Introduction:

I always wanted to have some more trees, especially some bigger ones. But the problem was it took ages to bend enough metal wire to get a tree thick enough to satisfy myself.

Every tree I made with wire converted my hands into a field of bleeding scratches and wounds. So I had been thinking for another way, a much easier and faster way to get beautiful, thick trees, suitable for Fangorn forest or spooky, chaotic trees. Then, one day, I came up with this idea.

Materials used:

Aluminium-foil
Plaster
Metal wire
PVA
Foam
Paints (Brown, Green, Grey)
Lichen
Basing materials (Static Grass, Flock, sawdust, etc.)

Step one - the tree

The basic material of my previous trees was always metal wire, in this new trick I used Aluminum-foil.

I started this first tree with 3 sheets of 30cm wide foil (30 to 50cm long).

Grab each foil together to get a kind of stick like you see on the picture.

Now turn the 3 parts around each other.

Continue doing that until you get a result like this. In the middle you see the trunk, down near the bottom are the roots, the three upper parts are the branches.

You can split up the tips of the branches (and roots) easily with scissors.

With a little imagination you have the basics of your tree.

Step two - the base

For the base of the tree I used a small piece of foam. Of course you can make bigger bases with more than one tree, or even a whole board.

I used PVA to glue the tree on the base.

I attached the roots better on the base with some bent metal wire.

Step three - finishing off

The base and tree were then completely 'painted' over with plaster. It's important to follow the direction of the lines you created with the Aluminium-foil as you are shaping the bark of the tree now. If you wish you can 'sculpt' a kind of face into the bark now.

Some stones are glued on the base with PVA.

Both base and tree are painted brown.

The base with it's stones was drybrushed grey and the tree was drybrushed green (to get a bit of a mossy effect).

Static grass or small green flock could be used on the base. I used fine sawdust instead of static grass, which was mixed well with some drops of grass-green paint in a beaker to get a nice green colour.

The base was finished off with some Flock. Parts of lichen are attached on the branches, and there you have a nice looking thick tree.

Here's an alternative base I did on a second tree, which looks better for Fangorn forests I think.

Only the border of the base got green sawdust (to be placed on a grass-mat), more stones and gravel was used and real moss (found it in my garden) and Flock finished it off.

I hope you enjoyed my way of making trees. Of course they are not as strong as the ones made with metal wire, but if they break, it's easy to fix it. Just add some superglue, plaster and paint it over.

The most important thing here I think is making the basics of the tree in only 2 minutes instead of 2 hours and it will be lots cheaper. This way you can make a whole forest in a very short time. Once the plaster is applied, you can start all over with a new tree and so on. And before you know, you will have a whole Fangorn madness!

Questions, ideas, and feedback are welcome!

Cheerz,
Iscarlsquell

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