OH MY! How wonderful! And I imagine you had a great time putting it all together too!

What are the super-tiny purple flowers growing up/on the obelisk?

I love the whole thing, by the way. Are you going to order any of the mini-plants from Rob's Violets?

It is really cute, great imagination. I think it needs a little troll under the bridge. :) Cindy

Sahoyaref... that is purple allysum on the obelisk.

Cindy... yes, a troll would have been great except there is no room for him to sit under there. He would have to be swimming! lol

Marly

Marley ..... Hi!

Just when I think you cannot possibly 'TOP' your last contribution ......... you submit another.

Your creativity must be endless!

I viewed, reviewed, and viewed again each of these pictures.

Every 'little' thing is remarkable....truly remarkable.

Getting past the ooows and ahhhs...

The free-standing walls....were they formed in a cookie sheet ..... free formed .... or?

If 'olddutchman' doesn't beat me to it.....I see a hacienda structure in my future from your 'stucco-ed outside walls ..... and a high mountain cabin comes to mind with your inside walls. You are getting me soooo off-track!

You really 'lite' my fire. Thanks for all the inspirations!

Best to you in all you do!
Dick

P.S. Did do a project .... noted on this forum....photos included. Papercrete ..... de-molded too soon ... tiny imperfections ..... but very pleased with accomplishment.
Now .... to find the 'lightest-weight recipe' for rock-solid papercrete.

HA! Love it! It reminds me of those Easter eggs made out of sugar. They always had the tiniest little meadows inside them with chickens, ducks, grass, etc.

You always amaze me Marly!

Marly,

Love your secret garden. It's so adorable. Looks like you put in alot of hard work into it. All the details are amazing. It really looks GREAT. How big is your secret garden? It looks like you have it tucked betweeen other plants? I can picture Fairies hiding behind the flowers and greenery. Makes me wish...LOL...I were Wee Tiny Folks to stroll in your Wee Secret Mini Garden(:>) Thanks for sharing your secret!

Sandy:)

You've made a garden dollhouse, lovingly crafted. Brilliant.

I was thinking "dollhouse garden" myself! Beautiful Marly! Any wee ones around to play with it?

Li

Definitely a place for 'little folks' and 'fairies'. You must have had great fun with this one Marly. A beautiful job.

Jilly

Marly...Absolutely Wonderful! I gotta' feelin' you may have started something we're gonna' see a lot more of in coming months. Great work.

I just HAD to share your Secret with several of my non-forum friends. So I need to pass along a dozen or so TOTALLY AMAZING AWSOME WONDERFUL FANTASTIC WOW AND I WANT ONE! responses that you wouldn't otherwise know about. I think you could sell them for big bucks!

Just droping in from "Cottage Gardening." It was suggested we take a look over here. What a neat idea. It sounds like some of the stuff is water proof. Would be fun to design your own fountain. Just imagine the possiblities when we can no longer lift and carry all that heavy stuff. I'll check it out again to see if their is a recipe for lighter weight material.
jan

Let me join in the wonderment ! You have inspired me, too. What a beautiful idea ! It just hits the spot. I've been thinking of small things and never have put it together. I think I can I think I can I think I can ! Thank you so much for the inspiration.

Gasp!!!!!!!!!!!

Michael

Marly,
WOW! I totally fell in love with your "secret garden". It's SOOOO CUTE!!! I especially liked the little Japanese lantern! HOW did you ever make that?? ARGGG, it's so CUTE!!
--Marianne--

Marly,
You never cease to amaze me! This is just magical! Tufa a great G into your forehead for genius! How did you manage to keep this secret so long!
Leigh

That's so sweet! Way to go Marly. Peg

We definately need a Marlytorial on this! Now that we have all ooooo'd and ahhh'd! YOU KNOW WHAT WE WANT! How'd ya do it?????

Looks like your secret is out. Your secret garden is very enchanting. Amy

Would love to spend some time there. If only I could shrink down enough...

Whimsically wonderful, Marly!

Eva

Greenfeet... what exactly do you want to know about how I made it? There are so many different projects all involved in the total 'look' of this garden. I explained the walls at the beginning of this thread, the tufa items were mostly made with hardware mesh armatures, the bridge isn't exactly on the tufa theme for this forum! lol So I don't think you want instructions on that. The 'flagstones' are just very thin concrete all broken up. I poured the crete about 1/4" thick and let it harden and then had a great time breaking it up. I used those same 'flagstones' to make the retaining wall. I used clear exterior silicone to glue the flagstones on top of each other to make the retaining wall.

