Dec 17, 2009

diy moss topiaries


i was strolling through pottery barn 
the other week and spotted some 
great moss topiaries.
they were really simple, and were in 
these pretty mercury glass cachepots.
 i really wanted a pair of each.
the cachepots were $16 each  and the
topiaries were around $20 each.
a little more than i wanted to spend...
so, i  bought the cachepots. 

they were just too darn cute to pass up, 
and i figured i would have a go at 
making the topiaries myself.

here's what i bought
2 styrafoam balls @ $3 each
1 yard burlap $3
1 tub pottery paster $4
1 bag moss $5
moss colored thread $1
two sticks from my yard-free
total: $19
(i bought 2 bags of moss, but only used 1/2 of 1 bag!)

i mixed up the plaster in
a disposable container

and poured it equally into two paper cups

next, i stuck my sticks into the paster.
i held them for about 2 minutes...until i could feel the
plaster beginning to set.

then i made a hole in the styrafoam ball,

and hot glued the moss onto the ball.
the moss is very forgiving...

then, i wrapped the ball over and over with the thread.
this will hold the moss on better, and
make it "shed" less.

by the time i finished with the balls, the
plaster was set.

i trimmed the cups.

and used a large bowl as a template
 to cut two large circles out of the burlap.

i also cut two strips as ties.

this is what it will look like if you wrap it in burlap

i thought it looked nice nestled among some ornaments and pine cones...



but, in the end, i decided to  surround them 
with spanish moss and put them in the cachepots.



the best thing about these moss topiaries, 
is that they can be used all year!

UPDATE:
the topiaries i saw were not available at all online.
 the smaller moss balls above are sold out, 
and the larger ones are $29.
$29?!
save yourself some $$ and make your own!
each topiary i made cost about $9,
and i have enough moss and plaster to make
at least two more.

7 comments:

  1. Great job. I love topiaries. You did a great job explaining each step, thanks for the info. MERRY CHRISTMAS

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  2. Love this idea. Thanks for sharing it. I'm a huge topiary fan. I've never tried to make one though.
    ♥ Joy

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  3. Thanks for the great step-by-step. Love these. Just found your great blog :)

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  4. Yours look fab but were a lot of work. I bought my moss balls at Michael's for 3.00 and 4.00 respectively for the 8" and 10" ball sizes and I did not have any burned fingers to boot!

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  5. thanks for the tutorial... did mine using moss i bought at the dollar store and instead of styrafoam balls i just made balls out of newspaper and tape (to hold the shape)... I am very happy withe the result...

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