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