Monday, August 12, 2019

The Making of My “Homemade Air Plant Terrariums”


Hello,  Darlings

Today I will explain the mystery of why I posted the story The Meanest Man Who Ever Lived (An American Folktale). In spite of what some less imaginative people may have thought, my reason for posting the story was and remain purest and of the godliest of reasons. I, as the title of the post states, am making a couple of homemade terrariums in the hope of saving my air plants. My hope is that in partially enclosing them in the jars it will stop the extreme dryness of the plants caused by the two large circulating fans in the living room that blow air on them twenty-four hours a day, every day.

As for the folktale, I posted it because I concur with the unknown author that Spanish moss is an invasive plant. I, like many people,  think of it as a parasitic plant that slowly but surely will suck the life of the trees that they cling to for support. Now I am also aware of the Southern charm the plant so gracefully inspires as it hangs on to the trees, and that it is not seen by some people as a pest. However, like the Widow tree, Spanish moss has inspired many folktales of both the romantic and of the dark and haunting kind.  Therefore, as for this story, The Meanest Man Who Ever Lived (An American Folktale)  it relates to the plants negative far-reaching and eventual cost.

Well, that is enough on the nature of Spanish moss and my personal thoughts about it. The fans in the living room help the cool air circulate from the AC unit. This is a good thing. However, the downside is that the constant cool air on my air plants dries them out to the point that they quickly dry out, fall apart, and die, which is a shame because the plants are so beautiful.

Below are my supplies I am using to make the terrariums, and luckily I already had many of the items on hand, which were leftovers from other DIY homemade projects.
  • Two large glass jars. Jars that once held pickles; to be set on homemade platforms. I might glue the jars to the platforms to prevent them from rolling on to the floor and breaking. 
  • Two pieces of flat wood to make  the bottoms for the platforms;  leftovers from the wood I use to replace the broken glass shelves of the china chest. 
  • Eight small dowels, to be glued to the platforms to create supports and to hold the jars in place 
  • Several river rocks which are leftover from when I was into fish keeping. I now use them under planters to help with the drainage of water, and now this project.
  • One can of green paint for painting the wooden platforms and the dowels after gluing them together. 
  • One can of clear semi-gloss paint.  To give the river rocks a polish look.



          So there you have it, my latest project and the reason for the folktale, which I must admit is not all that pleasant of a read, and which is a totally unflattering truth about Spanish moss. However, it was something I just stumbled upon as I was looking for uses for it.



The jars and some of the other supplies on hand


Spanish Moss, hopefully creeper free


Air plants; not glue to driftwood


The river rocks
I will post more photos of my progress with the terrariums as I go along.


Until next time,

     Chow, Darlings!