how I enjoy orchids in my studio workspace

My studio workspace, with open laoptio displaying a color paletter, orchid Dendrobium 'Green Flash,' and a variety of Wraptillion's Small Circle Earrings in various colors hanging on a jewelry stand..

I love having something green and growing in my workspace, and I love growing orchids, with their strange, wonderfully beautiful flowers and traveling air roots. Unfortunately, there isn’t enough light to grow orchids well year-round in my studio. Here’s how I enjoy them during my work day anyway.

Orchid Dendrobium ‘Green Flash’ helped inspire a springtime palette, above, and a little creative photography, below.

Potted green and purple orchid: Dendrobium 'Green Flash' in bloom.
A hand holds a ceramic bud vase with orchid Dendrobium 'Green Flash', wearing Wraptillion's delicate, spiky modern chainmail Wisteria bracelet.
  1. You can enjoy many orchids as cut flowers.

Dendrobium ‘Green Flash’ blooms frequently and prolifically for me, and its small, green and purple flowers last for a few days in a bud vase. I love the pretty-yet-edgy vibe they bring to these jewelry photos for my Wisteria Bracelet (above) and earrings from the Mechanical Garden collection (below.) Styling them was as simple as picking up my vase of studio flowers! (I love having my inspiration right in front of me!)

Dendrobium 'Green Flash' orchid in a small ceramic vase, next to a jewelry stand with earrings from Mechanical Garden collection.
Orchids in green pots on shelves in a vintage Ikea Oort glass indoor greenhouse, next to Bilbergia nutans and a hanging tropical pitcher plant (Nepenthes) in an entryway.

2. You don’t have to grow them where you enjoy them.

I have sunny (for Seattle, anyway!) east- and north-facing windows in my entryway that are great for orchids! They live here most of the time, where I get to enjoy their green leaves and pots in passing (and play spot-the-orchid-spike for upcoming blooms.) They’re joined by a couple of hoyas (below), and a tropical Nepenthes pitcher plant and Bilbergia nutans (above.) But, I don’t spend a lot of time in this spot, so when one comes into bloom, I bring it up to the desk in my studio for a week or so. (Can you spot the blooming Phalaeonopsis and Encyclia mariae here? It would be a shame not to spend time enjoying them closer up, right?)

Six small Ikea Socker greenhouses on wire shelves hold orchids and hoyas.
Wraptillion's Hops Earrings, Laburnum Earrings, Long Fuchsia Earrings, and Short Fuchsia Earrings, on a jewelry stand with orchid Oncidium 'Tsiku Marguerite', a stack of metal boxes, a small Heath bud vase, and two antique flower frogs in a studio.

3. Standard-size pots and a designated spot make it easy to place an orchid that’s blooming.

If I had to clear a different-sized space every time something bloomed, I’d never bother! Most of my orchids are about the same size, and I use these green Ikea cachepots for almost all of them. (The plastic pots inside have drainage holes, the cachepots don’t — so they don’t make a mess everywhere when I water them.) A designated spot on the shelf beside my window is ready for them. (Unfortunately, the window looks straight into my neighbor’s bathroom, so… Yeah. Curtains it is!)

Above and below: Oncidium ‘Tsiku Marguerite’ (one of my favs from the Twinkle family!) shows off its green cachepot, and brings a little life into a jewelry photo.

Wraptillion's Hops Earrings, Laburnum Earrings, Long Fuchsia Earrings, and Short Fuchsia Earrings, on a jewelry stand with orchid Oncidium 'Tsiku Marguerite' in a studio.

I work in my home studio, but commuters going in to the office might appreciate lightweight standard plastic pots that slide neatly into a beautiful (but heavier) cachepot that stays in the office. (Yes, you can still bring your orchids with you — especially if you spot them as they first begin to spike, when they’re shorter and less likely to get a bud knocked off. Treat the pot like a bouquet of flowers — hold it in your lap on the bus, or wedge it securely into place while you drive. And test it first with something less precious, like a Trader Joe’s mini phalaeonopsis, before risking a rare orchid’s first bloom.)

A hand touching a brown and yellow blooming orchid flower stem, wearing Wraptillion's Baseline CXC bracelet.

A mystery orchid (some sort of Miltonopsis, maybe?) and a white Phalaenopsis in the same green pot.

