After
Before The tulips only lasted for a week.
They look rather sad today just like the weather.
I thought I'd share the results of
the pinching-experiment. The pinched tulips seem to stay straighter to me (on the left of the vase) but perhaps it's just the shape of the vase that's doing that.
Kim mentioned in the comments that they will not grow so long if you pinch 'em as by pinching you break a cell inside so the stem can't strech and grow, so the tulip will not grown much higher. She said that you can also use a sharp knife instead of a needle but to me that doesn't comply with delicate flowers and I'd feel like a flower butcher! LOL
Loddelina said not to put 'em in much water so I followed her advise too and chucked most of the water out and phew, had to watch carefully every day so that they wouldn't be without any.
And
Shellsea provided another great trick which I tried out right away. She mentioned an easier method for both making the tulips strand up straight and open slower is to put a couple of pennies in the vase. I think I like this method best as it's hassle free and no stabbing is involved.
Thanks so much for all the tips & tricks to keep 'em longer.
I love tulips but for my studio I prefer lilies or roses as usually they still look good after a week.
*writes down 'flowers' on the shopping list*
I sanded it.
Then I put a few coats of white acrylic paint. After all was dry, I applied a transparant glaze. 
The magnets contrast really well with the white background.
And of course, all the magnets go in the tin. 
Such little effort! Don't you love recycling?
As a kid, I used to pick flowers for my mom in the fields. Exactly as the taller ones in the little vase. I'd go out of my way to get to them, creep under the barb wire of the pastures filled with cows and gallivant the way back home to proudly hand over a tiny withered bouquet of flowers. When I saw these flowers the past weekend on a walk, I just couldn't resist! And they smell so lovely.
Ceramics is such a lenghty process. You never get to see the end result on one day. After the making the stuff needs to dry. Then it needs to be fired and if you want some color, it needs to be glazed and fired again to get the end result. There is a lot of patience involved in what I do. *sigh* 
After
And my co-worker told me that when you pinch a needle right below the flowerhead, the tulips won't open up so fast.
Worth a try but I don't know if it works, anybody heard about this before?
I did half of them with the needle and half of them are left unpinched so I'll probably know in a few days...
Today, one of my tutorials is published on Poppytalk Handmade. It's all about how to make wax decorations: for gifttags, as flowerpotholders or even a garland.
And if you haven't seen my new postcards yet, hop over here and leave a comment, you might win some! ;)
