Goblin Halloween Diorama- Part 24- Making Trees

I've been working on making trees for the diorama.  It is not hard, but it is time consuming.  As always, I am trying to work with what materials I have on hand rather than buying new material for every project.  There are plenty of ways to do something, and some of them may be easier than the method that I am using at this time.  However, I enjoy the creative process of looking at materials and making them into the object that I want it to be.  Reusing materials helps keep my budget in check, which is always a plus.  If someone wishes to make a diorama with less work and would rather spend the money to have a diorama completed sooner, then I recommend looking at model railroad builders magazines and hobby shops.  You can find trees and buildings on various scales and even peel and stick products such as a stone foundation for a building.  It is also a plus to be able to purchase everything already sized to the scale you would like.

Tree will be next to the house on the diorama.

 

I started with malleable aluminum wire, some small bits of Styrofoam, and masking tape.  In this case, the Styrofoam was a portion of a round one inch diameter rod.  I only had a small amount left, so I cut it into pieces and used tape as filler between the portions of Styrofoam.  I inserted four lengths of aluminum wire about 14 inches long through the Styrofoam rounds.  I pulled enough wire out from the bottom to form "roots" which will balance and stabilize the tree.  Then I used smaller pieces of wire to form the  secondary branches.  The wire was folded in half, then twisted around the main branches to form smaller branches.  These branches were taped into place.  I twisted the wires around themselves to the end.  Then I untwisted them about half way and spread the wires.  This gives the branches the twists and changes of direction that you see in real tree branches.  Once I had all my branches in place, I taped over the entire project to make it a little sturdier. 

I have completed the first tree.  Currently I am working on a second large tree.  Once that is complete, the trees will be covered with a layer of Plaster Cloth Wrap.  This cloth is the type of material that is used to make a cast.  Plaster permeates the fabric.  When wet the plaster spreads out over the cloth then dries to a hard finish.  I have some left over from another project.  I don't know if it will be enough to complete two trees.  When I run out of the Plaster Cloth Wrap, I may use paper mache' for the rest of the project or I may experiment with making my own plaster cloth.  (You guessed it, I have some plaster and cloth left over from other projects.)  Using the Plaster Cloth Wrap will be much quicker than paper mache' because it dries faster.

If you look closely at the first photo, you can see that I left off a little of the tape so that you could see the Styrofoam rod.  In the second photo, you can see a close up of the wires for the branches.  Soon they will be painted and ready to go onto the diorama.