charcoal – MINDING MY P'S WITH Q

This is a re-post from a few years ago, but well worth repeating once again. If you have small outdoor plants you want to save from winter weather, they are the perfect candidate for placing in a terrarium.

1. Select Container/Add a layer of pebbles.

2. Add a layer of charcoal.

3. Add a layer of humus/soil.

4. Add plants and mosses.

5. Add lichens, rocks, and small statues. (Mine are elephants from Red Rose Teabag boxes) Water sparingly, rinse excess dirt off of sides. Cover with lid of some type. Enjoy your beautiful terrarium.

Care of terrariums: Mosses like gentle sun, morning light exposure is best for a terrarium. Try to lift lid each day to give terrarium fresh air. Your terrarium will self-water, if it develops a look of dryness water sparingly once again.

When straight wind storms blew through this year, they brought down hundreds of small sticks from the trees surrounding our yard. We collected these and used them in a campfire. Forgotten, the remains lay in the fire pit and weathered for a few weeks. Oh my! Imagine my surprise when perfect sticks of charcoal for artwork caught my eye.

A quick autograph of my initials on the surrounding fire pit bricks assured me they were art-worthy.

I collected a good amount and brought them into the house.

Although I haven’t created art with charcoal in years, I’m eager to give the homemade sticks a try. There might be a bit of frustration involved since the thinner sticks break easily, but hey, it’s an endeavor that won’t cost me more than a sheet of paper.

A good example of charcoal art can be viewed in the following video: