First I had to get some good glassware. The Dollar Tree is a source, but you're going to pay $1 each for some not-very-good quality glass there. Thrift stores like Value Village (Savers) or St. Vincent's can actually be quite pricey for vases and goblets and such. The best place to go for good cheap glassware is definitely "the bins," Goodwill Outlet stores where you pay per pound for most stuff. We have quite a few good ones in our area, and the nearest one sells glass for $0.33 a pound. My daughters and I went hunting and got 8 good glass pieces, a very nice cane, an ugly doll, and a couple of pieces of clothing for just under $6.00. The bins can be frightening, icky, and a little dangerous (don't get in the way of either the employees bringing new stuff in or the people wearing gloves waiting for that new stuff), but go give them a try! It's kind of like treasure hunting at the dump (anybody remember that experience?).
Lowe's was where I went for the pebbles and dried moss. I did some hunting online, and dried moss can cost you an arm and a leg if you're not careful. I got a really packed bag at Lowe's for around $7.00. It's going to be good for at least 30 of these things, though, so it does qualify as cheap. It wasn't the right season to get good bags of pebbles, but we did get a nice bag of "Western Sunset" rocks for under $5.00, also going to be good for at least 30 moss gardens.
Live moss is prohibitively expensive online, so I looked up harvesting tips and had a good laugh. The people who wrote the articles obviously do not live in the Pacific Northwest! There was a lot of talk about protecting the ecosystem and making sure not to damage the surrounding flora. I went outside my back door and used a metal spatula to take some off the concrete wall along our walkway.
After washing my first container and a handful of pebbles (I put them in a tupperware and swished them around and drained, repeating until they were mostly clean), I gathered all the ingredients in my sun room, including a good size bowl for soaking the dry moss. After I finished this project, I realized that I put in far too many rocks. The tutorial says to use about an inch, but I think I doubled that! It still worked out, but I will be more careful in the future.
Using gloves, I ripped off and soaked a small handful of the dried moss in my bowl and it took no time at all to get squishy. A spoon turned out to be the best way to drain it and put it into the container. I did make sure to cover the rocks well, as it says in the tutorial. You do not want the layer of dirt to get in there. The moss left lots of little pieces behind on the glass, but that was easily cleaned up with a paper towel.
Luckily I have some very nice soil in my garden and just used that for the dirt layer, saving even more money. I put too much dirt in, I think, as well as rocks, but it came out alright in the end. Next time, I will definitely err on the side of caution.
The fresh moss was v
ery easy to work with. Using a wooden skewer, I poked it down and fit it over the dirt nicely. I attempted to "make a hill for interest" like the tutorial said, using the dry moss and dirt layers, but it came out pretty level anyway probably due to my overexuberant poking. It also said to use different types of moss, so I had gathered two kinds from the wall and used them side by side. I used a somewhat flat moss next to a bushy one, and that worked well, but I'm looking forward to using the velvety kind next time. A couple of leftover washed rocks added some contrast and also shaped the moss some.In the tutorial, it says to add miniatures, to look for them in thrift shops and such, and I think that's a good idea. We hadn't come across any good ones in our bin excursion, though, so I used a broken keychain of "Nayanko-Sensei" from "Natsume's Book of Friends" that one of my daughters had lying around, but I'm looking forward to creating our own little people and creatures. Our oldest son and his family came for a visit last week, and they spent some time creating figures for future moss projects with a Sculpey-type clay. Now I have some wonderful little subjects to create worlds around!
Unfortunately due to the shape of the glass, it was pretty hard to get a clear picture of the finished project, but here are two that give you the feel of it. This was just after I finished it.One of the very best things about these little gardens is that they need very little care. They need a misting with a spray bottle every 1 or 2 weeks and NO DIRECT SUNLIGHT. Other than that, they are completely self-sufficient. It's important to monitor them in the first weeks to make sure they are not drying out in your particular environment. These are going to make great gifts! Here is little Nyanko-Sensei three weeks after he was originally finished and had been misted twice in that time (once today). I'm very much looking forward to making more of these and will post them as they are created. I hope I inspired you to make your own; post pictures in the comments!
