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Issue 16
The Green Issue
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Floral Foam Vase

How to Create a Natural Setting

Uri Elaim

3.Floral Foam Vase

The soft green foam used in flower arrangements is the most underrated material—it’s cheap, reusable, and readily available at nurseries and hobby shops. Florists prize it for its spongy, water-retaining quality, but as a designer, I like that it can be molded into any shape. When dry, floral foam can be a bit powdery under your sculpting knife, but once you get used to it, you can knock out several of these decorative vases in an afternoon.

$15

ingredients

  • Floral foam
  • Sheet of paper
  • Wax pellets or standard white candles
  • Baking paper
  • Aluminum baking tray

tools

  • Pencil
  • Scissors
  • Toothpicks
  • Long, sharp knife
  • Cookie cutter or jar lid
  • Double boiler
  • Coffee can, slightly flattened to form a spout
  • Aluminum foil

MAKE IT

The Vase

  1. Fold paper lengthwise and, using a pen, draw the outline of half a vase shape along the fold. Cut the paper along your line, and unfold. (You should now have a vase-shaped template.)

  2. Place the template on the foam block, centering and aligning its bottom with that of the block.

  3. Using a toothpick, trace the outline of the vase shape on the foam. Repeat on the opposite face of the block.

  4. Place the foam on your work surface, and carefully cut along the traced shape, keeping the knife as vertical as possible. In hard-to-reach places, cut as closely to the line as you can without crossing it, then turn the foam over and clean it up.

  5. Using the back of the knife and your fingers, smooth out any jagged sections along the edge you just cut until the shape is adequately vaselike.

Detailing and wax finish

  1. Press a pattern into the flat face of your foam. Almost anything can be used; cookie cutters or jar lids work well.

  2. Melt wax pellets or candles in the coffee can (use Step 4 of the instructions for “Twig Torch,” on the following page).

  3. 8. Line your baking tray with aluminum foil, stand the vase upside down in the tray, and pour the wax over the vase quickly, so that it’s completely coated. Now stand it upright on a sheet of baking paper. After five minutes, cut a thin slice off the top to reveal a small area of untreated foam.

  4. Allow the vase to cool for another hour.

  5. Soak your creation in a bowl of water for an hour, then cut some stems and sink them into the unwaxed foam on top. Keep flowers fresh by running water over the top of the vase when the foam is dry to the touch.