 years ago

    Very nice!

  • 18 years ago

    Well for chips I would want the sides higher and the dip bigger. It would make a nice Saga cheese patter with some london garlic rounds and a dip of baked apples with some dates and a spickle of brandy. Lots of uses and very pretty, really useful if the sides were a tad higher to hold in the goods. and dip holder larger for less restock. I would proubly use it for my famous nacho dip with hot peppers in the small bowl as long as it seved six.

  • 18 years ago

    I like it :) But I agree it's not really a chips thing. I also was thinking cheese. In fact, a block of cheese on the small size, crackers on the large side, and some kind of timbale or relish in the cup. Very pretty. And I really like the rustic, rounded look.

  • 18 years ago

    How heavy is this creation? Will weight be a problem?

  • 18 years ago

    Salsa in the little bowl and a basket full of tortilla chips on it and I am good to go.
    Or a freshly baked bread with whipped butter in the little bowl.
    or a stack of flour tortillas warmed in the oven on the soapstone with a lovely towel over them to prevent drying out. salsa in the little bowl. You need to make matching bowls for cheese etc. I really like it.
    Nicely done. Sue

  • 18 years ago

    That is fabulous, Joshua! I need one! :)

    I love the idea of the indented slab with the bowl to fit. That alone would be wonderfully useful in any size--bake a hot dip in the bowl and have a ready-made trivet to hold it.

    I can't wait for my soapstone counters. Your work is amazing.

  • 18 years ago

    Very nice. I like it a lot. (Stupid question... is soapstone foodsafe as far as holding dip, etc?)

  • 18 years ago

    I was thinking the same thing about the sides needing to be a little higher but definitely could see using it for other things--fruit, cheese, veggies. I like it and love the idea of having different useful things made from soapstone. We're not at the stage of fabricating and have several large sample pieces of soapstone. After reading on here about the wonderful property of things defrosting faster, we started using one large piece just for defrosting--works great! One day we were out antiquing and came across one of the old bedwarmers made from soapstone for $2--they didn't know what it was. It's about 8"X6" and we have it sitting on the counter and use it all the time. Family noticed and asked about it. After explaining, each have left with a soapstone sample (not as large as our bedwarmer) and all are happy. When we have the counters fabricated, I want to have the sink cutout cut down into a large trivet size to give to give to the family to replace their samples.

  • 18 years ago

    Love it! and agree it would work best for veggies, crackers and dip due to depth. Oh and for another project a larger version of the bowl for baked dips or set of 4 for chili/soup bowls?

  • 18 years ago

    Soapstone is food safe, There are companies that make cookware out of soapstone. I think the only downfall to the cookware is it can get heavy, I didn't think of it as a problem but the wife let me know real quick that these pots are heeeaaavvvvyyy. But they have alot of benifits as well.

    I was right in the ball game with the higher sides. My problem is I only use the scrap slabs, meaning I only have 1 1/4 inches to work with. I could seam pieces together but I think it would look cheap. I did make a whole bunch of stuff for fun to go with this idea. Some were direct copy's of other's work and some my wife and I kinda came up with. The sizes can def be worked on, but then again scrap is scrap, and I just pick a piece and work with it.

    The bed warmer I just made for a customer in NY. Shipped it out for christmas, funny how I couldn't imagine a bed warmer in FL. . .lol. . .hey if you know who's getting it don't say anything. . lol

    The bed warmer is right on but the other stuff I like to make odd shaped and not perfect, I think it's more fun to add some personality to it so every piece is a little different.

    {{!gwi}}

    {{!gwi}}

    {{!gwi}}

    The last is a wine rack with the julia stone on it. . . Made this as our outdoor kitchen display. The base is all aluminum, with the wine rack part out of the crate material the soapstone came in. . . which happens to be mahogony.

    Thanks for the comments, I'll be sure to remember all the comments on my fun projects in the future.

  • 18 years ago

    Hi Florida Joshua, love your wine rack! I have an idea, for higher sides you could layer the 1 1/4 different colors of soap stone. It would not look cheap at all....it would look like expensive usable art. And, you could put a little nitch on the top layer to keep the serving spoon, fork or other in place so it dosent fall in the goodies.

  • 18 years ago

    Wow - those things are great. Love, love, love the wine cart.

    I've spent that last several weeks trying to decide what to put on our table to hold our salt and pepper grinders, hand cream, oil and vinegar, and other table necessities. Originally I was thinking of a soapstone lazy susan, but don't really want the tall oil bottle spinning. Then I got the idea of an old knife box. Found on that was perfect, but it was sold before I figured out that it was. However the most ideal thing would be something like a soapstone "knife box" with a divider in the middle to separate the oily drippy things from the salt and pepper. If you're ever motivated to make something like that, you've got a taker.

  • 18 years ago

    ejr2005, send me a pic or drawing of what you want, you've just gotta wait until I have some free time to tinker with it. . . in other words you'll have to be patient. This kind of stuff is more a labor of love as it takes more time to make it then it's worth. . . lol. . but I'll give it a shot.

  • 18 years ago

    I was thinking more about your dip/tray and suddenly realized that it could be chilled or heated accordingly. Even if chips would fall off, bread chunks, crackers, veggies or fruit would be fine.

  • 18 years ago

    Cool - I have to hook up my repaired computer and then I'll try to send you some pics.