Possible shell mount?

[knsrn]

Ok, first attempt at attaching images so please bear with me.

On Dirty Coconut's thread about Lava rock mounts there was a brief mention about mounting on conch shells, which sparked an idea of a potential mount for a possible future Haraella retrocalla.

I got good advice from estación seca regarding shell mounts, but I'm not sure if what I have in mind would work.

My five year old brought this up to me while we were on the beach and said "this is 'specially for you Mama, please keep it always", so of course, I must keep this always. I was just thinking he would get a kick out of seeing a plant in it.

What do you think? It is very smooth but very cuppy (?) I think it could hold a little clump of moss maybe? I am wanting to ultimately put it in a small terrarium where I will hopefully have a better chance of keeping it moist.

Please see below:

[DirtyCoconuts]

If you are going to try to mount to that it will be tough. But, you can easily use that as the decorative shell of a nice mount.

I’d still a small hole at the top for a wire. Then I’d take a nice piece of either lava rock or bark or cork and cut it to the rough shape of the shell

Then use a hot glue gun to fix the shaped mount into the shell and you can have the best of both worlds

My shell mounts now are reduced to three. I have a phal in a conch that has sphag in it in the smooth inside. Totally different application. I have a huge barnacle cluster that I have small tillys in. Also different. The last remaining one is a clam shell and there is a mini phal mounted on the BACK of that shell and it is very happy

[WaterWitchin]

What DC says... if mounting on outside. If mounting on inside (in the cuppy part) it will be fine. I have a conch that used to have a small orchid in it (the smooth part) and it worked just fine... I drilled a small hole at side, because I was doing semi-hydro in it. You could also drill a small hole at base if you want drainage with bark medium or sphagh.

[knsrn]

Thanks for the ideas DirtyCoconuts and WaterWitchin!

I think I will try to use the cup part with a tiny lava rock glued inside. You cant tell in the pictures but the shell already has some tiny natural holes from something, it almost looks like worm holes? I have not been able to figure out what this thing is exactly yet and its driving me crazy. Anyway, I'm going to try and add a few more holes for a little more drainage without cracking it.

I dont know if I can finagle a terrarium to hold an upright mount yet, so for the time being I plan to lay it in the center of a bed of moss. Maybe pillow? Not sure yet.

[WaterWitchin]

Show us a picture once it's done... looks like a really fun mount. What about putting it on a little display stand. Examples... Robot Check

[DirtyCoconuts]

do you have a decent drill and bits? any carbide or diamond tipped?

if you do you can very easily add a "kick stand" on the back to let it stand anywhere. just drill a hold at (between) 40-60 degree angle down and make either a metal (use 12 ga galvanized wire) or plastic and secure it into the mount with some aquarium caulk

[knsrn]

Those are both great ideas. I'm going to talk with my husband (it would be his tools) and see if he has any thoughts. He's pretty handy.

But stands are neat looking too! I might have to keep those in mind for future projects.