Artmind Tutorial: Moss Terrarium + Giveaway



Mitsy from Artmind has another lovely little tutorial to share with us today, a sweet moss terrarium! Living here in the Pacific Northwest we have so much moss we literally can just walk outside and scrape it off the driveway, a terrarium-maker's dream. I love terrariums and having tried to make one this past fall, I remember it being a bit tough to find instructions. Mitsy makes it super easy and super cute with her ceramic singing birds she added to hers. Psssst! She'll be giving away a set over at her blog today! Here is the how-to:
Supplies:
Glass jar with a lid , soil, charcoal, pebbles, moss, decoration



Your glass jar needs a lid because the lid is what keeps the humidity in and that's a neccesity for moss to thrive on. Fill it with pebbles. Since your terrarium doesn't have any drainage, you have to add the pebbles so that the roots aren't stilling in water.



Then add some charcoal. You can use activated charcoal which is carbon that has been treated with oxygen to open up hundreds of thousands of pores inside of it. Since it is very absorbent, activated charcoal is able to filter out and absorb chemicals such as chlorine from drinking water. You can buy activated charcoal in a garden center. Since I didn't have any at home, I used some charcoal from our wood fire pit. My terrarium is still alive after 2 months.



Then add the soil. Make sure it's moist.



Then add the moss. Push it down gently to the soil and give it a bit of water from your mist bottle.



Wipe the inside glass with a paper towel. If you like, place little decorative items in jar. I used a set of singing birds but it can be anything that you love: little plastic figures, mushrooms, a ceramic cottage, a tiny gnome...



Put the lid on it and put it in a spot where it will get indirect sunlight. In case that the glass fogs up, take off the lid to let it dry out a little bit. Make sure you don't overwater your terrarium. Just check on it every 2 weeks. The soil has to be moist.



I'll be giving a set of singing birds away in my blog. So hop over there & leave a comment in the post. And perhaps check out some other tutorials on my blog!

Jan Halvarson

22 comments:

ZenCrafter said...

Great tutorial! My mom, who made great huge terrariums in the 70s, would get such a kick out of the renewed interest in them!

Amy Marshall said...

I wish I had moss that pretty growing around here! I love Mitsy's tutos, she makes them so easy to follow & great pics. The singing birds are sooo cute!

Clare B said...

Such cute little birds, and a perfect bit of green for my office perhaps.

Katie said...

I have wanted to make my own terrarium for ages. Thanks for this wonderful tutorial. Heading over to her blog to check out more of her how-tos.

*Evelyn* said...

Fantastic tutorial as always !!
Cute birds too.....

Kim van Waardenburg said...

nice tutorial!!

Tara... said...

oh wow - what cute little birds :) perfect little addition.

gr8jewellery said...

Great tutorial .... the birds are just perfect!

Arzu Musa said...

What a great tutorial... Thank you so much for sharing..

I bijoux dello Stregatto said...

Oh beautiful!! I'd like to have the day of 72 hours to try all these wonderful tutorials!

Ana Gonzalez said...

I love this tutorial. The birds are very fun. Thank you

E said...

I can't believe the snail crawling around on the edge. How charming can this be?

I'm going over to win me some birds :)

Laura said...

This is so cool! Thanks for the tutorial!

Unknown said...

Thanks so much for posting this tutorial. What a a great (and incredibly cute) idea!

Sandy said...

thank you soo much for sharing this DIY! it is really expensive to buy one of these but i have been eyeing them b/c they are soo super cute!!

isabella whitney said...

great tutorial. i've been meaning to make one of these for awhile now! :)

plaisirs simples said...

oh this is so cute!! what a great gift!

Pesky Cat Designs said...

Mitsy is just so talented! What a cool terrarium!

Fleur said...

So cool! Definitely going to make some!

Periay said...

I love bird.

Unknown said...

What a great idea!
Instant favorite.

Anonymous said...

I made terrariums in the 70's as a teenager. It was fun and the renewed interest is fabulous. Great site and great article. Thank you. Miss Gladys