Created back in 2020, this 30cm tall glass dome is home to a double-sided diorama depicting the door to the Secret Garden, upcycled from reclaimed, repurposed and natural materials. Inspired by the story "The Secret Garden" by Frances Hodgson Burnett, this diorama is split in two by a tall ivy-covered brick wall and a weathered wooden door.
Humble beginnings as always see packing foam on the wooden bell jar base, with a groove cut to house the glass bell jar later.
The wall is made from individual 'bricks' made from jewellery box foam inserts. Arranged and glued one by one, the foam bricks provide the perfect surround for the 1:12 scale wooden door.
After some time, the wall is complete, besides some work needed to make the bricks a bit more weathered.
The door has been aged with brown and green acrylics, and the foam bricks painted white, black, brown, red and green as the beginnings of an aged wall. Slate pieces make up the pathway inside the secret garden.
The story describes the secret garden as having been abandoned for 10 years, so on one side of the gate the pathway to the gate has been removed, leaving a flowerbed littered with leaves. The slate pathway left behind runs parallel to the wall. Copper wire repurposed from electrical cable is used to start the structure of the ivy.
Dense ivy requires lots of ivy leaves, larger ones hand-cut and smaller ones punched from paper.
Trails of out-of-control ivy begin to take shape and tangle down over the long forgotten door, made from more copper wire, paper strips and ivy leaf shapes.
Each leaf is applied one by one to create the curtain of ivy over the gate. The flower bed is infilled with brown soil, lead litter and lichen.
Coats of different shades of green acrylics bring life to the ivy. Paper roses can be seen on top of the wall coming from the other side.
The door to the Secret Garden is found by Mary with the help of a friendly garden robin, and it even helps her find the key to get inside. The robin, made from wire, polymorph, feathers, cocktail stick and microbeads sits in front of the slightly ajar door. Tufts of grass and leaf leaves litter the bed.
On the other side of the door, mostly leafless climbing roses scale the wall, made from copper wire, pink and white paper roses. In the flower beds, polymer clay flowers and a needle felted rabbit, one of Dickon's friends.
A view from the top shows the roses and the ivy meeting on the wall as well as a tiny pink and purple butterfly amongst the roses.
After over 45 hours work, the diorama is put safely under glass, best displayed on a turntable to show both sides of the diorama.
This diorama is sold, but contact Terra Rhapsody if you'd like a custom diorama made with earth in mind. Handmade in Wrexham.