DIY - Lightbulb Terrarium

By Andrew


For those of you that have discovered this blog, there is an extraordinarily large chance that you are interested in living a more low impact lifestyle.  What better way to live the dream than to dive into a simple green project!

Desks are usually cluttered with many things; the odd nick-knack, work, computer, and/or magazines.  I myself have included a robust Jade plant to this roster, and in the midst of cleaning my workspace and state of perpetual procrastination I came across an interesting idea for a project for a low maintenance and 100% recycled terrarium.  All you need in the way of construction material is a burned out incandescent light bulb, a pair of work gloves, safety goggles, a washer, a screwdriver, and some pliers.  The rest of the materials can be found in your garden or local park and this list includes some moss and dirt (preferably some of the dirt that the moss was growing in).

       

Now comes the slightly tricky part.  As I’m sure you’re well aware, light bulbs are delicate and tricky little things, so be careful when attempting to hollow it out using the instructions below.

1. Using needle nose pliers grip the soldier point at the tip of the light bulb and give it a twist in order to free the brass contact and break the wire leading to the filament.
2. Once this has been pulled out crack the glass insulator but be extremely careful as they are very sharp and can form into slivers and get stuck in most things you have lying around.
3. Remove the insulator and use a screwdriver to break the fill tube.
4. Now you should be able to shake the filament assembly out of the tube.
5. At this point you should have an empty light bulb but the inside will need to be cleaned before it is ready to support life.  Again, be very careful of glass shards that could still be inside the bulb.  To complete this step you can either roll up some paper towel, insert it into the bulb and move it around or pour some salt in and shake it about to remove any residual white powder coating the inside of the bulb.

At this point your light bulb should be empty and ready for that dirt and moss you found earlier.  I’ll leave placement of the moss and little stones or whatever up to you.  If the moss placement is a little patchy don’t worry too much because if you take care of it the moss will grow to cover it in no time.  In terms of care, all you will have to do is add a tiny bit of water once a week, varying frequency and amount as needed. 

We hope you enjoyed the project injury free and that it’s making your workspace a little more habitable.