Idea 086 - Origami Terrarium Diorama

This post is part of the 100 project ideas project. #The100DayProject. I am looking for feedback. Comment below or DM me via social media Instagram, Twitter.

One Line Pitch

Paper sculptures in glass terrarium with flowers, house plants, and other nature things

Description

Problems

The problem with paper sculptures, paper craft, and origami is that they are fragile, annoying to display, hard to transport/move and collect dust. I ended up stringing most of my paper sculptures from thread pinned into the ceiling, out of reach and hard to see by people. When I move them they fall apart or get damaged because of how fragile they are. They also become a collector for dust that is hard to clean because you can’t wipe them down with a wet towel.

Keeping house plants is hard when you live in a dark place with no direct sunlight. Or you’re just lazy and forget even the simplest maintenance. Flowers keep me happy but my house plants only bloom for a few weeks each year. I also want what I can’t have, I want house plants, and flowers that can’t grow in my environment even with an extreme amount of intervention.

Solution

Create a sealed terrarium filled with paper sculptures of flowers, plants, and tiny origami animals. More like a diorama than a terrarium as nothing will be living in this glass box. But treat it as if it was its own ecosystem. Everything in the terrarium can be glued down to make it easier to transport. Maybe add some diorama elements like a little farmhouse.

The terrarium is sealed so that dust doesn’t make its way inside. You will still need to clean the outside of the glass but because it’s glass you can use a damp cloth. For cheap glass containers, large mason jars can be used on their side. Then a nice wooden base to hold it so it doesn’t roll around.

There are many designs for paper flowers and tiny animals online that tend to be pretty easy to scale up or down to fit the scale of the terrarium.

Little solar panels in the back of the terrarium can be used to charge hidden batteries inside of the terrarium to allow for fairy lights to illuminate the diorama. Little mushrooms or fireflies, etc.. If using a mason jar, the solar panels can be embedded into the lid.

Dye-ing the paper using natural dye from plants would be a nice touch. Then making your own fibrous paper using plant material like bamboo stocks or corn husks would also add value.

Prior art

I was surprised to find that I couldn’t find paper craft in terrariums or jars.

• Impossibly Small Houseplants and Basketry Crafted from Paper by Raya Sader Bujana - A good example of how small the paper flowers and plants can be for the diagrama
• Giant Paper Flower Sculptures by Tiffanie Turner - A good examples of types of paper sculpture flowers.
• Textile Sculptures by Lauren Pruen Preserve - Elegant Botanical Specimens Under Glass
• La Petite Fleur - Glass dome - Local vancouver flower shop making dried flower displys in domes

  Market

I could see these selling at craft fairies pretty easily.