Imitation Anthropologie Organic Vases for Less

Kelly Condie Thompson
by Kelly Condie Thompson
7 Materials
$10
5 Hours
Medium
I love how almost whimsical the vases are on the Anthropologie website and how the most interesting plants find their way into those vases. So, I decided to invent a couple of my own - for less. Anyone can do this. You just have to have imagination. We all have that, right?
I started out my project with two bottles of barbeque sauce that was made from the bees that we rent to pollinate our farms here in Florida. We rent the bees, the bees pollinate our trees, the bees make honey, the bee keeper makes barbeque sauce out of the honey and gives us some. Sweet deal, huh? And, it's yummy! Anyway, we had company a little while back and I made ribs with the barbeque sauce. I just love the shape of interesting bottles, so I decided to take the top off of the bottle and then use the bottle for decoration. You'll have to check out my other post about "Playing with Glass" for more instructions on how I can get the top to come off without breaking and then I sand it smooth enough to drink out of. It is then safe to use for a vase or whatever.
These bottles had a double lip to them, They had a tiny ring around the top where the bottle slopped back in to meet the lid, then they had a little bit of a stretched out neck and THEN the other ring which was meant to separate the bottle from threaded part where the lid went on. I broke off the threaded part and tried to save as much of the neck as I could. I then used my wonderful craft glue - quick grip - and started below the second ring to cover up the ring (you can see a tiny little bump where the string expanded over it) and then went on to cover up the rest of the neck. It made for a cool top to the bottle without compromising the pretty curves of the rest of the glass. The string that I wound around the neck was just a soft hemp twine that went smoothly around the bottle and laid nicely against itself.
Then I glued 4 interesting buttons onto the bottles. I chose to glue them onto the seams of the bottles to help my spacing. I used my special glue again, but I really wanted them to be secure, so I taped them to bottle and let them set a few hours to make sure the glue would get a good hold. I removed the tape and was ready for my next step.
These next two steps were the fun part - deciding what I wanted the string to do to connect the buttons. The first part was just a simple wrap around the top and bottom buttons, to connect them and make a foundation for the next part. I wanted it to look a little bit like Macrame without me having to tie all the knots. I know. I know. Wimping out... But, I think you'll like the end result.
I simply threaded the string through the two up and down foundation strings to make a little latticework on the sides. It went back and forth and ended in knots secured with glue. But, it looks way more complicated that it actually was. Now to dress up the bottles.
I had some glass stones that were clear and beige colored and when the light hit them just right, it light would play off the glass stones inside the bottles to make it look like there were actually lights IN THE BOTTLES ALREADY. It was a happy accident.
And, to finish off the bottles, I got some whimsical leaves in autumn colors, one sprig of yellow flowers to make the vases pop with color and a few other neutral sticks and twigs that were interesting and of course whimsical. There you have it. Low cost Anthropologie decor for your home that YOU can make, too. For Less!
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  • Dilaila Dilaila on Aug 21, 2019

    Can I please explain the knots again or show a short video, it looks really cool but I can't figure out where you started it ended lol

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