It's become kind of a fad in this
region, but it's really not much
different than what my folks
did for years on holidays,
without the nod to europeans.
My folks have always made up
a plate ( usually) with assorted
things like are used on the new
to many wood trays.
It's always been referred to as
the pickle tray or relish tray.
The folks ( fairly) recently started
using a dedicated decorative
large platter or plate or tray
since just before my generation.
When my folks were young, they
didn't have the spare cash for
any specialized tableware.
Much of the same foods featured
though- different pickled vegetables,
slices of different cheeses, sausages,
etc. etc.
Some years back ( around the 70's)
my granny had come up with an
elaborately decorated platter with
painted grapes and grapevines and
olives and ears of corn etc. and the
relish tray was served on that.
A relative that stayed mostly impaired
thought the painted olives were
real, and repeatedly tried to stab a
couple with a fork until everybody
was silent and staring at the spectacle
of him jabbing at the plate at nothing
Interesting to hear your comments, Ranger... I bet there were some red faces, as folks watched somebody poke at the painted olives..
As I mentioned earlier..the boards my grandson produces, do command a high price..but there are some folks who want things that are very
interesting and one-of-a-kind, and reflects their own interests..
THe original mold he uses has a handle form as part of trhe original...but he had one where the handle broke off.... and you can see that with the
acrylics, the costly burl wood and the inbedded material, there was already much invested.. So what to do?
That is when he decided to Forge a custom handle, such as he made for cutting boards, when he was working in my smithy, before I turned the smithy over to him.
Now, with a hand forged handle...all the more assurance it will be one-of-a-kind..