Zen Garden for Mini Human

Thank you for checking out my miniature zen garden! This should fit in some pockets, so you can take this around with you. Some sand might leak, but when working with cardboard, it's pretty hard to get perfect. This is a pretty easy build, so enjoy!

• At least 2.5 tablespoons of white sand
• Three small pebbles
• Toothpicks
• Skewers
• Cardboard
• Hot glue
• Acrylic sheet
• Spray paint
• Exacto knife
• Ruler
• Good scissors
• Hot glue gun

First, I used isometric paper and drew my design. If you want to change the size of it, you can, but I would suggest following my design. It is good for me, but because I am a short kid, it is a little small to fit my pocket. If you have big pockets, you can scale it up or do what you want! Feel free to edit my idea. This will guide you along with measurements and make sure it turns out how you want. Do not feel obligated to do this step. You can just print the “blueprints” and follow them. This is just a rough sketch and I made many changes along the way.

You will need to cut out the cardboard pieces using an exacto. All of the pieces include

2 9/16 X 3 in.

1 1 X 3 in.

2 1 X 5 in.

1 5 X 3 in.

1 ½ X 3 in.

Use a hot glue gun and glue the cardboard together following the pictures and isometric paper. Make sure there aren’t any leaks. I checked by blowing into the side and putting my fingers inside of it. I then marked where leaks were with a pencil. I then glued it with my hot glue gun.

To make the tools you will need skewers and toothpicks. When I say glue, that means to use hot glue. Cut two toothpicks so they don’t have any points. Then, cut two pieces of skewers to 1 inch long. After that, cut a toothpick into pieces that are ⅛ of an inch long. Use 4 and glue them onto one piece of skewer. Glue that piece of skewer to one of the pointless toothpicks. Repeat this with the remaining pieces. You should have a rake and a smoother.

To make the ridge for the acrylic sheet, you will need and exacto knife. Cut along the inside of the left and right walls in line with the front, shorter barrier, second barrier, and under the lip on towards the back. This will insure that the acrylic will slide in nicely.

This step is optional, but I would highly suggest doing this. It will make you build look much nicer and a lot cleaner. First, you will pick your color. I went with gold because I thought it would fit the aesthetic, but it turned out looking more like sparkly mud from the slums of Fairyland. Despite the difference, I am still pleased with how it turned out. You can pick any color you want which should be accessible from any craft store.

Go outside and put the cardboard in a place where you can get spray paint. I put mine on a box on my front porch. After I did a layer on the top, I went inside and waited. After that, I flipped it over and did a coat. I could still make out what the box said, so I let it dry and did another coat. It was looking good! Make sure that if it is windy, don’t let it blow away.

For cutting acrylic, make sure that you have parental vision if you are younger and you have extra if you mess up. Use a ruler and draw a 2 15/16 inches by 5 inches. It is a little shorter on one side so it slides in and sticks out a little bit to grab. Then, use a plastic sheet cutting tool and follow along the lines you drew with the sharpie and snap it. I had my dad help me with this.

I also bought this from Hobby Lobby. I bought a lot of black pebbles and used those. If you can find a pack with less, I would suggest this. I picked out three small, flat, smooth pebbles. These will go in the sandbox. Then, I got many flat pebbles and put them in the tool container. This is so that the tools will be raised up. I like this look a lot, but it doesn’t have too much of a purpose beside that.

Enjoy! I made this so you can carry it around at you and if you feel a little *zenny*, you can pull it out and rake. People might stare, but hey! Also, I don’t have a mini human, so Luna can model for it. Thank you!