I need to make a lot of trees to cover the 11ft length of Sweethome Alabama in trees.
In addition to the 'sea foam' trees, I also make trees from moulded plastic tree formers (Woodland Scenics, Heki, etc). This time around I'm using florists soft wire and paper tape to make my own tree trunks, as shown in this topic.
I started with a 6inch bundle of wire and started binding it in brown paper tape, both of which are available from florists shops. Branches are bent outwards from the trunk and are bound with the paper tape, as I move up the tree
Each wire in the branches is bent outwards and cut to length, before moving on to the next branch. Here are some completed Scots pines and a sycamore, that are fully bound in the paper tape, ready for the next stage
The next stage follows...
Jon
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Once the tree former has been covered in the paper tape and I am happy with the overall shape, I add the tree 'bark'. For this I use an acrylic sealant intended for sealing round doors and windows in the home and the one I use was bought cheaaply from the British equivalent of a 'dollar store'.
I squirt some out onto a piece of old card which is used as a pallette. Being acrylic, I water it down a but so I can paint it on to the paper tape with an old modelling brush. The sealant dries quickly and can be built up in layers until get the effect I want.
Here are some sycamores that have been treated with the sealant. The bark and branches are now ready for painting
Even the wire off-cuts from the larger trees can be bundled together and used to to make smaller trees and bushes.
Next up is to paint the tree trunks and add some poly-fibre branches
I think you are either a great artist or a bit crazy. How long did that take you ? Great job ! When will you fill it in with leaves?
yougottawanta I think you are either a great artist or a bit crazy. How long did that take you ? Great job ! When will you fill it in with leaves?
Probably a bit of both. ;-)
To get the wire bound with the paper tape, shape the branches and cut off the excess wire:-Scots pines - 30 minutes eachSycamores - 45 minutes each as they have more branches (more wire to bind)small trees/bushes - 5 to 10 minutes eachEach tree takes about 5 minutes to add a coat of the acrylic caulkI am busy adding the 'bark' to the other trees and will paint them tonight, so the rest of the branches and leaves will be done over the weekend.
Great post Jon. I remember building a few YEARS ago.
Johnnny_reb Once a word is spoken it can not be unspoken!
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Jon, You rock! Those are excellent armatures, & will make great trees. Very nice work indeed!! Thank you for the well articulated 'how to' write up...
The bark has now been added to all the current batch of trees and allowed to dry. It was then painted with brown and grey acrylic paints, and drybrushed light grey.
The sycamores.........
The Scot's pines and the bushes/small trees were also caulked and painted, ready for the next stage of adding small branches from poly-fibre.
Great post, Jon. Approximately how many wires are in the bundle for your 'stouter' trees? When you add the paper tape do you wrap it around the trunk as many times as you want to fatten the trunk up a bit, or do you go around once only?
Thanks for taking the time to do this post.
Jarrell
I've glued on some black poly-fibre to the Scot's pines. This has been teased out to give a 'light and airy' feel to the tree and represents the smaller branches on the tree
Now for the sycamores and the bushes
jacon12 Great post, Jon. Approximately how many wires are in the bundle for your 'stouter' trees? When you add the paper tape do you wrap it around the trunk as many times as you want to fatten the trunk up a bit, or do you go around once only?
Thanks Jarrell.
I would guess that there are between 40 and 50 wires in some of the stouter trees such as the sycamores. I tend to use the paper tape purely to hold the wires together, but the trunk could be further bulked out with the addition of more wires/stripwood, card strips, etc and the paper tape wrapped round.
The number of wires I use is more determined by the number and thickness of the branches, rather than the girth of the trunk.
I used to twist the wires together to make the tree armature, until I saw a professional tree-maker using the tape in a demonstration. I promptly bought 5 rolls. Twisting the wires is both time-consuming and heavy on the hands.
The poly-fibre, available from ScaleTrees.com, has been attached to the bushes, although they now look more like small trees
I got the branches on the larger deciduous trees last night - I've stopped calling them sycamores, because they dont really look like sycamores any more.
After teasing out the branches, I added a layer of leaves to the first couple of trees. I will need to add some more leaves to the first tree, as the photo still shows too much of the branch material
Now to foliate the other trees
Beautiful work, as usual, Jon. Thanks also for the how-to tutorial.
Make sure that you put a tire swing in at least one of those trees of yours.
Tom
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Good idea Tom, will do. I'm also looking to model a couple of squirrels, if my fat fingers can manage something that small.
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I added the leaves to the remaining trees this evening and removed some of the excess polyfiber - not always evident until the leaf material has been applied.
The trees have been planted temporarily into the scenery to give an idea of how they will appear on the layout.
Jon, what do you use to bond the leaf material to the poly fiber and what material do you like best for the foliage?