White Ironstone Tureen

white ironstone tureen with flowers
As you may know, I have had a lifelong love affair with flowers. I’m not a trained florist nor do I have a green thumb, and honestly most flowers don’t grow well here where I live because it’s too scorching hot and humid most of the time. But I do love them and make them part of my weekly grocery run, skimping on other things perhaps a little or buying what’s on sale. Like most of you I do work with a budget too. So when I found something for $1 this weekend…

antique white ironstone
at a yard sale I did not hesitate for a second to scoop it up. It had a price tag of $10 on it but was marked down, I guess because I got to the sale late and there were no takers yet. I’ve been looking for an antique or vintage ironstone compote or tureen for a long time now but they are often too pricey for me. For a buck and with broken off handles this tattered treasure suited me just fine, as I wanted to use it for floral arranging…
floral arranging
Here’s what I had to work with this week, with some left from last week and some fresh…
how to cut floral foam and reuse it
I glued the handles back on and they don’t look great, as the pieces are chipped up perhaps from a previous attempt at attaching. No worries, I’d be covering them up anyway with my arrangement hanging over…
I cut some floral foam to fit the tureen and soaked it with water. I buy mine from Amazon in a bulk pack…{affiliate link}
Tip…use a serrated knife to cut foam, which works like a dream. I reuse my floral foam from time to time, hence the holes. Just dry your floral foam in the sun between uses to recycle…
floral arranging diy in a soup tureen

I start arranging from the front part first, then build up the center to be higher and taper down the sides. After filling with my flowers I add in fresh greenery. If I have none on hand that came with the flowers then I go outside and cut some…

collecting flowers to create a floral arrangement

Working with magnolia leaves adds a gloss to any arrangement. Since I live in the south, I can find them year round… See the crack on top of the tureen? Probably another reason that no one wanted to pay $10, plus the ladle is not original to the piece and a modern replacement:~}}

how to make a flower arrangement in a compote

This arrangement should keep for the week before I head out of town later on for another trip. If some of the older flowers start to lose their petals or turn brown I’ll just pull them out and replace them with a few extras from this week’s market run…

floral arrangement with antique white ironstone
how to arrange flowers in a soup tureen
You can see that I shaped some of the magnolia leaves downward to cover the cracked handles.

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7 Comments

  1. So beautiful Janet and glad you rescued that wonderful tureen….My obsession with flowers led me to take a floral design class…I so enjoyed it…I need to get back to actually making arrangements rather than sticking a dozen roses or assorted flowers in a vase…yes, flowers should be a staple like bread and milk!…

  2. I have one very similar but no lid or ladle. Been looking for one to use for soup with lid and Ladd. Beautiful arrangement.

  3. Absolutely gorgeous arrangement in your new tureen! Love the tips on arranging with floral foam too. I'm always so intimidated by the foam but I must try it… 🙂 Oh, and I nominated you!

  4. Botanic Bleu says:

    Beautiful arrangement that is enhanced by the white footed tureen… No one will notice the glued handles hiding beneath gorgeous flowers and greenery.

    Best wishes with the BHG Blogger Awards nominations.

    Judith

  5. Bonjour chère amie,

    Une belle manière aussi de donner une chance à cette soupière… Le rendu est magnifique. Une très belle composition florale.

    Gros bisous ♡

  6. DD's Cottage says:

    Beautiful and i love using tureens for flowers too!