After many conversations and online research and a very resourceful trip to Plant Life on Cork Street.
I gathered the following items to create the Kokedama
Fern – Indoor, Fern – Outdoor, Moss from various locations, twine, Earth/Clay, spritzer with water and scissors.
Method
1. What you’ll need
You’ll need a suitable plant, florists’ wire, string, secateurs and wire cutters, a piece of hessian and some sheet moss, plus a mister for misting the plant and moss at the end.
2. Form a root ball and wrap it up
Remove the plant from its pot, water it so it’s moist, and then mould the compost surrounding the roots into a ball. Wrap the root ball in a little bit of hessian, securing it with string or a piece of florists wire. The hessian will keep the compost in place.
3. Use string and wire for hanging
Using string and florists’ wire, make a loop from which you can hang the kokedama. Tie the string to two pieces of wire and attach them to the hessian on both sides.
4. Roll out your moss
“I think it’s best to use sheet moss, which you can get from most florists. It’s moss that’s more knitted together, so bits aren’t going to drop off. You can use sphagnum moss but you have to bind that in,” Dunster advises.
Note : Do not take from the Forrest as it is now endangered and important for the Forrest – instead of using Round up just use it from your pavement / backgarden.
Sheet moss is harvested from woodland areas in the countryside and comes in big pieces. Roll the moss out with a rolling pin before wrapping it around the hessian, trying to keep it intact so the moss remains in one piece.
5. Secure it with florists’ wire
Once you’ve secured the moss around the root ball with florists’ wire, trim the overlapping excess with sharp scissors.
You can then put it on a table in a saucer, or fashion it so that it’s suspended with some bits of wire or string.
6. Don’t overdo the watering
“You only need to mist the kokedama every now and again. If it starts to dry out, sit the whole thing in a bucket of water overnight. They’re not difficult to look after. You just have to keep an eye on them,” says Dunster.
Depending on the plants you use, some kokedama can be taken outside during the warmer months to create a display. But at this time of year they come into their own indoors.
Artist in Residence 