Plant Craft. 30 Projects that Add Natural Style to Your Home

257 Pages·2016·34.95 MB·English

by  Caitlin Atkinson

PLANT CRAFT

PLANT CRAFT
30 PROJECTS THAT ADD
NATURAL STYLE TO YOUR HOME
CAITLIN ATKINSON
TIMBER PRESS
Portland, Oregon
Copyright © 2016 by Caitlin Atkinson. All rights reserved.
All photographs by the author.
Published in 2016 by Timber Press, Inc.
The Haseltine Building
133 S.W. Second Avenue, Suite 450
Portland, Oregon 97204-3527
timberpress.com
Printed in China
Text design by Kristi Pfeffer
Cover design by Skye McNeill
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Atkinson, Caitlin, author.
Title: Plant craft : 30 projects that add natural style to your home /
Caitlin Atkinson.
Description: Portland, Oregon: Timber Press, 2016. | Includes index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2015047576 | ISBN 9781604696493 (hardcover)
Subjects: LCSH: Indoor gardening. | Container gardening. | Nature craft.
Classification: LCC SB419 .A85 2016 | DDC 635.9/65—dc23 LC record
available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2015047576
A catalog record for this book is also available from the British Library.

Contents
Preface 8 Introduction 11 Materials 12 Plants 14
P R OJ E C T S
BUILD CRAFT
Bench Planter 42 Flowers on a Wall 92
Concrete Vine Planter 48 Anthotype Photograms 98
Cactus Clay Garden 54 Fall-Foraged Garland 106
Staghorn Fern Shadow Box 60 Tillandsia Nest 112
Single-Dowel Plant Hanger 68 Threaded-Leaf Wreath 120
Planted Chandelier 74 Willow Spheres 126
Lush Vertical Garden 82 Tillandsia Wall Hanging 132
MOUNT PLANT
Rain-Forest Branch 140 Miniature Flagstone Planting 194
Hanging Rock Garden 146 Succulent String Garden 200
Cholla Cactus Planting 152 Rock and Sand Landscape 206
Bromeliad Stump Garden 158 Three-Fern Kokedama 212
Driftwood Water Garden 164 Water Sculpture Garden 218
Lava Rock Bonsai 170 Saikei Tray Garden 222
Epiphyte Garden Panel 176 Living Diorama 230
Living Wreath 184 Wardian Case Terrarium 236
Metric Conversions 246 Resources 246 Additional Reading 247
Acknowledgments 248 Index 249
8
PREFACE
As a child I would help my mother at an urban garden shop, inform the Epiphytes are
ideal plants for
pick flowers from our garden in aesthetics of the projects in these
wall gardens.
summer and make bouquets in pages. The principles of balance in This one uses
the cool of the early morning—my color choices, in texture combina- vanilla orchids, a
personal favorite.
first exposure to the pleasures of tions, and of creating a space for
working with plants. I loved sum- the viewer to enter a composition
mer and all the botanical wonder all draw on the same set of visual
it brought. We lived on a farm, and tools and apply to crafting and
when I wasn’t in the garden I was design as well as photography.
often reading in the meadow or
climbing trees. My life was spent If you live in an urban environment
outdoors, only coming in when too these projects offer a way to con-
cold or wet. The land influenced me nect with nature within the confines
profoundly—seasons, light, weather, of a city. Not everyone can afford
and topography lead me to new a rooftop garden or even a terrace,
discoveries and creative endeavors. but everyone can make a little gar-
Throughout my life I’ve continued den of their own indoors. If you have
to feel the need to connect with outdoor space, there is something
the natural world. While living in invigorating about extending that
San Francisco, in order to satisfy green space indoors.
my desire to bring more green into
my home, I began creating indoor There is a project for everyone
garden projects. I have since moved in this book. Create a colorful
and now have outdoor space, but I floral wall mural, an elegant table
continue to bring the outdoors in. centerpiece, a serene underwater
sculpture, or a whimsical mobile
I’m a photographer by trade, and my to suspend from the ceiling—each
photography skills, along with my is a work of art inspired by the
experience working as a stylist on natural world.
photo shoots and a merchandiser