Slywip - Artificial Christmas Tree 8-18

Slythar · **Posted:** Thu Aug 18, 2011 12:12 am

I started some trees and sometimes I take awhile to complete a project so I thought I'd share what I'm up to.

I've been wanting to make some trees out of an artificial Christmas Tree and I finally found one out on the street... sweet. After looking at the shape of the stems I've decided to make 'The Lombardy Poplar' seen mostly in Britain and Ireland. It's height ranges 66' to 98 so to make it to scale (1" = 6') they need to measure 11" to 16". Also its truck diameter is 5' so thats rought 7/8" for the truck. Wow thats thick. Unfortunately the longest stems I have measure 9" so that will have to do. To go with the shorter tree and I'll reduce the truck size to 1/2". I'll get back to the taller trees with the branches from the top of the Christmas tree... they're really long.

After fiddling around, the base I'm using is a Poker Chip followed by a Fender Washer. Reason being once I thread the tree thru the poker chip its not going to be sitting flush on the table so the Washer will sit below leaving room for the stem.

So that's where I am so far. I need to take more green stuff off to show the tree stem.

Erunion · **Posted:** Thu Aug 18, 2011 2:53 am

Great idea! I picked up some Christmas village trees on clearance at Walmart a couple years back. I got about 20 of the taller (8") ones for 50 cents each and some smaller bushy ones (1-2") for a quarter. I bought all they had! They look like the ones in this picture, but don't have any snowy stuff on them.

Slythar · **Posted:** Thu Aug 18, 2011 3:29 am

I watched a video on YouTube with same snow trees. Kinda funny when he washed them they all started to unravel.

Oldman Willow · **Posted:** Thu Aug 18, 2011 10:39 am

The trees look good. :yay:

Quote:

I watched a video on YouTube with same snow trees. Kinda funny when he washed them they all started to unravel.

Did he use the washing machine? :roll:

I comb some of the snow off and spray paint them green then add flocking to mine. The local store owner hand painted hundreds for the store. Mine last longer but his are fine.

The trees have been handled hundreds of times and a little white shows. If you take a little more time with them they look better.

The two wire trees on the right are the Walmart trees after painting and flocking.The small one is the same brand as the store tree. The trees in the back ground are D&D treemen with fiber net foliage.

If you flock some of the trees I think you will be happier with them. :idea:

GothmogtheWerewolf · **Posted:** Thu Aug 18, 2011 4:50 pm

Looks interestin. I wonder what the finished project will be.

Slythar · **Posted:** Fri Aug 19, 2011 1:46 am

Back to work. I crazy glued the tree and bases together. I was thinking of doing roots but I believe these were grown because they didn't show roots naturally so I skipped that part. Next was the trunk. I grabbed what I had for tape which was Black Electrical Tape and wound around till I was about 3/8" thick. Some gaps in the bottom and top had to be filled. I had a left over drum of Redi-Filler which is used to patch drywall so why not give it a try. I slopped it on like Demi Moore in Ghost and set it to dry. I'll have to wait till tomorrow to determine what to do next.

Note to self. Maybe next tree I can use a glue gun instead of Crazy Glue.

Oldman Willow · **Posted:** Fri Aug 19, 2011 6:27 am

Looks good

Are you going to flock the tree?

Red Corsairs · **Posted:** Fri Aug 19, 2011 1:13 pm

Great idea for trees and it looks rather good, good job!

Slythar · **Posted:** Sat Aug 20, 2011 1:08 am

I plan to shake and bake it with some light green leafy colors. I was thinking of just using Woodland Scenics Fine-Leaf Foliage.

My wife was a little miffed at me until I told her I found the tree for free. She thought I bought it and was furious as I was cutting it up with tin snipes. Priceless. I'm pretty clear on doing this as cheaply as possible, but I think I saved enough money to splurge on some good flocking.

Oldman Willow · **Posted:** Sat Aug 20, 2011 2:42 am

I use this http://woodlandscenics.woodlandscenics. ... y/FineTurf over lichen.

Slythar · **Posted:** Sat Aug 27, 2011 12:28 am

I needed to buy some turf and foliage to cover the tree but the store was open during a period where overtime was available at work. I finally got some (decided to not work OT, take wife out too). I used Woodland Scenic's Course Turf and Light Foliage in Light Green. I had to rip up the foliage into strains and put the Course Turf into a plastic bag and mixed it up. Then I 'Shake and Baked' the tree as planned (I really wanted to do this way). The half mixture of glue was not working too well so I went full strength. It needs to dry then I'll seal it with 1/8 Mix of glue.

Impressions. I can't really notice the foliage and I'm wondering if that was not a good idea. Maybe instead the fine turf would of been better for coverage. I was also thinking once its all dry I can spruce up the tree by cutting all the uncovered limbs. That's all for now. (I got other WIP but I want to finish this tree)

Oldman Willow · **Posted:** Sat Aug 27, 2011 2:04 am

Try hair spray to seal it :idea:

Slythar · **Posted:** Sat Sep 03, 2011 2:26 am

The final hurrah with a picture of the real thing to compare it with. I applied sand to the base and base coated the bark and the ground a Dark Brown house paint. I'm using DecoArt paints for terrain because its a buck. Then I wet brushed the bark Maple brown and dry brushed the ground Chocolate Brown. Then I highlighted everything with Tan. I got the miniature hedge trimmers to clean up the ends of the foilage and applied a Battlefield Grass mix from Army Painter. All done. I'm happy with this little project and can't wait to pump out a forest of them. Awesome!

Slythar · **Posted:** Sat Sep 03, 2011 2:28 am

Another thing I thought of while at work, they sell 6' rolls of Vinyl Decking by the foot so I got a 4' off-cut (with permission) for free. Its bumpy and your trays will slide with ease which is not the case with sand basing. Plus you can roll it up and store it. The opposite side is fuzzy so I'm thinking of painting it for grass or snow. You can check out sample coloring HERE!!!

02-End Game by Slythar, on Flickr

Slywip - Artificial Christmas Tree 8-18

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