A Mossy Terrarium

The woodlands of New England are delightful in the spring! A recent trek through Rhode Island's Snake Den Park yielded no snakes but plentiful moss... I couldn't resist collecting a very modest sampling of little mosses to bring back to the workshop and install within an old glass laboratory culture flask. I hadn't ever tried to grow anything in a terrarium, so I did a bit of research and ended up committing to the following installation procedure as outlined by Willi Galloway of eHow:

Step 1
Use a moisture-retentive, poor potting mix for the moss. Moss need high moisture levels and also require a poor, low-nutrient environment. To grow moss in a terrarium, mix one part regular potting mix with one part sand and one part clay.

Step 2
Fill the bottom of the terrarium with 1 inch of the potting mix. Moss has a very narrow root system because it typically grows on rocks and wood.

Step 3
Plant the moss in the terrarium. Add a few rocks and pieces of wood for decoration. In addition to being decorative, the rocks and wood increase the humidity inside the terrarium. Eventually, the moss will grow to cover the wood and rocks.

Step 4
Place a lid on the terrarium. Keep the lid on at all times. It should only be removed to water the moss.

Step 5
Keep the moss consistently moist. There must not be standing water in the terrarium, but moss grows best when the potting mix stays moist. Water by misting the moss several times a week. If the potting mix is getting dry in between waterings, increase your misting frequency.

Step 6
Put the terrarium in bright but indirect sunlight. Outside, moss needs a shaded area. Inside, moss grows best in bright light. However, direct sunlight causes the temperature inside the terrarium to be too high, so place the terrarium behind a transparent curtain or at least several feet away from a bright window.

Step 7
Be patient. Moss grows slowly. It will eventually grow to fill the terrarium, but this may take a year or more.

I deviated from the instructions only in my choice of soil: I had scooped up some soil from around where the moss was growing, as I thought my moss might feel comfortable growing on the same substrate it occupied in the forest, though I worked it through a mesh sieve before funneling it into the flask to filter out the larger leaves and pine needles. All of the mosses plumped up and became very green indeed within a few hours of the transplant-- I do hope things continue to thrive!



There is a little glass snail in there by glass artist Beth Lipman. I also added some turquoise crushed glass, but sort of wish I hadn't-- I think I preferred it being all green! Anyway... should you like to have some colored, crushed glass on hand I do recommend American Specialty Glass, as I have used them often and find that they have a very good selection.

If you are interested in terrariums at all, you must have a look at some created by Manhattan artist Paula Hayes. Here are a few photos... definitely go to her site for more!





It just occurs to me that Paula's terrariums aren't capped up as the instructions I followed said to do... I do think more research is in order, and I am reluctant to cap up my terrarium now... It makes more sense to me to leave it open so there is some exchange of air, as the forest from whence the mosses originated was certainly very airy!

Loose Ends

Im very much looking forward to a visit from my Mom next week, so im putting all of my effort into tying up loose ends on some of the various craft projects that have been stacking up around the house. You may recall this earlier photo of butterflies in a round frame with nice convex glass that I picked up at a thrift store:



Well, butterflies are awfully popular lately, and someone probably would have flipped for this item just as it is, but Im not too into those orange and brown butterfly varieties, and the gold frame really didnt have any place in my current decor, so I freshened it up with some nice creme colored paint, and converted it into a display for a piece from my fossil collection that had been hidden away in a box for ages. Which version do you prefer?

Beaded Peyote Rattle..... Done!

I finally finished up the beadwork on the gourd rattle! It turned out fairly well, although Im not wild about the middle portion of beadwork (with the little white feathers going around) as the bead count going around was slightly off and that caused the pattern to not repeat evenly, but naturally I am inclined to notice every little flaw! I would also like to have worked more green beads into the design... perhaps I will revise it at some point. For the time being anyhow it will live quite happily next to the beaded Peyote prayer fan in its protective plexiglas case. Below is an installation view, and an unrelated view below that... a portion of my "sea curios" grouping that I just love looking at!





More posts to follow soon-ish! Thank You for visiting!

Beaded Curios

I've been putting an awful lot of time into finishing up the wax anatomical heart models and designing their packaging, but I have snuck in a little beading here and there. I finished up one segment (of 3) of 3-drop peyote stitch beadwork on my little gourd rattle! It is not perfect (nothing I do ever is!) but it is bright and happy and I very much enjoy looking at it, and that is what counts!



Ive also been finding cheap glass domes like crazy at the thrift store. I do enjoy painting the bases and putting curios inside!

Apologies...

Oh Dear, here I am apologizing again! I've just been awfully busy working on these wax anatomical heart models. I've also been putting some effort into posting more of my hospitalmuseum collections up for folks to look at, and Im hoping that the few of you who check in on FinderMaker from time to time only to be disappointed by the lack of updates might take a moment to jump over to the hospitalmuseum blog for a more up-to-date dose of what Ive been up to. The hospitalmuseum needs your support!

Oh! Im also delighted to have received these:



My new, custom made Donelson boots, originally produced by the M.C. Dizer Shoe Company of Weymouth, MA in the 1860's, and reproduced using the old methods and antique tools by Robert Serio of Missouri Boot and Shoe. They fit like a glove! Thankyou, Robert!

At Long Last!!!

