Is this the ugliest style vase in the world?

     
And on a lighter note- one of those posts that lingered in my drafts folder.

 I saw this style vase a few years back on another floral blog and  thought it was  a one off. My mind conjured  a vision of someone sitting in their potter's studio playing around with clay, squeezing the clay around one finger, than the next, the next.... Remove and squeeze together. . Make a little base so that it stands up. Wa La! The finger vase is born. Maybe giggle. Play is the mother of invention, but to be honest, I thought it was  really awkward looking. There couldn't be more than one of those in the world??

A few weeks back I was at an estate sale, like one of the best sales I've ever stumbled upon; appreciating antiques, art and things well made. There, I found a variation on that odd little vase and began digging around online. Had I had been a time traveler, or just more hip and current on all trends, I would have known right away that the little finger style- multi- finger vase had many brothers and sisters. It is a style of vase that has slipped in and out of favor, at least since the Tulip Wars beginning in the 16th century corvallistoday.com/Europe/dutch_belgium/bruegelboys.htm. These finger vases conveniently offer a  designated parking space for individual flowers and in the case of certain Dutch versions, called the Tulipiere, a place for bulbs. 

So here's the one I found and have been playing around with. It would have been easy to obscure the tubes with plant matter, but I wanted to keep them visible.