Handmade Studio Pottery Swimmer Dish in Blue Crackle Glass

A handmade studio pottery swimmer dish in blue crackle glass. A tiny swimmer in a bright red cap is doing the front crawl across this handmade dish, arms outstretched, leaving a swirl of ripples behind. The water is made from fused glass, melted into the clay in the kiln so it pools and cracks into a shimmering mosaic of cobalt, sky blue and turquoise, fading to sea green at one end. It looks for all the world like the view from a diving board on a summer morning.

The dish has been shaped by hand into a loose, organic oval, with a raised rim pressed with a honeycomb texture and glazed in warm toffee brown, like the stone edge of an old lido or a rock pool at low tide. The glass sits deep and glossy, catching the light and crazing into fine crackle lines as it cooled, which is exactly the effect the potter was after. There is no maker's mark on the unglazed base, but every inch shows the hand of someone who loves the water.

It measures 20cm long, 13cm wide and 2.5cm high. It is in good condition, with the natural crackle in the glass all part of its charm.

We think it is a perfect talking point. Use it on a bathroom shelf for soap or jewellery, on a hall table to catch keys, or on a desk for paper clips and odds and ends. Better still, give it to the wild swimmer in your life, the friend who braves the sea on New Year's Day, or the regular at your local lido. Since the glass is fused and crackled, we would keep this one for decorative use rather than food.