Vignette of a white phalaeonopsis orchid in a green pot with Wraptillion's Laburnum Earrings and the head of a metal snail figuerine.

Most of the time, my orchids give me a beautiful spot to rest my eyes on a computer screen break or during some creative daydreaming. That’s reason enough to bring them in, for me! But they do have other benefits too — like inspiring photo shoots and even new jewelry styles.

Orchid Encyclia mariae (formerly Euchile mariae) blooms on a desk in Wraptillion's studio next to a steel jewelry stand and earrings from Wraptillion's Mechanical Garden collection.

Orchid Encyclia mariae (formerly Euchile mariae) blooms every year for me and turns up in my photos — see the Delicate Botanicals collection and many of the earrings from the Mechanical Garden collection.

Orchid Encyclia mariae (formerly Euchile mariae) blooms on a desk in Wraptillion's studio behind a laptop, next to reading glasses and earrings from Wraptillion's Mechanical Garden collection.

I hope you enjoyed this peek into how I bring a little more life to my workspace! If you’d like to see more, here are more posts about my orchids, and about all of my studio flowers.

Enjoy!

Compiled image of 4 photos featuring Dendrobium 'Green Flash,' Oncidium 'Tsiku Marguerite', and Encyclia mariae in Wraptillion's studio workspace, with indoor plant shelves where the orchids grow.

studio flowers: orchid Encyclia mariae (formerly Euchile mariae)

Orchid Encyclia mariae (formerly Euchile mariae) blooms on a desk in Wraptillion's studio behind a laptop, next to reading glasses and earrings from Wraptillion's Mechanical Garden collection.

Orchid Encyclia mariae (formerly called Euchile mariae) is in bloom again! I brought it into my studio to enjoy, but it’s so distractingly gorgeous I changed my photography plans for the week… Look for new images from my Mechanical Garden collection soon! Shown above: delicate modern dangles (the Short Fuchsia Earrings) and bold modern statement earrings (the Laburnum Earrings). Below: more Mechanical Garden collection earrings.

Orchid Encyclia mariae (formerly Euchile mariae) blooms on a desk in Wraptillion's studio next to a steel jewelry stand and earrings from Wraptillion's Mechanical Garden collection.

see the Mechanical Garden

You’d think I deliberately matched this Ikea cachepot with the green of the orchid flowers, but no — I’d been using them for most of my orchids before I found the Encyclia. (I got mine from Seattle Orchid, and it’s bloomed every year since.)

Closeup of two green and white flowers of orchid Encyclia mariae (formerly known as Euchile mariae), with a green pot behind them.

Orchid care: I grow my Encyclia mariae on my plant shelves in my sunny entryway, with oncidiums like ‘Tsiku Marguerite’ and my tropical Nepenthes pitcher plant vine. (The oncidiums bloom every year too, so I guess I’m doing something right!) See more care info on Seattle Orchid’s page here.

Closeup of two green and white flowers of orchid Encyclia mariae (formerly known as Euchile mariae) dangling over a shelf, with green tree branches and a blue sky behind them.
Two leaves and two green and white flowers of orchid Encyclia mariae (formerly known as Euchile mariae) dangling over a shelf, with green tree branches and a blue sky behind them, growing in a green flowerpot.
A nepenthes pitcher plant hangs over a bromeliad, next to an indoor greenhouse with orchids, including a blooming Encyclia mariae (formerly Euchile mariae).

Here’s last year’s flowers — I caught them as one bloom was fading into yellow.

Orchid Euchile mariae blooming in Wraptillion's studio, next to earrings from Wraptillion's Delicate Botanicals collection.

See more of my studio flowers here!

Just here for the orchids? Find those here!

Compiled image featuring orchid Encyclia mariae (formerly Euchile mariae) blooming in Wraptillion's studio. Text on image reads: studio flowers: Encyclia mariae.

seasonal color palette for spring

My studio workspace, with open laoptio displaying a color paletter, orchid Dendrobium 'Green Flash,' and a variety of Wraptillion's Small Circle Earrings in various colors hanging on a jewelry stand..

The closer we get to spring, the more I’m dreaming of color… Smokey lavender purple, pale icy blue, sage green, dark denim blue… I love my black and gray looks, but I always want a touch more color in spring.

