How to Make a Lightbulb Terranium

 

Materials: One blown out (dead) lightbulb, handful of pebbles, soil, seeds/ moss, stable base

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Safety: You will be breaking glass! You need gloves, a towel, goggles

 

Tools: Pliers, wire cutter, screwdrivers

 

Time: Approximately 1 hour

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1. Prep your lighbulb.

This is the most difficult part and slightly dangerous, so take care. Cussion yout bulb in the towel, do not put pressure on the outside glass or it will crack. Wear your gloves and goggles. Take a pair of pliers and break off the metal circle on the end of the lightbulb, hold the bulb by the metal base rather than the glass. Then crack the black glass by inserting a screwdriver or skewer and turning. Then in a confident attempt, push the screwdriver in to the lightbulb and break the inner glass filament by wiggling the screwdriver back and forth. This takes quite a bit more force than you initially think and can be a bit scary becuse you need to psyche yourself up to break the glass. This is the part where accidents happen: Do not hold the bulb by the glass! If you squeeze to tightly the glass will crack and you will need a new light bulb. Once the glass and filament has been broken, gently shake all the debris out of the bulb. Then, time to remove the inner white, diffuser coating. This is a chemical and is mildly toxic, hence the gloves. You can remove the coating a couple of different ways: you can pour sand or salt into the bulb about 1/4 of the way and swirl to remove the white powder. Or you can fill the bulb with water and use a small toothbrush to clean the powder off. If you do this then pour the waste water on a patch of lawn outside, do not pour down the sink directly.

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2. Find a Base

The base can be make of a wire hanger, you can wrap it around the spiral screw of the light bulb to stablize it and then anchor it into a bloock of wood, a stone, or a sufficent weight. Another alternative is is to rest the light bulb on a bottle cap, small bowl, or anything with a groove in it that will hold the bulb upright.

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3. Assemble the nature!

Gather tiny pebbles, potting soil, and a bit of moss. Choose seed that will germinate easily, I soaked mustard seeds and moog beans (red beans) in water for two days and placed them in a wet paper towel in a sealed ziplock bag to ensure they would sprout. Place the pebbles in first followed by 1/4 cup of soil, the germinated seeds, another layer of soil and then lightly pack the moss on top to allow the seeds to come through. Water once a week and place in direct sunlight. This terranium acts like a greenhouse, keeping the environment inside warm and humid for growth.