Hey, LuckyJoe- If you're over here, here's a photo of a finished tree. I realized in the steps shown below, I neglected to actually show a finished tree! So here's a photo to inspire ya! For wild west terrain, I would just use the branches cut off the main stem; trees weren't too big in the scrub of the west (and you'll get a lot more trees for your buck :)
The willow trees use the same stems, but use a different technique: The trunk is actually a bundle of floral wire twisted together and wrapped with white floral tape (touched up with paint to make the birch markings.) As you get higher up the bundle of floral wire (your trunk), you pull out one or two ends of wire to form branches. Thus, the more wire you start with at the bottom of your trunk, the more branches you can have at the top. The branches' floral ends are cut branches from floral stems which are spliced and glued to the floral wire branches. They are then wrapped with more floral tape.
The effect, in my opinion, is more stunning. The construction is also more controlled and using the floral wire allows the branches to be bent into any shape you need. These willows are the only I have ever made- definitely a labor-intensive technique.
Wow, Curly, those are nice. I especially like the birches. I want to give those a try, soon. I was at Hobby Lobby today, but couldn't find any good mats. It figures, florals were 50% off, too. Thanks for posting the finished pics, that was very kind and helpful of you.
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ReplyDeleteHi, Carmen. I found some Natural Brilliance floral stems at my Hobby Lobby and am trying to make some trees per your tutorial. One question: Did you insert the base of the tree into the hole in the cd, or do you cover the hole with something first and glue the base of the tree onto the plugged-up hole? It's hard to tell from the picture but it looks like the latter. If so, what did you use? I'm thinking I can a superglue a poker chip onto the cd over the hole. Thanks,
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