iseecerulean

Thinking through the tide pool seascaping...

I am planning to build the seascape upward, in steps to match intertidal zones.

I have been accumulating flora and fauna for months, as I researched.  I’ve arranged the fauna by zone, with the exception of sea stars, which will be sculpted in situ...

I have lichens, flocking and lycopodium to serve as flora...

I have sand, small rocks, and crushed shells to serve as substrate, and some larger faux rocks Nancy made from air dry clay...

Nancy also sent some beach-combed treasure...

I’ve also a few items gathered from nature that aren’t meant to be anything that lives in a tide pool, but won’t look out of place if I need to use some as filler...

I am waiting for one more box of supplies before I start seascaping.  My friend Bill, who lives on the Pacific coast of Canada, assembled a mix of treasure for me, it is en-route now.  While I wait for it to arrive I have been happily engaged in Bill’s online research assignments.  :)

I didn’t get the base finished this weekend, but I worked at an enjoyable pace and got a more than fair amount done.

The rocks will barely be visible in the end, but I had fun painting and it was good practice.

I cut a piece of plywood for the back wall, stained and repaired a broken door, and started bricking.

I screwed in pier supports cut from Trex scraps left over from my daughter’s remodel.

The top surface of the pier will be made from strip cut from the Trex.  Trex is very, very messy to cut!  It makes ten times the sawdust.

The whole front of me was as covered as my arm.  I used the shop vac to clean most of it off.  My husband walked in as I was vacuuming my boobs...he rolled his eyes, turned around, then walked back out.  :D

The only thing that needs to be finished before I can move on to seascaping is the brick wall.  I can finish that this week in the evenings.

I am using magnetic cabinet closures to attach the rear wall, so I can have access to the interior of the conservatory.

The walled off square is room for electrical stuffs, should I decide to electrify.

I probably could have finished bricking the wall this evening, but I have to clean my studio at the end of every weekend, so I can use it for my office during the week.

Anything I work on during the weekday evenings has to be low-mess and fit on my rolling cart.

I am very much enjoying both working from home and having a clean room.

Before I can start landscaping, or rather, seascaping, the base of the contest build, I need to build the base for the conservatory.  The two builds will sit next to each other as part of a cohesive theme.  To have seamless flow it would be prudent to seascape them concurrently.  I’d like to finish the base this weekend, then I will show you the flora and fauna I’ve accumulated :)