Making Trees - Deciduous

Materials and Tools (Tree Making)

TOOLS and supplies (C) means conifer trees (D) means wire twist coniferous type.

(D) - Wire Cutters

(D) - Mini Spatula or painting knife (coffee stir sticks work great)

(D-C) - Sharp whittling or hobby knife (extra blades)

(D-C) - A good “Cut Anything” type pair of scissors

(D-C) - Small pair of hobby type scissors

(D-C) - Paint brushes, cheap hobby type.

(D-C) - A good quality Spray Adhesive This is one of the more important ingredients as you want good bonding strength but flexibility.

(D-C) - Spray Paint - Three (or more) needed - Primer (I like ruddy brown or red oxide colour), Flat Matte Black, and a Clear coat like Matte Lacquer. Any nice flat or matte browns you can find; avoid gloss and satin paints, as they are just too shiny.


(D) - Old lengths of extension or appliance electrical cords. (Check behind the junk store or walk up the street on garbage day with your wire cutters.)

(D) - A flexible "wire coating material" - Flex-Paste from Woodland Scenics or you can try a mixture of paintable acrylic window caulking and a drop or two or six of WeldBond.

(D-C) - And of course flocking; coloured leaf material. I use Woodland Scenics stuff quite a bit. It is readily available at most hobby stores. I use the fine turf and the foliage types. I have tried the clumping material with a fair amount of success too. There are some other materials out there but I have yet to see them at a store anywhere near me, usually you find them in small ads in some model railroad magazine. I’ve had good success using stale spices and herbs ground to the right size. I have not been able to figure out how to grind up foam rubber small enough yet or how to colour it. Fine sawdust also works and it you can dye.

Natural Sources

The dried roots of several plants work. Sunflower plant roots look great. Pull up the root ball, bang off the dirt, and let them dry out. The best willow branches; but they're fragile. Off of a large sunflower root ball you can usually find two or three really great looking swamp trees.

Dryed Baby's Breath plants painted brown and flocked look good enough Woodland Scenics will sell them to you. Why people buy them instead of making them I don't know.

Moss and lichens. I buy most of mine from Woodland Scenics (paint the thick stems brown and call them twigs) and other types I find and dry. But there are several wild ones that you can use. (Wolf lichen is poisonous, wash your hands and paint it or spray it with selaer)

More Trees

I will fill in this section better once I get the site up.

Basically, I strip the sheathing off of old electrical power and extension cords. Then I gather several strands together - as thick as I want the tree and 1-1/2 to double the height I want it to be. Then I twist them into a tree shape and trim off the excess wire.

I coat it with Flex-Paste mixed with some brown or black acrylic paint. When it is dry I add more paint where neccessary and flock them with Woodland Scenics Foilage.

<< Back to sisal pines << To the main page >> Home >>