What Does it Take to Make a Good Pitcher?

Over the years I've been potting, I've made a large collection of clumsy pitchers. That's not hard. Making a good one, on the other hand... What I'd like is to make pitchers that functin well, for holding, carrying, pouring, and that are elegant as well. Setting out to improve, I'm using Lark Books' 500 Pitchers as a text. It's a 10 year old book, but new to me, and inspiring.

The clumsy ones:

It works, but. Rather shapeless, neither round nor tall. The handle actually works better set low like this one, than in many more usual positions, but doesn't look good. There are tradeoffs to be made, between function and looks here.

Oof, it's heavy, the neck makes no visual sense, the handle goes too far from the body of the pot for good balance in pouring, the spout leans out too far for it to look balanced.

Better. The spout is still out of proportion, the handle visually too big.

This one works, but looks like a mix of unrelated parts. So that's needed too  --all the parts relate, in shape and proportion. If it were taller, I think it would look better. There are lovely round pitchers, but I think they are usually more successful long and lean.

Much better, except for a tippy picture. Look at it with the table edge horizontal. (Can't fix it, the pitcher is long since sold. ) It's the long neck that makes it work.

But this one doesn't. Not a clearly defined neck. Not a clearly defined shape. It functions well.

Ah, yes, here we go. Perhaps the handle is still too wide, the balance is a bit off.

This version looks less good, I think, but works better.  That handle still is far from the pot. I'm not at all clear why it functions better. This is a hard question to answer: what does it take to make a good pitcher?

Here are the ones I'm trying now. Most pitchers that look good to me, in  500 Pitchers, have handles that come off the rim. I'm not sure that works, but we'll see.

This is by far the best proprtioned round one I've made.

 There's a wonderful old-fashioned shape called a Rebecca pitcher, with a handle that swings way up above the pot. I wonder how that balances.

Conclusions? First: it's hard. Second, there aren't as many parts as a teapot has, but pitchers have the same aesthetic problem: how he parts relate to make a unified whole. Third, handles are a problem, with visual success pretty different from functional success. Fourth? More learning to come, for sure. This is fun.