So, ever since I found this little glass house at Homesense, I knew that I wanted our little family to be represented inside it, in some way! Everyone needs a mini clay figurine family replica right?!?! Lol… Well, hold onto your socks… because they are about to be blown off!! A DIY terrarium family is more achievable than you may think, if you are just as amazing at sculpting as me! (wink). All jokes! People!!!! Sculpting clay is HARD! Especially sculpting little miniature people, who are supposed to resemble a human… being!!!

So… this is one of those “Nailed It” moments! The idea in my head was a lot different then the actual creation itself! But, that just makes it super special…right? LOL. So, here is how you can create your very own special DIY terrarium family to display at your own home too. (smile) I know you want one too!

DIY TERRARIUM FAMILY TUTORIAL

Supplies Needed to Create a DIY Terrarium Family

• A home for your clay family (I used this Geometric Glass Terrarium House, I found mine at Homesense, but they are also sold on Amazon)
• Terrarium Fillers
  • small gravel
  • moss
  • succulents (optional, I didn’t have any on hand, and didn’t feel like going to the store)
• Modelling Clay (I used FIMO Soft Modelling Clay, I didn’t actually need to use the Sculpey that is in the photo below)
• Clay Tools (Optional, they were not of great use in creating the perfect clay figures… You could find things around your house that could be used instead)
• Sculpting Wire (I did find this to be very helpful in keeping my creations arms and legs in place, while working on other parts of the body)
• Paint
• Hot Glue Gun and Hot Glue
• Scissors (to cut the sculpting wire)

Method to Make Your Own DIY Terrarium Family

Step 1: Fill the bottom of your terrarium with small rocks, sand, or whatever you think would look good at the bottom of your terrarium! (wink)

Step 2: Cover the bottom layer/layers with moss. I had to cut off one side of my circle moss, to fit it into my rectangle glass house terrarium. When I cut the moss patch I liked the look of the side that was cut,because it kind of looked like a dirt layer. So I just left it like that. Like this…

Step 3: Create your sculpture people! I highly recommend using this Sculpting Wire under your clay!! It really helped to keep their little limbs straight, and it’s so bendable that you can make the body in any position that you wish! This is how I bent the wire, although I’m not a professional sculptor at all, so I don’t actually know how it is supposed to be used. My method worked for me though. (wink)

This is how my Shawnikins turned out! I know… AWESOME! Lol…

And this is whole family!!!! As I was making Corbin, I asked him what he wanted his little mini Corbin to be doing, and he said sitting on daddy’s shoulders! Great idea Corbin!

Step 4: Dry your creations according to the clay you chose to use. FIMO is baked in the oven at 230 degrees, for 30 minutes. Then let your little mini people cool completely, before attempting the next step.

Step 5: Paint your little mini people. I tried to paint some of our favourite current clothes onto our mini people. Although, my red plaid shirt didn’t turn out as awesome as it is in person. lol. AWESOME!

Step 6: To get your little mini people to stand up in your terrarium, you will need to put some sort of spikes on the bottom side of your little mini people’s feet, so that they don’t fall over.  I used some of the sculpting wire! I just bent some of the sculpting wire and hot glued them to the bottoms of their feet, or in my mini me’s case, to my bum bum because I am in a sitting position. Like this…

Step 7: Then just push the spikes into the moss and WAALAAA!!! You have a happy little DIY terrarium family! LOL.. They are creepy…. I KNOW! But funny too! Don’t they look just like us! LOL!!

Ideas to Personalize your DIY Terrarium Family!

So you could decorate your terrarium with something fun, or just leave it as is, as I have. Some ideas to spruce up your DIY terrarium family would be:

• hanging up a fun colourful mini bunting
• adding some succulents
• sculpting some items for the family to be playing with
• you could also decorate it by adding some plants around the outside of the terrarium too.

Make your terrarium family fun, and uniquely yours!

LOL… I hope my DIY terrarium family has inspired you to create your own mini terrarium family too! Hopefully you are more successful at sculpting then I was. If you have some sculpting small things tips, I love to hear them?!?! Let me know in the comments. Maybe I’m just not patient enough to take my time with it. But, you can do it!!

Until next time, enjoy creating your little terrarium family, and creating beautiful things everyday!

XO JCL

P.S. Here is a link to some more of my fun DIY Home Decor Projects!

P.S. Here are some links to products like the ones used in this DIY terrarium family tutorial!