How to Make a Tiny Terrarium in a Light Bulb
Ahoy there Hipster Homers! I’m Julie and I’m the very first guest blogger on this fine site. Today’s project involves breaking stuff, plants, found objects, and miniatures. Fun, right?
Let’s get started! We’re going to go through the steps to create your very own little terrarium. I like building terrariums inside of lightbulbs because of the inherent challenge of working in such a small space as well as how the simple, industrial beauty of a light bulb complements the intricacy of natural elements. (I was inspired to try this out after seeing this post on Apartment Therapy a couple of months ago.)
We’ll get into the nitty gritty of how to make one of these. But first, let’s go through some key dos and don’ts of light bulb terrariums. I assembled these tips and warnings through extensive trial and error as well as helpful advice from the folks at Flora Grubb Gardens and Hortica in San Francisco.
Dos and Don’ts
DO:
- Do use sand or small pebbles; these are good because water drains through them easily. (Wet soil will get moldy in a confined area. You don’t want this.)
- Do use Tillandsia, also known as air plants; these are a great choice for your tiny terrarium because they take all the nutrients they need from the air and a small amount of water. No roots means no wet soil which means no mold. You can buy tillandsia at garden stores or online.
- Do choose preserved moss instead of live moss. Preserved moss isn’t living, but it will hold moisture; this moisture raises the humidity level in the terrarium, which makes the tillandsia happy. You can find sheet moss, reindeer moss, and other preserved mosses at garden and floral stores.
- Do keep your terrarium in partial sunlight.
- Do give your terrarium some water. The tillandsia is alive and will need a small amount of water to stay that way. Water it by either removing it and soaking it in water once a week or, using a spray bottle, give it a small spritz of water every week or two. Pour out any excess water.
- Do feel free to use little rocks, pieces of glass, or any other bits of things to help give your terrarium character.
DON’T:
- Don’t use soil. Again, you don’t want a soupy, moldy terrarium. That would be gross.
- Don’t use live moss. Moss is really picky and isn’t likely to survive well in this environment.
- Don’t keep your terrarium in the dark.
- Don’t keep your terrarium in full sunlight, either.
How To:
You’ll need a few tools to make a tiny terrarium but nothing complicated to get started.
- Needle-nose pliers
- Scissors
- Long tweezers or chopsticks
- Flathead screwdriver
- Glasses or goggles
Let’s start with the light bulb. I like the globe kind that are used to light bathroom vanities. You can buy them at any hardware store, or preferably, use one that’s burned out to save resources. For those of us in northern California, one option for buying burned out bulbs (if you don’t have any on hand) is the East Bay Depot for Creative Reuse in Oakland. Don’t use “soft white” bulbs or else your terrarium will just look like January in Minnesota. I don’t think this is what you’re going for.
We will be removing the inside parts of the lightbulb. This step involves breaking glass, so wear glasses or goggles to protect your eyes. I recommend doing this over a box to contain any flying pieces of broken glass. And, obviously, this is an “adults only” kind of task.
First, remove the metal tip from the bottom of the bulb. Using needle-nose pliers, carefully nudge the sides of the metal tip from the black glass part.
Then, when enough of the sides are raised to get a good grip on them, hold one of the sides with your pliers and yank out the metal tip. You will feel a couple little wires snap when you do this.
Next remove the black glass. Hold one side of the glass with the pliers and firmly twist up to snap the glass. Repeat around the other sides and pull out any remaining bits of black glass. This glass is pretty thick and will take some force to break it; so be careful and hold onto the bulb firmly.
Now you will be able to see the interior parts of the light bulb.
Using the flathead screwdriver as a sort of lever, snap the interior tube from the side. It will make a totally satisfying little sound as the argon escapes. Then twist the screwdriver around to smash the containing tube. It takes some force to do this; be careful, but also don’t be afraid of the bulb itself breaking. It probably won’t. Hold tight to the bulb while you do this.
Pull out any remaining wires with the pliers.
If there are any last bits of glass around the interior edge, break these off with the screwdriver.
And now you have an empty light bulb! That is definitely the hardest part of the endeavor. Next, put adhesive silicone bumpers on the side of the bulb to keep it steady.
We’ll use sand as a substrate for the terrarium. You can buy it at a garden store or collect it from a beach. If you use beach sand you will need to thoroughly rinse it to remove any salt.
The sand in this tutorial is from the beach, so our first step is to rinse it.
To dry it, either spread it in a thin layer on a cookie sheet and leave it sitting for a few days, or dry it in the oven at 300 degrees. Be careful taking it out, because it will, hopefully obviously, be pretty hot.
The sand should be completely dry before continuing.
Once it’s dry, put a couple tablespoons of sand into the lightbulb. Make this easier by either using a funnel or a folded piece of cardboard.
