I was poking around online when I stumbled onto ElGecko's design for a terrestrial utric pot. I wanted to have a whack at it.
Round 1:
I'll call my first try a prototype. I used gladware food containers bought cheap from a grocery store
I used a utility knife to chop off the bottom, cut some mesh to fit in the hole, and slathered it in silicone:
It was cheap, messy, and only semi-functional since I found out silicone is worthless for bonding anything to polypropylene. The mesh stayed attached if left untouched but after a little tugging, it began peeling off. Unacceptable to me: I'm too much of a perfectionist. So instead of trying to force a chemical bond with expensive epoxy, I went mechanical: nylon thread, a hole punch (fine for the Gladware; I had to upgrade to a drill for the next round), and needles.
Round 2:
materials and tools:
-Food containers from The Container Store. They're very solid, much more so than the Gladware containers from the prototype
-Nylon thread I already had lying around
-2 sewing needles
-plastic mesh from the knitting department of Michael's (craft store)
-A beer glass I found at the Dollar Store that fits the container quite perfectly...$1 each!
this is a stencil cutter I had lying around from different projects. Melting the plastic is easier for me but it isn't necessary; you could use a dremel or a hacksaw in its place. Scissors or a utility knife will work fine if your food container has thin walls, like the gladware prototype.
After melting the bottom off, drilling the holes, and cutting the mesh to fit, I threaded the nylon. I went overboard and tied a square knot between each hole, so each hole is individually anchored to the mesh (this was probably a completely unnecessary step, but as a result, this pot is solid). You could also probably do just fine with half or even a quarter of the holes I drilled.
The finished product:
If you look closely you can see a single strand of bladders.
This is U. sandersonii blue form and it's only been in the pot for about a month but its already growing under the water's surface, beginning to poke out the bottom. You can't see it in the picture but you can watch little tiny critters scurrying around in the water.
That about does it, what do you think? Again, this is not my original design, this is from ElGecko. I just did my own little tweak with it
I. Love. DIY projects!
---------- Post added at 02:07 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:54 AM ----------
puh, so apparently I misspelled Utricularia and now I can't fix it ><
Round 1:
I'll call my first try a prototype. I used gladware food containers bought cheap from a grocery store
I used a utility knife to chop off the bottom, cut some mesh to fit in the hole, and slathered it in silicone:
It was cheap, messy, and only semi-functional since I found out silicone is worthless for bonding anything to polypropylene. The mesh stayed attached if left untouched but after a little tugging, it began peeling off. Unacceptable to me: I'm too much of a perfectionist. So instead of trying to force a chemical bond with expensive epoxy, I went mechanical: nylon thread, a hole punch (fine for the Gladware; I had to upgrade to a drill for the next round), and needles.
Round 2:
materials and tools:
-Food containers from The Container Store. They're very solid, much more so than the Gladware containers from the prototype
-Nylon thread I already had lying around
-2 sewing needles
-plastic mesh from the knitting department of Michael's (craft store)
-A beer glass I found at the Dollar Store that fits the container quite perfectly...$1 each!
this is a stencil cutter I had lying around from different projects. Melting the plastic is easier for me but it isn't necessary; you could use a dremel or a hacksaw in its place. Scissors or a utility knife will work fine if your food container has thin walls, like the gladware prototype.
After melting the bottom off, drilling the holes, and cutting the mesh to fit, I threaded the nylon. I went overboard and tied a square knot between each hole, so each hole is individually anchored to the mesh (this was probably a completely unnecessary step, but as a result, this pot is solid). You could also probably do just fine with half or even a quarter of the holes I drilled.
The finished product:
If you look closely you can see a single strand of bladders.
This is U. sandersonii blue form and it's only been in the pot for about a month but its already growing under the water's surface, beginning to poke out the bottom. You can't see it in the picture but you can watch little tiny critters scurrying around in the water.
That about does it, what do you think? Again, this is not my original design, this is from ElGecko. I just did my own little tweak with it
I. Love. DIY projects!
---------- Post added at 02:07 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:54 AM ----------
puh, so apparently I misspelled Utricularia and now I can't fix it ><