A color palette grid in nine colors: light blue, sage green, light gray, medium blue, golden yellow, medium gray, dark denim blue, smokey lavender purple, black.

So, I’ve added a couple of limited edition seasonal colors to my classic Small Circle Earrings‘ color palette: meet Chartreuse Green and Lavender Purple! (Scroll down in my shop to see them — they’re below the black pair.)

Wraptillion's modern small circle earrings in limited seasonal color chartreuse green.
Wraptillion's modern small circle earrings in limited seasonal color lavender purple.

These new colors won’t stay in stock forever — I need to make room for the next season. So if you love them, check them out now!

Want to be the first to hear about new colors and styles?

PS Just here for my studio flowers? This gorgeous orchid is Dendrobium ‘Green Flash’ — it’s been a reliable bloomer for me for years! I bought mine from Seattle Orchid.

Potted green and purple orchid: Dendrobium 'Green Flash' in bloom.

plant shelves: my orchids & other houseplants

If you’ve been following my studio flowers posts, you might be wondering where my potted orchids and other houseplants live when they’re not blooming in my studio. Here’s a behind-the-scenes look at my living room plant shelves!

These east- and north-facing windows have the best light in my house, and that’s what the orchids I grow need to rebloom well. (Phalaeonopsis live mostly in the north-facing window, and Oncidiums and a few other higher-light types live in the east-facing window — Euchile mariae and Oncidium ‘Tsiku Marguerite’ have appeared in my studio, as well as a small sedum I keep as a houseplant.)

My vining tropical pitcher plant (Nepenthes ventricosa, I think?) hangs in the east window. Hopefully the Queen’s Tears (Bilbergia nutans) will visit the studio when it blooms this winter — the amazing green and blue flowers are some of my favorites! It’s a large bromeliad, and a “passalong plant” — it’s easy to pass an offshoot on to someone else. Mine came from my granddad. He’s been gone for years now, and I think of him whenever it blooms. I love decorating my home with the things (and plants!) that have meaning to me, like that one. It’s a lifelong project, never finished — I’m always editing, always changing things. But it’s so much more satisfying to have my home fit who I am, where I came from, and where I want to go. (Just like my personal style!)

If you enjoyed this glimpse into my secret plant life, you can see more of my behind-the-scenes studio flowers posts here! Don’t forget to bring a little more beauty into your world.

studio flowers: Oncidium ‘Tsiku Marguerite’ + the Hops, Fuchsia, & Laburnum Earrings

studio flowers: Oncidium ‘Tsiku Marguerite’ + the Hops, Fuchsia, & Laburnum Earrings (with a short video from my studio!)

This week’s studio flowers: my Oncidium ‘Tsiku Marguerite’ orchid is blooming! This lovely (and fragrant!) little plant is one of my favorites. It’s a joy to see it burst into bloom as my garden drips into winter. (Mine is from Seattle Orchid.) This vignette made a great backdrop for some photography today, as well as making me happy every time I glance up at it. (Okay, I left the iron flower frogs and the Heath Ceramics bud vase out of the “real” photos — but I love this behind-the-scenes view.)

Here’s a closeup of those tiny flowers! The dark leaf spots are pretty common for oncidiums in colder temperatures, and aren’t something I worry about. (I grow orchids for my own enjoyment, not for show.)

And here’s what I was working on — a quick video to show how the Hops Earrings, Long Fuchsia Earrings, Short Fuchsia Earrings, and Laburnum Earrings move. It’s hard to tell from still photos that they’re articulated and flow like this. (Click the image below to see the video, or click this link.)

Top row, left to right: the Hops Earrings, Long Fuchsia Earrings, Short Fuchsia Earrings

Bottom row: the Laburnum Earrings

Still photos like the one above do show the scale of these earrings really well, though! You can see that the Laburnum Earrings are a longer, more dramatic version of the Hops Earrings, from my Mechanical Garden collection. The Long Fuchsia Earrings and Short Fuchsia Earrings are similar, but on a more delicate, smaller scale — makes sense, since they’re from the Delicate Botanical collection!

Sign up to hear what’s new from Wraptillion!

* indicates required

I hope this week’s studio flowers brought some beauty to your day too! You can see more glimpses of what has bloomed in my studio here.