Photos by Gian Nicdao
Published on: Young STAR, 2019
A step-by-step guide on making your own terrarium. A feature on Gino Javier, the founder of the terrarium-making workshop Terra Bomba.
familiar. The location is secluded with just a small store sign outside its gate. As I walk in, I
was welcomed by the plants displayed all over the place. It makes sense, considering that
I’m here for a terrarium-making workshop. It turns out that my gut feeling was right, too —
I’m told that the place was previously Leona’s Art Restaurant. Now, it’s a bare establishment
with a small terrarium and indoor plants store.
There’s a wooden table at the side where some of the other participants are seated and
waiting for the workshop to start. As we all introduce ourselves, our workshop instructor
enters with some materials in hand. You’d think that the instructor would be a garden-loving
tita or some artsy young mom, but here in front of us, giving the history of terrariums is a
young man who looked like he could be in a band.
Gino Javier, the founder of Terra Bomba, is a terrarium landscape artist and graphic artist.
Before we begin, he asks us if we want anything, “Water? Soft drinks? Beer?” It’s 3 p.m. and
sensing his laidback hospitality, I can tell that it’s going to be a chill workshop experience.
A terrarium is a small ecosystem inside a sealed container. It has a collection of small plants
inside. Given that it’s concealed, the plants perform a more condensed water cycle which
allows them to sustain their life. There’s also art in figuring out what kind of plants will look
good together, how they are positioned, and other aesthetic elements involved. Gino even
considers putting a (live!) turtle inside a terrarium in the future.
We start the workshop by picking a container from his bottle collection, which has
everything from tall liquor bottles to small jars. This first step can be hard as the choices can
be overwhelming, but Gino assures us that the size of the container doesn’t matter, that
there are no “beginner containers” because terrarium-making is easy.
Then, we add a good layer of pebbles into our bottles. The pebbles are important in making
terrariums as this will be the base drainage system. Without the pebbles, your base will be
muddy and the water won’t be able to circulate properly. After that, we cut a screen that can
fit in our bottle to be placed in between the pebbles layer and the charcoal layer. The
charcoal is an additional drainage layer to assure that your soil won’t stay wet and cause the
roots to rot.
The soil that we use is Gino’s homemade compost mix. We add that in, and then we get to
pick a plant from Gino’s collection. Some are in pots while some are still in their garden
beds. Gino advises us to pick a plant that’s slightly smaller than our container space to give it some space to grow. Then, we put some moss on top of the soil and throw in a miniature
person to live in our ecosystem. To cap it off, we use corks to seal our bottles real good.
I’m the second one to finish my terrarium. While I wait for the others to finish, Gino takes
pictures of my delicate work to share on his social media page. He advises me to place my
bottle under bright indirect sunlight to encourage the plants and moss to grow. Gino tells
me that anybody can make terrariums like these at home, you just have to be resourceful
and creative.
Assembling a terrarium felt therapeutic and a little stressful at the same time. It was calming
as we all took our time to add layers, but a little stressful putting things inside through a
small bottle mouth. Using forceps is not as easy as it looks, especially if you have a tall
bottle.
The workshop was intimate with only four participants including me. One was a 14-year-old
with a passion for aquascaping. The smallness of the group allowed Gino to monitor and
advise us individually. Even when you don’t think it looks great, he’ll cheer you on to
continue your work.
According to Gino, terrarium-making motivated him to recycle more. Utilizing used bottles,
gravy containers, and chopsticks, he encourages us to do the same. Throughout our
workshop, we didn’t use any single-use plastics.
All of our materials can be found from recycled materials at home. So instead of throwing
away that rum bottle, why don’t you get some chopsticks and start making a perfect
ecosystem for a tiny man? By making a terrarium every now and then, you’ll be able to save
potential waste from rotting in dump sites. The art of terrarium making is not only a calming
hobby on the weekends but it can also be a small way to save the ecosystem we currently
live in.
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