50th Birthday Themed Terrarium

After a challenging four days of searching for appropriate plants to use, I finally managed to get hold of a few pots of Sagina subulata (Irish moss), scurpus (Fairy Lights) and Selaginella.

My first intention was to make a female figure in Indonesian traditional clothing but  I know I still have a lot to learn when it comes to my polymer figures so I opted for something more simple, a birthday cake.  Below is the polymer cake I ended up with.  I just winged it free hand, I do not have the right tools at the moment.  It's rudimentary but I don't really want to fuss about it too much.  I'm sticking to my first thoughts; I'm doing this for fun, for therapy; and not to stress about.  Still no decent camera, please excuse the crappy photos.



I wish I had the right tools.  I must practice
more and try to be  more aware of my forms,
shapes and lines

 

top view....

Now the terrarium.  I only used a little bit of selaginella and a third of  a small pot from the Irish moss.  After putting the varnish on the cake decoration (which takes time as I had to wait two hours in between the three coats (sigh, sigh and more sighs), I looked at the jar with just the cake in it, something was missing,  It didn't seem enough to just have a cake plonked in the middle of the jar. 

my working space

So next I made was a bottle of wine or champagne as a 'celebratory symbol'.  When it was done I ended up making a female figure in long gown in the colours that I think she tends to use. 

A cake, a bottle of champagne, a celebrant; it was good  except I realised I've made the cake polymer a bit too big. I had to squeeze all of them in the middle.  I also ended up making a banner (or bunting) to complete the birthday scene.   

from behind

I forgot to impress the letters before baking the buntings
 so I had to use a marker pen before applying varnish

side view showing all four items

top view

Finally done!  It took me three nights to put everything together (because of the time involved in baking and varnishing the clay).  Sad thing is while driving to their place, the bottle tipped to one side and the items and a bit of the soil was moved.  I had to rearrange it before handing it to the celebrant.  It sure is a labour of love when you custom make anything,

I can only hope the recipient can appreciate what went into creating it.  I thought of just buying a bunch of flowers but they are expensive and last only a few days.  A terrarium that will remind her of her awesome 50th birthday party could last much longer...hopefully years (although at this point I know the polymer will not last very long in such a humid environment) 

Everything is purely experimental at this point.  By the way I just received the Stearic and citric acids I ordered to  make my own clay (resembling the air dry Japanese clay I believe is like a porcelain clay) in my efforts to find something more water-resistant than polymer clays.

Anyway to finish this post, I found some see-through wrapper and a pink ribbon from my junks/stash. Voila! My first custom made Terrarium!  I liked it so much I've decided to make my own of my 50th birthday just to keep alive my memories of an awesome evening with family and friends!

ready to be delivered...

We were treated to an  Indonesian culinary feast





My search for moss and other terrarium plants

I had a chance to custom make a terrarium this week for a lady celebrating her 50th birthday.  My greatest challenge was finding moss where we are.  I have tried buying it online but the people I contacted and ordered from (Australian Orchid Nursery) did not even bother to acknowledge / reply to my email (with my order).  No idea why but I might phone them instead to see what the story is. I was hoping to have moss to use for this particular one, big disappointment. 

I was lucky when I first started making my first few bottles to find moss growing in our garden under the palm trees.  I have started growing them in plastic containers but they are of course slow growers.  There's just not enough from the little patch we had.  During summer they actually die down,  only see them during winter.   I have used the lot apart from the ones I am growing in containers.  I'm only learning to propagate them at the moment.

My last alternative was to check one of the very few nurseries in town not hoping to find moss but to find selaginella  and or Irish/Scottish moss at least.  Bunnings and Masters do not have them nor do the other garden centres I have been too.   I decided to try my luck at Calligan's Nursery.  It was raining (our first after winter) but that didn't stop me from checking out the plants at their nursery.  I went around more than twice checking all the rows of plants hoping to find something I could use or hoping that I missed it the first time.  There was none, with my shoulders down I headed out.  But just before I got to the exit, I saw hidden behind taller plants a tray of Irish moss (about six punnets) and a few Scurpus or Fairy Lights. 

