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justcreate2025-09-14 10:20 pm
ysabetwordsmith) wrote in justcreate2025-09-14 10:20 pm
Photos: Fairy Garden Lantern Deconstruction
Someone overheard that I'm working with terraria and gave me this fairy garden lantern so I could turn it into a terrarium. :D So today I deconstructed it and cleaned the container.
The lantern part has an open top with a hanging loop and a solid base. It has a hexagonal shape with a narrow top, widest part below the middle, and slightly narrower base. The panes appear to be rigid plastic. The frame seems to be metal. There's a bit of heft to the base, even when empty.
This is side one of the fairy garden lantern, with the door. It has hinges on the right and a wire latch on the left. The fake plants are sticking out the top but that's okay.
Side two gives the best view of the fairies sitting on a bench.
Side three shows the wooden stump.
Side four shows the ivy.
Side five is mostly moss.
Side six has moss and ivy. You can see the door on the left.
I opened the door to poke around at the insides. Fortunately most of that stuff was stuck together in a big lump, but not glued to the base of the lantern container.
It took me a while to pry out the fairy garden insert. I believe it was constructed inside the lantern container. It appears to be made of craft foam and rocks then decorated with moss, wood, silk and plastic plants, the fairy figurine, and other bits. The figurine has two fairies sitting on a bench. Below that you can see a loose rock and a nice chunk of coral.
Left inside the lantern container were some loose rocks and other stuff.
The lantern is about 8 3/4 inches high from the inside, so probably 9 inches counting the base but not counting its hanging loop.
The widest point is probably about 8 1/4 inches.
The base is probably about 4 3/4 to 5 inches wide at its widest part.
I removed the loose rocks. They still have some dried glue on them and some have bits of moss or other stuff. They're fine to reuse though.
I cleaned the lantern by wiping the panes with a damp paper towel, then drying them. This looks much better now. \o/
I bagged up the fairy garden parts for later donation. It took me two tries to get a usable hole punched in the card, but that's okay. I tied it on with string because I figured a sticker wouldn't stay put on the bag. I save string from bags that unravel at the top, and yes, I reuse even the short pieces.
I plan to make this lantern container into an air plant terrarium, since it is not fully enclosed. They like higher humidity but are more resilient to fluctuations than ferns or moss, and they need some air flow. I figure I can put a dish in the bottom with rocks or melted marbles to hold a bit of water. I'll put a stick up the middle and fasten the air ferns to that.
Locally there's very little variation in air plant types, though, so I may have to mail-order something. I had hoped to do that this month, as September is typically temperate. But we had about a week of lovely fall weather and now it's sweltering again. >_< So I'll have to wait on that.
The lantern part has an open top with a hanging loop and a solid base. It has a hexagonal shape with a narrow top, widest part below the middle, and slightly narrower base. The panes appear to be rigid plastic. The frame seems to be metal. There's a bit of heft to the base, even when empty.
This is side one of the fairy garden lantern, with the door. It has hinges on the right and a wire latch on the left. The fake plants are sticking out the top but that's okay.
Side two gives the best view of the fairies sitting on a bench.
Side three shows the wooden stump.
Side four shows the ivy.
Side five is mostly moss.
Side six has moss and ivy. You can see the door on the left.
I opened the door to poke around at the insides. Fortunately most of that stuff was stuck together in a big lump, but not glued to the base of the lantern container.
It took me a while to pry out the fairy garden insert. I believe it was constructed inside the lantern container. It appears to be made of craft foam and rocks then decorated with moss, wood, silk and plastic plants, the fairy figurine, and other bits. The figurine has two fairies sitting on a bench. Below that you can see a loose rock and a nice chunk of coral.
Left inside the lantern container were some loose rocks and other stuff.
The lantern is about 8 3/4 inches high from the inside, so probably 9 inches counting the base but not counting its hanging loop.
The widest point is probably about 8 1/4 inches.
The base is probably about 4 3/4 to 5 inches wide at its widest part.
I removed the loose rocks. They still have some dried glue on them and some have bits of moss or other stuff. They're fine to reuse though.
I cleaned the lantern by wiping the panes with a damp paper towel, then drying them. This looks much better now. \o/
I bagged up the fairy garden parts for later donation. It took me two tries to get a usable hole punched in the card, but that's okay. I tied it on with string because I figured a sticker wouldn't stay put on the bag. I save string from bags that unravel at the top, and yes, I reuse even the short pieces.
I plan to make this lantern container into an air plant terrarium, since it is not fully enclosed. They like higher humidity but are more resilient to fluctuations than ferns or moss, and they need some air flow. I figure I can put a dish in the bottom with rocks or melted marbles to hold a bit of water. I'll put a stick up the middle and fasten the air ferns to that.
Locally there's very little variation in air plant types, though, so I may have to mail-order something. I had hoped to do that this month, as September is typically temperate. But we had about a week of lovely fall weather and now it's sweltering again. >_< So I'll have to wait on that.