Growing trees - Part 1

Hexworthy sits in a valley which hosts many trees, in fact some parts by the river are densely wooded. That means I'd need trees, and quite a lot of them. While I have made trees using the traditional (and effective) twisted wire method, it takes a long time - and my results weren't always that good. However, I have discovered Woodland Scenics "tree armatures", plastic mouldings for trees 5 to 7 inches tall, a pack contains 12 in 4 designs. 

The procedure I use is as follows:

• Cut off the base, any moulding lines and release marks
• Drill the base "peg" to accept a piece of straightened paper-clip wire, superglued in place. Drilling has to be done slowly and in brief bursts as the plastic melts easily, binding the drill
• Now the armatures are dunked in boiling water for a few minutes, this warms the plastic making it more malleable. 
• Remove and shake/dab off excess water, taking care not to get scalded - but the tree itself won't be too hot to touch
• Now twist the trunk. I grip at the lowest set of branches (sometimes pliers helps) and at the next set of branches up and firmly twist through about 60 degrees. Repeat at the next set of branches up, and the next... it gets easier as the trunk tapers. Each 60 degree (ish) twist means branches now fan out all around the tree
• Each branch then is then shaped and has its own branches twisted to hopefully natural shapes that fill the space

This is actually quite easy, although the pointy branches are not kind to the thumbs. 

The next step was to paint the trunks, mainly to try and get rid of the plasticky look. I mixed a colour close to that of the plastic so any bits not covered wouldn't stand out, with a little matt modge podge in with the acrylic paint to help it stick and stay matt. A thinner darker wash was run into the texture of the trunks although to be honest it made little difference. Maybe spraying would have been quicker, probably dry-brushing with different colours would have given a better effect but taken much longer...

Placing on the layout helps to figure out what trees will fit where, and is an encouragement. A hole is punched through the top layer of scenery and the wire "root" pushed into the foam below. 

Foliage can come from different sources, but the Woodland Scenics foliage works well, as does the similar Heiki-Flor foliage. Small pieces are cut then teased out in all 3 dimensions - tweezers help - to get a delicate spread. This is then threaded onto a branch covered with a little matt modge podge. In the process a lot of the foam "leaves" fall off, so when the tree is complete it is sprayed liberally with hairspray and the fallen leaves sprinkled back on. 

The effect works well, surprisingly well given it's ease, and can result in pleasingly light and delicate foliage - although the density of the tree depends how much foliage is applied and how far it is teased out. While not exactly quick - I guess the whole process takes about 2.5-3 hours per tree in total - these trees are much quicker to make than completely hand-made trees and look far better than most shop-bought trees.