Remembering how hard it has been finding the right plants for my terrariums made me take the whole tray.  At the counter I also spotted on one of the vases on display at the store a pot of Selaginella.  The lady said it was their last one and I can have it if I want it.  A bit pricey but I have not seen any in Mackay for the past few months I've been looking. 

This is going to be the challenge for me, finding enough supplies of plants and moss especially.  I often remember  home (New Zealand) and the walk to the little Niagara Falls in Victoria BC, CA where every tree was covered in thick moss.  In contrast, t's just too dry where we are.  The only place I've seen moss around is in one of the running waters at the Botanical garden; unfortunately it's illegal to collect them from there or from any other state forest/parks//wildlife. In this very dry region, it would be almost impossible I presume to find any from privately owned land.  It's a challenge indeed!  But one I hope I can overcome.

Miniature Worlds

I've made a few simple experimental terrariums in the last few weeks.  Last week I had my first one on one 'build your own terrarium' workshop with a lady colleague of mine.  She really enjoyed it, maybe just as much if not more than I did.  It was a nice, relaxed afternoon with plenty of chatting and laughing in between.  She took home two of her first terrariums; a closed and an open terrarium.  She sent me a photo of her open terrarium after she's added an ornament she had at her home.

I  experimented on available plants I can use in my creations.  While doing so I came across a few miniature gardens in pots and was captivated by the broken pot projects that are plastered all over You Tube.  I like the idea of creating a scene, a story; something that means something to me.  So I channelled the ideas I have for my closed terrariums and used them to create my first three broken pot projects.

I had to buy new pots and then break them, sounds stupid but I learnt that the Italian made pots are better or stronger.  I want my miniature world to last, I believe it's worth getting a new pot plus I'm sure it is clean.  I never bothered to research how to break them to get the shape I want.  I had to glue or put grout in the bigger pot as it broke way further than I wanted it to break.  I think I've learnt a bit about breaking pots now, I know I'll do a better job next time.  I must say they are a pleasure to look at.  By the way, watching my mother's way of gardening all those years I helped her in her garden, I have become one of those gardeners who talk to their plants, they do respond very well!

The broken pots are really like mini-worlds, I just love them.  I am currently on the look out for a bigger pot I could use; only this time I am hoping to find a give-away one rather than buy a new one.  Good quality pots can be a bit pricey and I wouldn't have the heart to break a new big and expensive pot.  So keeping my fingers crossed.   

Below are a few shots I took while making my first broken pot mini-world.

Step1:   Breaking the pot, as you can see I made a mess out of it.  It was never my intention to break the pot halfway but I had no idea how to do it.  It just doesn't give you a good base/foundation when you only have half of the base.

Step 2.  So I had to sit it on something to create a full base...glad I found one sitting around...I used a premium potting mix for my planting medium and a few pebbles at the bottom to help with drainage.











Step 3.  Before I started planting, I wanted to use an ornament so I took a few of the dead flower branches from our golden cane palms and created a hut or log cabin.  My first hot glue gun job for a very long time, I couldn't control the amount of glue coming out.   Either I didn't have enough lighting to see what I was doing or it's simply the fact that I'm almost half blind and working under a dull light didn't help.

Step 4.  I chose a few little plants from the garden and small ferns from the garden centre and planted them where I wanted them to go

 

Step 5:  The end product; my first mini-world.  Looking back I realize now that I should have glued the base to the pot.

Moss would have made this mini-world look more lush and it should be achievable  but being an open mini-garden, moss would require too much time in trying to establish it.  I have plants dying each time I have to go away for a few days simply because there's no one reliable enough to water them.  Hence the reason I thought terrariums are the way to go as they can go without care for long period of time.  But I just fell in loved with the broken pots and  I know with a bit of consideration of the types of plants I use, they too can do without much care if left for a few days.