Water lilies indoors
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I've been reading about growing small water lilies indoors in large bowls. I have a glass bowl coming that's over 12 inches wide and 7 to 8 inches deep. Lotus flowers are another option, and are somewhat similar.
Has anyone seen this done before? There are some examples online, but the descriptions are a bit lacking in the ones I have found so far. I'm going to give it a go with some soil intended for water plants, and some fertilizer for water flowers.
Any tips from examples you've seen will be fun to try.
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Success is measured by your discipline and inner peace. – Mike Ditka
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@Catseye3 said in Water lilies indoors:
@brenda "I'm going to give it a go with some soil intended for water plants, and some fertilizer for water flowers."
It's about time you got off your duff and adopted a hobby instead of lazing around the house all day doing nothing.
LOL Yes, I need one more set of plants to tend. I already have plants in almost every room, but these are calling to me. I know why, too. My next rug design, 'De Morgan's Marsh' is what I'm calling it, includes water lilies. If you like antique tiles, look up William De Morgan tiles. Here are some examples:
He does far more than just animals. His work is also more than just tiles, and includes fine pottery of many types and functions.
Before I transfer the pattern to the linen backing, I think I will add some more of his birds. Looking at them now was a good review of his other water birds. Maybe more of his flowers, too, ones that fit the marsh theme.
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Success is measured by your discipline and inner peace. – Mike Ditka
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@Catseye3 said in Water lilies indoors:
@brenda Love that art! Please show it here when you're done.
Maybe a compatible mix of his art and a same-only-different selection of water lilies without animals?
This one is a 3'x5' rug pattern, and there's still lots of room for some water birds. I'll see what appeals, and whether it adds to the piece or doesn't. The water lilies for this design are in the central medallion and the interior border, with an outer border of oversized cattails. There are two hares peeking through acanthus leaf foliage of the William Morris style, and the stork and frog duo make an appearance on each end of the rug among the foliage. This is a floor rug, so it has matching images on each end and each long side. Wall rugs tend to have a definite top and bottom orientation, while floor rugs are usually meant to be viewed from all sides.
You are correct that the water lily theme could stand alone for an entire rug, too. I can see that becoming a runner for a hallway. I've been mulling over a hallway rug plan, and that would be a fun one to explore. Thank you!
I'm mixing the William De Morgan and William Morris ideas, because they are of the same era, and the men were friends as well as business associates. Morris was primarily into fabrics and wallpapers, while De Morgan was mostly into pottery and tiles. They both had other uses of their works, but they seldom crossed over to the other's dominant field.
De Morgan gets top billing for this rug with his distinct animals, although many Morris works include hares, other animals, and birds, too. Perhaps the runner should be more Morris-ish, with water lilies, but I've only seen his yellow lilies that are not water plants. I'll look again for water lily themes in his work, although that's a real 'rabbit hole' activity for me. Once I get started searching through De Morgan and Morris images, it can be hours before I resurface.
Of course, for water lilies, Monet beckons, and that's yet another rabbit hole. Now you know why it takes me a while to design a rug. Since I will be spending a year or more hooking it, I had better love the design, which requires some serious time in creating it.
BTW, for creating my own personal designs, not ones for commercial use, there is no worry about copyrights, especially with design elements that have become ubiquitous in art, such as the Morris acanthus leaves. Even though I don't copy the designs of others, I certainly get inspiration and design concepts from them, so I have asked permisson to use work from living artists, or from estates of writers whose words I want to incorporate into a design. No one has ever said no, but there was an estate representative who said I could use a quote in my design, but it could never be shown in prints, photographs, or in any way in public. I thought that was odd, but not a problem. I made the rug to use up a boatload of scraps, so I had no plans to show it anyway. I've never had a 'show' of my projects other than the pics here.