I am so sure that I took some pictures of the beginnings of these little figurines. I'll have to go searching through my pathetic filing system on my PC. I'll post them later if I ever find them ok?

Thanks so much EVERYONE for all you kind comments. It means a LOT to me that you took the time to post a response. This project has been very dear to my heart for a long time.

Marly

Hi, I usually hang out at the Garden Junk forum and just lerk here. I like tufa but have not yet managed to make it enough of a priority to try. I know I will be hooked so some other things need to be done first. I have an old kitchen cupboard drawer with some mosses etc planted in it. Keep looking at it thinking it needs some paths or garden furniture or something. Your project is fantastic! The retaining wall is the ultimate for me. I love dry stacked walls. Thanks so much for the picture and instructions!!
Joyce

Marly,

You are truly gifted! I usually hang out in the daylily and Maine gardening forums and had this idea of making tufa pots and putting daylilies in them. Gee, I thought, why don't I pop over to the Hypertufa forum and see how it's done. How long did it take to make your Secret Garden? You really should sell professionally. People would buy up your works of art toot sweet. How about making some things and auctioning them off on Ebay?

Lisa

Marly, you have done it again, stunned and amazed us with yet another great creative idea so totally unique! I love your mini refuge it's awesome! Michelle

OK... I found the file folder I had stored these pics in.

Bench armature
{{gwi:71619}}

I thought this one had been made of hypertufa but I believe I made it with concrete afterall. I did it in two steps. Once the seat had hardened I did the 'legs'.
{{gwi:71621}}

This is the way I made the planter that is in the corner.
{{gwi:71622}}

And this is the beginnings of the gazing ball! lol I filled the latex glove finger and put the marble on top so that the tufa would take the shape of it.
{{gwi:71623}}

I then propped the glove finger in sand until it hardened. Then I added the shape to it afterwards.
{{gwi:71624}}

This is how I did the slab walls ... it isn't the wall of the mini garden pictured here but I used the exact same method to make the one wall of a birdhouse I made.
{{gwi:71625}}

And this is a pic of me practicing the layout indoors. I taped a couple of sheets of paper together to make the approximate size of the garden and used that under the figures and retaining wall so I would have an idea of how many more 'flagstones' I needed to make.
{{gwi:71626}}

Sorry, I don't have any pics of the arbour or the lantern being made. The lantern is tufa, and I made the lantern in four mini pieces just like a large lantern. Then i glued them together and carved little windows in the lantern and painted them yellow to indicate a flame inside.

OK, I think that about covers it.

Oh, and thanks very much for the suggestion of Ebay ... I have been considering going into business but thought the mailing costs of tufa or concrete would be prohibitive. But if I try to sell miniatures, I think that Ebay would be just the place to try it out! Thanks again!

Marly

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

What can I say that hasn't already been said? This is just fantastic. I am thinking it might be a nice project for my Granddaughter and I to work on. I simply love the idea.

Marly .... Marly .... Marly !!!

Now 'it' is armatures ....

I think I just learned a lot more from you .... again!

Question:
Did you consider, over-look, or dismiss the idea of using some sort of 'skin' on your wire frames?

I know Bonnie has used it. Link to her photo below.
Others have mentioned it. I think peakpoet has. ('Drywall tape?') It would be used just like the historic 'paper mache' strip usage for a 'surface' to layer upon.

Forgive me 'others' for not giving you credit as well.
Can't find the messages to reference at the moment .....

Also .... someone mentioned about 'tufa falling thru chickenwire frames. .... (got to find that one too!) This could be a solution for them.

Have already realized I have so much to learn .......
about papercrete (I think my preference for projects) then you add more good stuff ..... and here I go again .... more to learn!

Thanks ... again.

Best to you in all you do!
Dick

Here is a link that might be useful: Roll of plastic tape stuff

Marly-O! (I call her that because I'm always looking at her great stuff and involuntarily saying out loud...Marly, OH...how beautiful! or OH...how creative!)

