Ladyface Blog Giveaway

I'm excited to announce a giveaway that's going on over at the lovely Ladyface Blog. If you haven't visited her blog before, Becca is a wonderful lady with beautiful pictures and lots of creative ideas so you definitely should! One of her lucky readers will be receiving a Woodii terrarium necklace! So, head on over there and check it out. The giveaway ends August 14th. 

Marimo

Today I though I would share with you my family of Marimo! Cladophora aegagropila, or marimo, are spherical shaped filament algae bits that thrive at the bottom of chilly lakes. The shape is cause by the current in the water, rolling them into a ball over time. The slow growing algae can be found in only a few lakes in Japan and Iceland. Marimo enjoy shade and cool water, similar to how life would have been in their natural environment. Their water needs to be changed about once a week, but other than that they are very simple pets!

baby marimo

Micro-marimo

Papa Marimo

Collections and New Plants

As you may have noticed, I just finished updating my blog layout. I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out and I'm sure I will continue tweaking things until I get it all perfect. Let me know what you think! Today I wanted to share some of my favorite little collections of treasures in my house. I will admit that I love gathering tiny, fascinating objects and arranging them in small nooks and on little shelves. Some of the objects pictured here are porcupine quills, shell fossils, an air plant, dried flowers, snake ribs, a real starfish, baby marimo, and an illustration by Julianna Swaney.

I also love collecting matchboxes. These are two of my favorites. Also, two different species of tillandsia as well as a fittonia verschaffeltii (or nerve plant) in a glass bottle. 

I recently purchased three new plants which I'm very exited about!  The first one I haven't be able to identify yet, but I do believe it is a tropical plant. The lime green and pink plant is a solenostemon scutellarioides, which is part of the nettle family. Below is my carnivorous plant terrarium, still going strong. The last little guy is a vine called cissus tuberosa, part of the grape family. I didn't know anything about it when I picked it up at The Volunteer Park Conservatory's gift shop, but have since done some research and am excited to see it grow! 

Natural Sciences: Botany

What I've been reading lately:

Image Source

If you haven't read or browsed through the pages of one of Amy Stewart's books, I highly recommend that you get your hands on one of them. They are all very detailed and extremely fascinating. Her latest book, The Drunken Botanist is a particular favorite of mine. It discusses plants in relation to alcohol with history, drink recipes, illustrations, and more!

My carnivorous plant terrarium

I've also taken a keen interest in carnivorous plants over the past few months. They are known for being very difficult to maintain by gardeners and often aren't found in plant shops because of it. So far, with much attention, I've been able to properly care for my Venus Flytrap (Dionaea Muscipula) and Pitcher plant (Sarracenia).  I recently visited an oddities shop in Pioneer Square called The Belfrey. They have tons of beautiful carnivorous plant terrariums in addition to many other interesting antiques. If you are ever in the Seattle area, it's definitely worth checking out. Here are some picture I snapped of their plant collection. 

1. Drosera capensis 2. Sarracenia rubra hybrid 3. Sarracenia rubra hybrid 4. Drosera adelae

While attempting to identify the carnivorous plant species above, I came across this awesome chart. I can't find a source for it but it's been making its way around Tumblr for quite some time. If anyone knows where it comes from, please let me know. 

Midnight Moss Frosted Glass Terrarium Necklace

This is the latest piece I've been working on. The moss is preserved and hand dyed a very rich and dark green. I have been experimenting with different ways of frosting portions of the glass vials to produce a hazy or foggy effect.

Drawings of Terry land

I'm starting a mini series of terrarium illustrations...not the best scans but i'll have to work on that.

Fittonia Albivenis $15

Crassula Sericea $15

Ceropegia Woodii and Ceraria Namaquensis $15

New Jewelry at Woodii

Here are the latest items available at my etsy shop. In the future I'll be experimenting with dyeing different mosses and I'll post about it here. 

Midnight Moss Frosted Glass Terrarium Necklace $25

Midnight Moss Frosted Glass Terrarium Necklace

Glass Orb Microminiature Galaxy Stardust Necklace $15

Round Glass Terrarium Necklace with Living Moss $35

Glass Vial Terrarium Necklace with Living Moss $35

Glass Vial Terrarium Necklace with Living Moss $35

Terrariums Part 2

The little terrarium necklaces are halfway done! Today I tested out some different backgrounds for the necklaces and completed one for the shop. 

This one available today at Woodii

Terrarium Orbs: Part 1

The first few steps to putting together the microminiature terrarium orb necklaces:

I'm also going to be making galaxy orbs: