A single blossom in an ikebana vase. Always easy… always striking! A small pin frog inside to hold the stem, a bit of water… and voila’ you’ve got a beautiful centerpiece. Sure, you can also insert several flower stems… but no need for the full over-the-top lavish bouquet to make a floral statement. Plenty of ikebana vases coming to ART IN THE GARDEN this weekend!!!

So my textured slab vases are all assembled, now with three small holes in the tops. How cute would it be to have a single flower stem in each of those holes???… enter Cory McCrory for some whimsical & colorful “additions” for this ART IN THE GARDEN collaboration!

And now back to the collaboration that I’m working on with my pal Cory McCrory for ART IN THE GARDEN. I started with some stamped & textured slabs… and now assembling them into “box” vases… adding tops & closing them up!

Apparently a BIG yellow flower needs a special stamped & soda-fired vase of its own!!! Thanks for sharing this beauty Rosene!

Looks like Ashley is giving her new tulipiere a little test run at home! Sure, they may not be tulips?… but this flower arrangement looks AMAZING!!! I love when a pottery “challenge” in class comes together and something beautiful like is the result. Nicely done Ashley… we love it!

Tonight in my Intermediate Wheelthrowing class, we finished off the session by sharing some finished vases. They had asked for a class “challenge”… and I gave them a TULIPIERES!!! During the session, several of them tackled building their own tulipiere vases! Clara went for three sections stacked with a mini vase on top! Christine made one piece with a beautiful blue & red glaze. Ashley combined her wheelthrown oval bases with extruded tubes. And I provided the fake tulips… I thought that was the most I could do!!!

So here’s a few more pictures of Clara’s tulipiere…

And here’s a few more picturs of Chritine’s tulipiere…

Plus, a few more shots of Ashley’s tulipiere…

We had a couple more who were tackling the tulipiere challenge… but ran into kiln issues and they weren’t quite done in time for class tonight!

Looks like my friend Rhonda is brightening her weekend with a beautiful floral arrangement in one of my stamped & soda-fired square vases! Those yellow calla lilies look great in there! Thanks for sharing Rhonda… it’s always great to see your work “living” in someone else’s home!

Looks like Sally is loving her new square vase… stamped & soda-fired... and the daisies are loving it there too! Thanks for sharing your flowers all the way from Wisconsin!

Another art fair… another bouquet of flowers.
Nothing shows off a stamped & soda-fired wall pocket vase better than a bundle of beautiful flowers! A nice mix of colors & textures from the Northern Illinois Pottery Tour!

A beautiful bi-colored iris bloom from my garden enjoying some time in a handmade ikebana vase! Homegrown & handmade… the perfect combo!