It seems such a long time since I was last in Japan, and in longing to be back wandering through pristine perfect gardens, I thought the best option was to create a floral design as my way of transporting myself to a place that holds fond memories.
I remember vividly the sights of magnificent lofty butterfly hydrangeas that seems to float high above the other blooms and as for the white phalaenopsis orchids, I’m still trying to work out how they are able to grow them to such perfection.
The other thing I enjoyed was watching the artisans crafting beautiful ceramic bowls, plates and vases. All exquisite but way way beyond my traveller’s budget. I still have regrets I didn’t bite the bullet and just buy the one I liked, but as they say regrets are a wasted emotion. When there is a will there is always a way. Thank goodness for the oriental printed paper napkins I kept from that trip, because they came in very handy for the decoupaged vase I quickly crafted up to display this very simple elegant design.
The container started life as a tall slender glass vase, which as mentioned above, I decoupaged. However, when I placed the flowers, the proportions weren’t right and I felt it needed a bit more height and bulk to off-site the visual weight of the flowers. To fix the problem, I simply found a small cube of thick wood which I sanded down, glued to the base of the vase and decoupaged to tie everything together. All up the total cost of the vase came in under $20.00 and because the initial vase came complete with a lid, when not being used to display flowers, I have a gorgeous stand-alone piece to admire. In being honest, the vase I wanted was many hundreds of dollars and I doubt this would have survived the trip home. All in all, I’m satisfied with my solution!
Things to gather:
- I used 5 blue butterfly hydrangeas
- 4 pieces of phalaenopsis foliage
- 5 stems of miniature white phalaenopsis
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