Terrarium Craft: Create 50 Magical, Miniature Worlds

188 Pages·2011·9.18 MB·English

by  Amy Bryant Aiello

TERRARIUM CRAFT
TERRARIUM CRAFT
Create 50 Magical, Miniature Worlds
BY Amy Bryant Aiello & Kate Bryant
PHOTOGRAPHY BY Kate Baldwin
Copyright © 2011 by Amy Bryant Aiello & Kate Bryant.
All rights reserved.
Photography by Kate Baldwin.
Published in 2011 by Timber Press, Inc.
The Haseltine Building
133 S.W. Second Avenue, Suite 450
Portland, Oregon 97204-3527
www.timberpress.com
2 The Quadrant
135 Salusbury Road
London NW6 6RJ
www.timberpress.co.uk
Printed in China
Design by Nicki Brandt
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Bryant Aiello, Amy.
Terrarium craft : create 50 magical, miniature worlds /
Amy Bryant Aiello & Kate Bryant ;
photography by Kate Baldwin. -- 1st ed.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-60469-234-1
1. Terrariums. 2. Glass gardens. I. Bryant, Kate. II. Title.
SB417.B79 2011 635.9'824--dc22
A catalog record for this book is also available from the British Library.
THANKS TO MY HUSBAND, MICHAEL,
for his love and support and my daughter, Chiara Lucia, for just being.
Special thanks to family and friends and to Martha Bergman-Gamblin
and Katie Bailey who have been so helpful.
—Amy Bryant Aiello
MY GRATITUDE TO FRIENDS AND FAMILY
who sustained me with beautiful meals, cups of tea, and love.
—Kate Bryant
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Preface
Introduction
Practical Matters
Forest Terrariums
Beach Terrariums
Desert Terrariums
Fantasy Terrariums
Resources
Index
PREFACE
Making a terrarium involves taking elements of nature and arranging them in a
way that is exquisite—a collage with nature. It’s like capturing the experience of
walking in the forest and looking down to see a breathtaking organic
arrangement, or spotting an ideal composition in sand, foam, and driftwood on
the beach. A terrarium is a snapshot of that perfect array of natural elements,
somehow contained yet still wild at the core.
Artemisia, our shop in Portland, Oregon, is a space for me to play, both on a
broad scale (the shop is one big, constantly changing installation) and within the
confines of the individual terrariums. Plants, shells, stones, crystals, and other
natural materials are innately beautiful—we hardly need to do anything to them
at all—just spending time in their presence brings out the artist in all of us.
For me, a terrarium is like a secret home inside a home. I often layer materials in
the terrariums, showing what is below the surface; like dreams are to our daily
lives, something that lives underneath and has a separate reality of its own. Once
I begin working on a design, I start to think about making terrariums when I go
to sleep and when I wake up—I feel the excitement of the muse! I wish that for
you as well.
—Amy Bryant Aiello

INTRODUCTION
Our natural world is filled with boundless beauty, from the most delicately
random arrangements of bark, moss, and lichen on the forest floor to graceful
heaps of seaweed, driftwood, and shell tossed up on a beach. In this book, you
will learn how to distill the beauty of these natural elements into artful
terrariums.
The fifty terrariums shown in these pages—loosely grouped by inspiration into
forest, beach, desert, or fantasy—incorporate a range of fascinating components,
including plants, lichen, moss, crystals, stone, sand, and shells. Every project
contains a materials list, as well as detailed instructions for composing and
caring for the terrarium (all of which builds on the practical information covered
in the first part of the book). And while each of the compositions is beautiful
enough to be worth recreating, they were really designed to inspire—to serve as
catalysts to ignite your own creativity and personal vision. Far from being
meticulously planned, they were made with what artist Amy Bryant Aiello had
available at her shop at the time the book was created. Even the process of
making them was intuitive, if not somewhat spontaneous—pieces were added,
swapped out, and gently prodded until they looked right, even during the photo
shoot. The idea is to play with the materials and enjoy the process itself, while
accepting the delicious imperfection of it.
A walk in the woods, along a beach, or through a dry canyon would be ideal for
getting in an experimental frame of mind. Natural scenery—wind-tossed sand,
tawny beach grass, or mossy rocks—is the best inspiration for creating these
terrarium collages. In essence, making a terrarium really begins with your own
relationship with nature. As you gather your materials, let them guide your
creative process. Start with materials you love, keep an open mind, and allow
them to take you somewhere unexpected. The beauty already exists—you are the
curator, selecting which pieces will be included and assembling them in a way
that delights you.
Once made, set your terrarium where you can enjoy and observe it. If you aren’t
a gardener or even if you think of yourself as a “brown thumb,” you can find
living plants that are easy to care for—or captivating dried mosses and lichens
that require no attention at all, save for admiration. Add a significant personal