Savage Garden Preparation

I hinted at a future for the glass case I brought home over a month ago, and over the last few days I was afforded a chance to get in to prepping it for its future as the home of my carnivorous plant garden!

The first thing, learned from a beautiful glass-and-basemetal dodecahedron purchased at Urban Outfitters, was to coat EVERY seam and between the glass edges with silicone. Otherwise the moisture will creep in and cause rust and leaching. I had a BEAUTIFUL D&D themed terrarium complete with miniatures in aheated battle, mindflayer and minion vs. undaunted adventurers.... Like seriously, there was a halfling in there. But because of the rust and leaching, every plant died a horrible death and the metal became VERY rusty. I want to try to clean it up and redo it, but that'll have to wait until after the move.
To that end, silicone went down EVERYWHERE. I mean it. Including places that were not glass or metal in the case.

I squeezed the silicone tube so much and so often I actually bruised my fingertip. But the expenditure of time and energy was worth it, as I am 99% sure there will be no rusting or leaching this time and my plants will liiiiiive!

I left that to dry and cure overnight, then tackled the next issue... The base was just base metal and there was no way I was spreading silicone over that much open space. We already had on hand some spray paint for outdoor metal, so that was drafted to help waterproof the base.

 First paper was taped to the glass to keep the spray paint from coating it. I used washi tape to fix it to the glass so there wouldn't be residue to have to wipe off the glass afterward.

This really has nothing to do with the project, it's just really adorable and I love using it for washi tape instead of regular.

Office supply snail is ready for your washi tape needs!

Then there was nothing to do but do the painting. I took it outside and sprayed away! It was dark so the pictures aren't great, but you get the idea.

It'll be drying outside overnight. And in the morning if there aren't any fumes, I can start prepping the soil mix and drainage field for the terrarium. I'm really excited that this is coming together so fast!

Creativity Roundup

Recently I acquired an Ott Light for my birthday, in order to work on painting and drawing in the evenings after my daughter has gone to bed. She's wide awake during the good sunshine, so I never get to use that. Thus, it's been a life saver.
I've started taking one hour every evening to mess around with watercolors in an attempt to try new styles and improve my skillset. I paint with a travel watercolor set on postcard-sized watercolor paper in an attempt to do something quick and make the most of a limited pallet. So far it's been really fun and really re-awakened my creativity! I'm going to expand this in the future to include other things I love, like Zentangles, inkwashes, acrylics... heck, even some oils once everything is back out of storage!
So far, this is what I've managed with my time in the evenings. Each was done in one night, and yeah, it probably shows.

On top of this, though, I have a crazy yen for terrariums. I had one when I was little, lots of ferns and small plants collected in the woods out back of our house and stored in an empty coke bottle... this was back when the base was made from a dark, solid plastic and you could cut the clear part off, fill the bottom with dirt, then nestle the clear top back over it. I loved that thing dearly. I don't remember exactly what became of it, but seeing as I don't recall having it much longer than a summer, I'm guessing something happened and it didn't survive.
To this day I still want to put plants in to small, protected spaces and arrange them like they're miniature worlds. Worlds that I really want to put plastic dinosaurs and maybe an ugly faerie or two in to. (Pretty faeries get all the press). So today, realizing I had a hen-and-chicks plant going crazy with offshoots out on my back porch, I decided to make a very tiny one.

That little chick in the middle is actually the size of a nickel, and the jar is a very small jelly jar snagged for a dollar at a craft store. I already had al of the other things on hand to create it. I really like how adorable and simple it is.
In the future I'm planning on making a Savage Garden terrarium with carnivorous plants, as it's something I've been wanting to do for, oh, YEARS now. And I'm feeling super earthmother-y at the moment, probably due to incoming baby and spring. I'll do a step-by-step of that when it happens. This one was so fun, I just rushed through and finished it without taking any "how to" photos.
That's all that we've been doing around here so far this week, but there should be more to come!