This terrarium includes preserved sheet moss, reindeer moss, and tillandsia.
Cut off a small bit of sheet moss and put in the bulb. Position it using a chopstick or long tweezers. Tear off a few small pieces of reindeer moss and add this, as well.
Put a tillandsia in the bulb, pushing the smaller end in first. Position the different elements to look nice together and add more moss or rocks if you’d like. It might take some poking to get everything in the right place; be patient and experiment with different arrangements.
For extra fun, tiny toy animals can enliven your terrarium. I used a miniature horse for this one, and stuck a piece of gold wire in its head to make it into a makeshift unicorn. Any other found objects, like rocks, sticks, marbles, etc., would also be fun.
And voilà! You have a lovely terrarium.
More of my lightbulb terrariums are online at tinyterra.com and for sale on Etsy. I’d love to see your terrarium creations! Contact me at juliette@tinyterra.com.
A NOTE OF CAUTION FROM APRIL: Wise THH reader Shadus recommends using gloves when extracting the bulb guts. (S)he says “I would add– wear gloves while performing the delicate work on the bulb, they’re stronger than most people expect but a slip with the screwdriver could lead to a hand full of glass shards which is no fun and also doesn’t make for a nice evening at the hospital. Better safe than sorry!”
I totally LOVE LOVE LOVE this DIY. Thanks for sharing it
This is amazing and how absolutely generous of you to share this. I’m going to make these this week, this is a must for my home!! HOW FUN! xxx
Without a doubt, this is the best tutorial I have read in a long time. A totally awesome project and one I will make. Very well done and a beautiful ending.
I love it. Thanks for the awesome tutorial. I will definitely make one.
What a fantastic little terrarium. I think I have most of the materials needed here at Glenna’s Garden to get started. Thanks so very much for sharing this idea.
Not sure if anyone else said it, but you can buy those bumpers at uline.com
This is awesome! Great idea!
Very cool! Great idea!
Wonderful idea and excellent directions! I work as an art therapist and hope to use this idea with my clients.
Thank you for sharing the secrets!
These are so cool! I found some light bulb bottles at the store a while back and they’ve just been sitting around. Now I know what I’m going to do with a few of them!
this is so cool,nice job great ideal the small things are the best sometimes way to go,thanks for shareing.
Not only is your tutorial beautifully organized and written, your idea is just lovely, but your photography is ideal as well! I’m so impressed! Thank you so much for sharing this with the world.
love it! definitely going to try this! thanks so much for the info!!
This is simply genius idea! What a beauty! I will try to make one.
Thanks for sharing!
I love it.
Nice work of art.
These look great – one extra note of caution though – anything that has soft man-made feet can leech into the finishes on wood furniture and soften them as well, so you might want to caution people not to display these on anything made out of real wood that has a finish on it.
you can also use common white bulbs for these by adding a spoon of salt to the emptied bulb, cover and shake until the inner white coating is removed, empty and rinse. it’s quick and easy.
Fantastic presentation … great tutorial. Lots of work went into this. Thanks so much.
wow – this is a wonderful tute.
It’s buying the plants that seem the difficult bit to me, I never know what I’m looking for. would love to have a go at something like this one day though
Thanks very much
Thanks for this great and complete tutorial. Maybe i try to make one too
amazing ,speechless tutorial, nice job carry on dear.
creative work. like it.
Man this is WOW that i have never seen something like this.
I love to see more….
Thanks for the share
Keep up the good work
KAZi
This idea just blows my mind!! Amazing!! I’ve added this to my “Terrarium Tutorials & Inspiration” post today. Thanks for sharing!
Such a great idea and tutorial. Very thorough. Thank you for sharing!!
Extremely cool. Love it
Ohhh, thank you! I followed your wonderful and easy instructions and just finished making three of these for friends who have birthdays this week. Brilliant. I included very tiny people sitting on small bits of sea glass in mine. As soon as I’ve given the last one away I’ll post them on my blog (don’t want my friends to see them early and spoil the surprise) and link back to this post.
This is greatness, my husband is going to try this! Thanks!
Love this idea. I am going to try it out, I also posted a link to this page on my Tumblr account.
Thanks.
-b
Great idea!
I love this. Gonna share it with my sis a Master Gardener.
I always wanted to make a terrarium but could never find those big round bottles needed. This is a great idea.
omg AMAZING.
I’m a bit of a klutz so I can’t see myself doing this but, really, what a neat way to use up those old light bulbs. I often worry about how to recycle them and here’s the answer!
Great idea,
Love the whole look of it.
Thanks for sharing the blub design and tutorial
I will definitely give this a go at home
Beaut xxxx
what are those little plastic rubber thiningy you have to make the bulb stand up on its own???
thanks!