Reserved for Larry: LV-4377 California Wild Lilac Hand Turned Vase, Hollow Form-RARE

This is a nice, small vase made out of California Wild Lilac (Ceanothus thrysiflorus). Also known as Blue Blossom, this drought tolerant native shrub is a popular landscaping species. While chaparoning a field trip with my 3rd grader, I learned that the American Indian used the flower of this tree as soap: put a small amount of the dried flower in your palm, wet it a bit with water, then rub your hands together and the concoction foams up into a fine lather! Will send you a small bag of dried flower with the vessel's purchase so you can try it out. The hard, heavy wood, however, is not often utilized for woodwork because these trees grow in a knobby, contorted way, and the wood split badly while drying. My luck again when my next door neighbor cleaned out their back slope and threw away a few very old specimens, only the portions closest to the root are large enough for turning. The resulting small vessell contains everything typical of this timber: knots, burly grow, mineral stain, ba