A New Post!!! Warmest Salutations, Gentle Reader! Jack Frost has certainly had his way with our windowpanes, but our nest inside has remained mercifully cozy; a welcome respite from the cold, harsh winterworld outside. I fear I must have greatly disappointed my most faithful readers, of whom there are but a precious handful, I know, by failing to keep you apprised of my various creative pursuits. I am sorry to have been neglectful, but can assert in my defense that I have been keeping awfully busy, even if it has been at the expense of regular FinderMaker updates. Ah but now, where to begin? First, I must reveal that I have been been fully entrenched in an exhibit installation project at the venerable Brown University for the past 3 weeks straight (no, not my artwork, but someday...) and so have been very much thusly occupied to the exclusion of nearly all else. Second, the projects I have been working on at home have not seemed suitably aligned with the original FinderMaker concept of "finding things and making them into other, better things" so I have been struggling with the problem of staying true to that original concept (and posting only infrequently) or loosening things up a bit and posting more frequently on whatever I might happen to be working on. I haven't really decided yet, but I shall now place before you several weeks worth of sundries and curios-in-the-making if only to purge my own mind for the time being...



So, it is friday, and I am quite satisfied to have reached my personal goal of having produced five sellable wax anatomical hearts before the week was up. I originally made a few of these several years ago, as an adjunct to my obsessive interest in the wax anatomical collections of the Museo La Specola (see some Flickr images here). Recently, whilst unpacking one of a great number of crates containing pieces from my collection of antique medical implements, I had happened upon my old heart mold, and determined that I should set up a little temporary ceroplasty studio once again. This isnt a particularly stylish photo, but here are the basics of the operation as they are currently laid out:



The process of creating a wax anatomical model is delicate and arduous, and though I was certain I'd be capable of picking up the tools and creating another masterpiece immediately, in fact I created many "duds" before regaining my confidence and competence in the process. Layer upon thin, translucent layer of lighty pigmented melted wax (several types) are brushed into the mold to create the appearance of muscle, fat, and veinous tissue. Tiny, wax-dipped threads are also embedded within the layers to mimic the appearance of capillaries. The five keepers that I produced and photographed are not quite completed yet, they still require a bit of detailing and cleaning up, followed by several layers of shellac, which will deepen the colors and add a rich, flesh-like glisten to the surface. Eventually they will be mounted on plaques and put up for sale in the gift shop of my online hospital museum! Now that I have the knack of it, I hope to produce 2 a day until I am quite unable to tolerate the process any longer!

Next, I've also done a bit of scrimshaw, and hope to do very much more very soon. The following became a bookmark for my dad:



My lack of drawing skill has hampered my progress in the scrimshaw department, i'm afraid. I suppose I draw passably, but I practice so rarely that I generally feel a tad intimidated sitting before an old piece of ivory contemplating the mess I am likely to make of any scene I'd hope to permanently scribe thereon. The little harpoon turned out well enough, though, and I think I may try a few more rather soon-ish.

The few of you who know me well may know that I am quite nuts for Native American artifacts, and very much enjoy engaging in my own Native American crafts projects from time to time. The following is an authentic Cheyenne-Arapaho ceremonial Peyote fan purchased in Clinton, OK during our cross country relocation from Los Angeles to Providence:





Some 10 or so years ago I applied peyote stitch beadwork around the stem of a peace pipe I had made a few years earlier:



After procuring the peyote fan, I determined that my collection would be sorely lacking if I did not add an example of the requisite peyote gourd rattle. Alas, although the fan was purchased from among some dusty relics at a roadside curio shop for a very reasonable sum, I was unsuccessful in locating a similarly low priced gourd rattle that was as well crafted as the fan, so I turned to an online Native American crafts supply retailer and purchased a kit which supplies the necessary components for the production of ones very own gourd rattle. Mind you, this kit is basically supplies only... some skill is required to drill, carve, whittle, glue, stitch, etc. your way to a completed artifact, but I think it is well worth the price, and I have ended up with quite a nice rattle. I have yet to add the colored feather fluff to the top bit and then stitch the white buckskin over that, but once I have, It will be ready for the addition of beadwork (beads aren't included). I have assembled a nice collection of #12 czech seed beads, and am nearly ready to jump into this new peyote stitch beadwork project!



And then there is this:



An unbuilt 1960's model of the whaler Charles W. Morgan which is just begging to be built and incorporated into a diorama... I'll keep you updated!

And finally:



A top secret and proprietary project involving some of the hundreds of old national geographic magazines that were very generously passed along to me from the excellent Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology
which had been in operation for many many years in lovely Bristol, RI but is currently closed and undergoing the overwhelming process of cataloging and packing its collections for a move to Providence sometime in the (probably rather distant) future.

If I didn't have so many projects to occupy me, I would surely be going quite crazy with anticipation, for I have finally gotten around to tackling the rather complex process of ordering a pair of custom made, period (circa 1860) boots from Missouri Boot and Shoe



The arrival of these beauties will herald the completion of a fine period outfit which, when donned, will immerse me ever more completely in a time which now exists only in books and fading photographs...

Thanks ever so much for stopping by... I'll try not to let so much time pass until the next posting!

Mushroom Shelves

I just finished up a nice batch of 12 new mushroom shelves (above)! I had first seen tree fungus (Ganoderma species, usually) used as curio shelves several years ago in John Derian's shop in Manhattan. A glimpse at a price tag ($140-$350 each) confirmed that while those shelves were way beyond my means financially, the possibility of making my own was definitely within my means creatively! It looks like he is still stocking them:



And people of means are buying them. Actress (turned decorator!) Julianne Moore purchased a big one to put in a bedroom she decorated for her stylist (photo by Paul Costello via Domino):



I spent a good bit of time figuring out just how to preserve and mount the hanging hardware on them, and eventually got the formula just right! Bugs love these mushrooms, and if they aren't treated correctly, they are invariably claimed by beatles that reduce them to pith and dust in very little time. A carved wood mushroom shelf is also available through several retailers:



But they are still on the expensive side (around $80 each) and I dont think they look quite as good as natural mushrooms. I've photographed each step that goes into making mushroom shelves, and at some point I will put it all together and post it for you!