Bite-Size, Portable Burial Grounds: Cemetariums are a Thing Now

Apparently, there’s a whole thriving subculture built around the putting-together and displaying of miniature cemeteries in glass terrariums. The sole purpose of these “cemetariums” seems to be their sophisticated cuteness:

This adorable trend has apparently been around for a few years, but I only heard about it myself this summer. How could I have missed it? I promptly committed to building my own.

Personalizing details were in order: what dimensions? Living plants? Tiny headstones, poking femurs, open graves? A bitty mausoleum or columbarium? Strewn remains, a la body farm? Bodyfarmarium!

I immediately set out for supplies.

It sounded so fun, but the execution, I soon found, was something else altogether. Logistical concerns promptly became evident: I enjoyed the idea of a living micro-environment established upon real moss (moss seemed to be the preferred medium for a cemetarium). To keep the moss alive, however, periodic misting with water would be necessary, necessitating an accessible terrarium.

Opening up a living, “working” body farm, however teensy, could present problems for containing the appropriate insect activity –an indispensable feature, in my opinion, but not ideal for my bookshelf, where the final product is intended to be displayed. (Except… what if it leaked? Might have to rethink the bookshelf placement.)

As I wanted to build upon live moss, I preferred to incorporate as many other live features (bugs) as possible. But keeping etymology to scale among such diminutive decay would clearly be out of the question, unless I wanted fruit flies, which, let’s face it, lack mortal drama. Many insects aren’t too large in real life, of course, but in such a small-scale replica, even a single standard-issue larval housefly obliterates the “cute” aspect with a Godzilla-esque horror — not the effect I’m after.

As for remains, formerly-alive organic slivers of pretty much anything should do the trick nicely, allowed to follow nature’s course upon their elfin bed of moss; so this part, at least, seemed a conquerable challenge. Thumbnail-scale skulls and ribcages are readily available online; perhaps I could mix and match a few with carefully placed bits of butcher-sourced (non-human) flesh?

I was willing to go this route, but creating the realism I sought proved beyond my skills (and motivation).  Once I discovered a number of ready-to-assemble available options online, though, I was sold: kits are so much better and complete than anything I might come up with on my own. Also, everything one needs is included – a perfect place to begin learning the art. I really like this one, by a professional terrarium guy offering a variety of terrariums, some with living plants, others with various miniaturized scenes. It was my original objective to put together my own cemetarium and include pictures with this piece, but it did not arrive in time for inclusion.

In any event, the idea is delightful, with endless possibilities the further down the supply rabbit-hole one wishes to descend. An entire thriving subculture on dioramas and miniaturization is out there to explore, and you can even find professional tools for getting just the effects you want.