Wedding Blog

I’ve had this centerpiece idea in mind for a while, but I couldn’t get MOH-Ho to picture it right to save my life! Last night we finally got together and did a small version mock-up (the real one will have 5 vases instead of 3). We spent some quality time bringing my vision to life:

The purple circles invites I made for MOH-Ho’s wedding was my original inspiration for these. Though they did not turn out to have much resemblance, I think they still fit together quite nicely. My expectations for these were similar to that for my own centerpieces - affordable, not wasteful, easy to set up, unique, incorporates florals… plus, the added top criteria of making MOH-Ho happy. I think I got checks on each of these.

Here’s how it was done:

1. Gather supplies:

• Various sizes of metal cans and small glass jars right out the recycling bin (labels removed and thoroughly cleaned, of course)
• All the same stuff from my thread LED tealight cover project, except for the thread and tealight
• Yarn

2. Read my post on the thread LED tealight cover because the instructions are basically the same, replacing the tea light with the can, and yarn with the thread. Wrap the can with some sort of thick paper or thin cardboard (look for something to recycle, like my used manila envelope here) and tape the end to make a cylinder.

3. Wrap cylinder with a plastic liner (here I used a flattened shipping air pillow)

4. Wrap yarn around the cylinder loosely and pull the can out of the cylinder. Make sure the yarn coverage goes beyond the height of the can.

5. Saturate yarn with fabric stiffener of your choice.

6. Dry the yarn according to the instructions given on the stiffener’s bottle. Mine calls for the microwave.

7. Once dried, remove the paper/cardboard and plastic wrap (like in the other project). Then pull the yarn cylinder over the can.

8. Put a fun texture item of complementary color in the glass jar which will become the base. Seal tightly with lid, smother top of cap with glue, then glue to bottom of the yarn-covered can.

9. Let dry, and you’ve got yourself a funky little vase!

10. Repeat steps above with cans and jars of different shapes and sizes, along with similar color yarn of various shades. Complement with other fun textured filler in the jars (here are Sugar in the Raw, dried split peas, and coffee beans).

You can fill the set of vases with different flowers of the same color…

… or fill them all with the same stems!

The real centerpiece will have a total of 5 vases, using 2 additional shades of purple yarn along with 2 other texture bases (rice and breadcrumbs). We’ll also use 5 different white filler flowers. I’ve said before that single bloom arrangements have great advantages, and the simplicity and cost savings works out perfectly with this centerpiece!

There will be a table number display to complete the centerpiece, but that’s a project all on its own. The chosen texture bases actually share a significance in the couple’s relationship, but I’ll have to save that for the table number post. So… more to come!