(green) message in a bottle

Last weekend, I was experimenting with refashioning, and I discovered a pretty amazing refashioning-project. I can't wait to share it with you, buuutt.. I completely forgot to take after-pictures in daylight, so that one 'll have to wait! So, to consolidate you (okay, fulfill my own desire to write something) I'm making this small blogpost about a small project: a terrarium in a bottle!

It started when I was cleaning out our little basement, and found some old juice-bottles there. I usually keep them as water jars, or for storing my home-made fruit sirup. But I noticed this one was a tiny bit chipped. Instead of throwing it away, I figured; why not use it for something nice? And since half of my fittonia-plant was stil residing in a sad, frumpy little pickle-jar, I decided an extra terrarium was needed. So, buckle up for my second terrarium! ;)

First I cleaned my bottle a little and shook some dirt into it. about 5 cm is enough to begin with. You might want to use dry dirt, and add water once everything is in the jar, to keep the glass as clean as possible ( a terrarium with mud all over it might not really impress anyone...)

Then I took my lil' plant, and shook as much dirt off as I could, so that it would fit through the bottleneck. 

I soaked the roots a few minutes in water to protect them, and placed them on a piece of paper.

Look at those leafs! Fittonia Mont Blanc, you're so so pretty.  

... And rolled the plant in it.

this is the moment where you can start joking about my Dutch background....

.... lit the whole thing on fire  pushed the little parcel through the bottleneck ( the paper protects the plant from taking any damage)

message in a bottle!

Once the whole thing was inside the bottle, I shook a little, and used some kitchen tweezers (or whatever they are called) to pull the paper out. 

I added some extra dirt, and buried the roots the best I could with my tweezers.

... And of course adding some water to keep the whole thing alive ( and clean the glass simultaneously)

This is the result!

I'm thinking of taking it to my office, since terrarium requires much less water than normal plants. As far as I know, if you loosely (allow some air to seep in) place the lid on top to prevent too much vaporization, the plant should be able keep itself alive for a few weeks. And that's great news, since I've managed to kill all my other office-plants during my last holiday.




Not too shabby for an old, chipped jar, isn't it? If you don't like looking at dirt as much as I do, you could always decide to dip-dye the bottom of it. Or, now that spring has finally arrived, you could add  seeds instead of a full-grown plant and see the roots developing through the glass!

I hope you enjoyed this quick project!