This thread was almost a 'secret' to me too....it was posted while I was away and this forum is so active it was a few pages back and I had to dig to find it...but I'm so glad I did because I wouldn't have missed finding your mini garden for the world. It's perfect! Hat's off to you for sticking with a project that obviously took a long time and a lot of thought and planning!

Get that ebay business up and running soon...I'm sure the dollhouse enthusiasts will be grabbing them right and left - you'll have more orders than you could ever possibly fill!

Kathy/Longlocks

P.S. Got any mini wind chimes in that there garden? LOL!

Marly, I had no idea you were doing that sort of thing, how perfect. I love the flagstone wall, reminds me of my Irish father always building walls in our yard from rocks he found in the mountains. What a gift you have and the level of thought you put into all your projects is totally inspiring and amazing. Thank you for sharing your little secret with us. Hugs, Ruth

I must have missed this the first time around. BEAUTIFUL ! Such patience and talent.
Joel

Hi Everyone! I just noticed that this thread got 'bumped' again! lol I am sitting here wondering how my mini garden is making out under all that snow out there in the garden! I brought all the miniature furniture inside for the winter but left the walls and retaining wall in the garden. I am hoping all the pieces are still one unit come spring. I left the miniature perennial plants in there as well. I never did get making these mini gardens to sell ... yet! I have it on my 'to do' list. I have a miniature japanese lantern sculpted in separate parts. I sculpted it in plasticine and will make a silicone mold of all the parts. Next I plan to sculpt a bench in three pieces. I haven't found a design that I am happy with yet. It will come to me later.

I was re-reading this whole thread and was so boosted up emotionally by all your incredibly kind comments. I have been in such a 'funk' lately and I just wanted to say that you all have lifted my spirits! Thank you!

Marly

Sorry you're in a funk Marly. You're such a talented woman and are such a ray of sunshine in here all of the time. Click your heels together and repeat after me..."there's no place like spring, there's no place like spring..." OK, so maybe I should keep my daytime bumping job and leave the lifting to Mary Poppins... :-)

OH My, Oh Me, Oh My!

What a wonderfully creative imagination you have Marly.

I Thank You for sharing.

-and-

Thanks for the 'bump' lazydaisy

I needed 'another' Obsessive, compulsive addiction ....... LOL

*/;-)

Marly, what a labor of love! You have created such a magical little thing!!!

Hi Marly,

Watch and see if the "little people" of Patrick's Day try to move into your secret garden...Barb

A Marly Special!

Awesome

Absolutly Stunning.! I Love it.!! I build & furnish dollhouses and I have been drawing up plans to eventually have real living flowers in the gardens instead of fakes!
What an inspiration.! You have really done a great job.!
Kelly

Everytime I look at this I think of a "Barbie" Dream Garden. I always had to build stuff for mine when I was a kid because we couldn't afford the "real" plastic stuff (that's all worth a fortune now). Wouldn't this be cool to build for some little girl you know that's into Barbie? ...not that I don't love it at my age now.

That's the most astonishing thing I ever saw!! You're a genius!

My jaw is still on the floor!!!!
Oh my gosh!! It's sooooo beautiful!!

I'm a total newbie with only one bowl completed, but your project has inspired me! I have tried to put some little thing of intested in each area of my garden and started with hypertufa as a way to expand on that. But I had never even considered the mini-world idea (although I was thinking about a tiny Stonehenge). Wow... Wow... Wow...

From now on, I'll be calling these little places "Marley Worlds".

Thanks!

(the garden too!)
It's so darling, you know many people are drawn to miniature items... I think it's a worldwide thing. You stop, you lean in, you peer at every little item... it makes you smile!
I'd love to try one or two myself... like if I get another life after this one! I'll never have the time to do half of the things I'm interested in - how do some folks get so bored? I am never bored.
Our local Hm Depot has a really tiny groundcover called 'Brass Button' that would look great in there, it can't be more than 1/8 inch high!
Please let us know how it did over winter, I hope you got some nice moss going now.
GH-

Hi , This little garden sounds so wonderful. I like to grow miniature plants so it really appeals to me, but I couldn't vew the photos for some reason.

Yea, I'd like to see them too.

The little box where the picture was, says "My image for this link is no longer here." PhotoBucket.com must have a one year limit on photo storage. Buddyfly's pics were up by July '04 and Gardeners Hands post right before yours is July '05.

Bummer.

Can you repost 'em, Buddyfly? :-)