Unequal

I'm going to cheat on the current Alphabet challenge and present a project that I've done a while ago. But first, I'd like to present you the challenge theme for this fortnight, which is "Unequal". Show us something big and something small on your creation and you'll be eligible to play along.

I spent the first days of the new year at home and have attempted to bring a bit of order into my apartment, maning I haven't done any major crafting recently. I did prepare for some upcoming challenges, but I just couldn't come up with something unequal. In the end, I decided to bring in this flower pot which I've decorated ages ago using napkin decoupage. 

I'm not sure whether you can tell, but it's a rather large pot and probably the biggest crafting project I've done so far. The backstory to my piece of art is that I once had the brilliant idea of growing my own ginger. The idea didn't come overnight, but in form of a forgotten ginger root that began to sprout on my kitchen counter. I thought why not give it a try and began exploring my options. Starting with a small sized flower box, I soon had to realize that I'd need a bigger pot since ginger roots grow rather horizontally. 

And boy did I go big. Once I brought the grey monstrosity home, I began to think of ways to make it look presentable. Since I didn't want to hand-paint it using acryllic paint, I bought a couple of spray paints. After all, that's what you see being used for almost every upcycle/recycle/alteration over at YouTube. However, I soon realized that my cans won't do. I'm not sure whether it was some kind of "expectation vs. reality" thing, but they seemed to be empty after covering only a small portion of the container, and I made quite a few visits to the crafting store buying can after can until I added enough layers to turn the grey surface white. 

Once that was done, I took the weirdest napkin from my stash: a thing with huge roses alongside with smaller blooms in between. I fussy cut them by a wet brush to tear the napkin apart, and placed them onto the pot using every single bloom there was. I placed the roses first as they'd take up most of the space, and later worked my way around them by distributing the smaller pieces. I managed to create a tear here and there, and there are a couple of wrinkles, too, but overall the decoupage was the easier part here. I tried to document the process in the best way possible, but did I mention that the pot was really huge?

In the end, I placed a layer of grey felt underneath the container to make sure it wouldn't scratch the floor while being moved around.

Then, I filled the pot with soil, placed the ginger root inside and waited for the result. 

Was it successful? The greenery grew quite well in the beginning, but the leaves began to turn brown after some time. I guess I've been too eager with watering since the main root rotted away, but I managed to harvest 2-3 smaller bulbs of new growth. I wouldn't call it a success as such, but it sure was an interesting experience and I might try again one day by being more careful with the plant care. However, I learned that ginger leafs spread the most beautiful fragrance when they grow - and it intensifies when you gently touch them. 

challenges: 

- 613 avenue create: ATG 
- a bit more time to craft: ATG
- a place to start: ATG

- allsorts challengeblog: ATG

- classicdesignchallenge: ATG DT 

- crafty calendar: ATG
- crafty catz: ATG

- creative moments: ATG

- everybody art: ATG

- intaas: ATG but a card
- kreativtanten: ATG but a card

- love to craft: ATG

- through the craftroom door: ATG

- wortartwednesday: ATG