I’d like to introduce you to someone.  Someone who is a little bit of a diva.

Meet Rose.

That’s what she is called.  And boy…was this girl…err…this vase a real B.

So the whole start to Rose was that I saw some face vases and I really wanted one.  In fact, my late grandmother had one in her bathroom and it held her makeup brushes and I was obsessed with it.  It was dainty and girly and sweet and everything I wanted to be….and wasn’t.  I was small but so are hand grenades.

I saw a tutorial by The House That Lars Built where she made a vase with a foam head and paper mache and I thought….how perfect!  I want one!  Except I want mine to feel like a piece of pottery so I thought, I’ll just use clay and it will be a piece of cake.

I started off with some Crayola Air Dry clay (Hobby Lobby at 50% off was $3) and a foam head (I got it in the florist department at Michaels and at 40% off, it was under $4) and a short wide mouth vase from the dollar store.

First I started with the placement of the vase.

I pushed the vase down till it made an indention in the skull and I could see where to cut the opening.  (most morbid sentence ever!)  Then I went a little Ben Carson on it (get it, he’s a brain surgeon?!)…

After some digging and scraping and lots of cutting, it still didn’t fit.  Rose wasn’t happy.  Rose might have been offended.

Weston didn’t know what was happening but he LOVED the styrofoam.  He kept saying “Wow mommy!  That’s Big Mess!”

Once I got the vase to nestle down into the head, I started on putting the clay on the outside of the head.  I thought at this point we were in the clear.  But Jack knew…..Rose never lets go.

Isn’t it great all clayed up?  It looks very much like a solid piece of pottery.

To smooth things out, I added a little water to my hands and was able to smooth out the clay till Rose had a sweet little expression.  She and I had a little Ghost moment together.

Then I put some plastic wrap around her and set her away to dry.  Apparently you don’t need to leave Rose alone in a room or stop paying attention to her because that is when she will lose it.  I know that the majority of times clay will crack due to drying too fast (hence the plastic wrap) but dude….

Jeremy was like “I guess you won’t be doing that vase” and I was all like z-snapping and taking off my earrings.  I wasn’t about to let Rose get away so easily.  That’s when I decided to go big or go home.  I lathered her up with spackle…the pink kind that dries white and is sandable.

The crazy part is….I liked her even more with the dried spackle….makes her look like plaster….which is so fun and romantic.  Here she is as she was drying (you can still see some pink lines)….

I did end up sanding her down by hand with 220 grit and I was very careful because I didn’t know if any other clay bits would break but it was SOOOOOO worth it.  Isn’t she a doll?!

I just popped that glass vase inside the opening (it comes in and out easily for cleaning) and some blooms from the Farmer’s Choice from Bouqs.com.

I might consider painting her.  I don’t know.  I love her though….even if she was a Titanic of a pain in my rear end.  I think she really is a gem 🙂  Which is why she now lives in my office where the boys can not smash her to pieces.  You know.  Like a giant iceberg.

Looking for more vase inspiration?  Check out these past posts!