fairy circles and terrarium injuries, or maybe I should be walking my dogs more regularly

Posted by marne on February 28, 2009 in craft | 19 comments

That's right, I am reporting the very first recorded terrarium-related injury. I headed out with the dogs this afternoon on a quest for moss. It's very hard to walk through our gate and down the street and leave the dogs behind, because the pitiful barks make the neighbors think we're dog abusers. So I hooked them up to the dual leash, and we set out. And we walked by the Next Door Neighbor's house, when their dog (the same dog that runs along the fence line in tandem with Winston every, single, day) started barking and my dogs freaked out, tangled themselves up and tripped me, even though I was, at that point, standing still. I'm still not sure how they did it. But because I know you all are as excited about terrariums as I am, I couldn't let a little bloody hand wound and a couple scraped knees stop me. Oh no, we got ourselves up and untangled, and continued on the Moss Quest. I just tried really hard not to bleed on it, the leash, or the dogs.

Oh, but I have to back up a little bit. Last night I went searching for some cute mushrooms, also for the terrarium, and I couldn't find anything. So in desperation, I picked up some red and some white polymer clay, despite the fact that I've never used the stuff before, and have never considered sculpting anything in my life, least of all tiny mushrooms. I had to have some mushrooms, you see. A plain moss terrarium  just would not do.

Here they are in progress. Those are their spots, waiting to be added. This picture kind of makes me laugh. I figured I'd just use up all the clay and make as many mushrooms as I could, while I was at it. The clay was easy to work with. I'd say the hardest thing about the whole project was the fact that the red smudges really badly, so that was kind of a pain. I had to scrub really hard to get it all off my hands, and you can't even think about touching the white unless your hands are perfectly clean. If there's any interest, I could maybe, one day, post a little mushroom making tutorial. It usually takes me a long time to get around to these things, so don't get too excited.

I'm quite pleased with how they came out. I'm almost tempted to just leave this little fairy ring in my studio forever.

Obviously, I can't put all of them in my terrarium, so I'm going to list a couple sets of three in my shop, and I'm going to give away a set of three right now! Surprise! Well, not right this minute, but just leave a comment if you want to make a terrarium and need a set of mushrooms. I'll leave the comments open this week, until Friday or so, and then choose a winner next weekend.

And now, for the big reveal:

I'll keep you updated on its survival. I hope it does okay. Mr. HeyLucy was concerned that it might start to smell. I have to say, that thought never crossed my mind, so I will report on that as well.

And here is a hopefully sympathy-inducing shot of part of my injury (small, so you don't get too grossed out):


You can click to see it bigger, if you're into that kind of thing. The saddest part about my injuries? I actually fell off my back step a few weeks ago, and scraped up my hands and knees in the same places, and it was FINALLY nearly healed. I can't blame the dogs for that one, however. I'm not very coordinated, I think my center of gravity is all wacky because I'm tall.