Trees, nasty trees!

I've always meant to try making some of my own trees. It turns out that, at least so far, it's pretty easy. The photos here are the result of a bit over half an hour's work. And it's the easy kind of work, the kind that you can do in front of the TV.

I found some cheap wire at a $2 shop, probably enough for about five to eight trees. Using pliers, I cut it about 16-18 lengths, each about 50-55cm long. They get folded in half, giving you almost 40 strands. Hold all the strands where they were bent in the middle and twist to form a loop. This will eventually be the root system.

Holding the loop, split the strands roughly in two and twist together until you have about 6-8 cm twisted. Then choose eight strands to split off the first branch. Twist these strands together, so that they come out more or less horizontal. After about 3-4 cm of twisting, split them again, and continue in this way until you're left with individual strands.

Now go back to the rest of the strands which are forming the main trunk, and continue twisting. After another few centimetres, branch out eight more strands. Continue doing this until you run out of strands. I then cut the individual strands to length.

Finally, we form the roots. Separate out about four or five strands from the loop at the bottom. Twist them together for a bit so and then cut the bottom of the loop to form two roots. Use the pliers to twist the strands of each rot together. Repeat this process until all of the loop has been turned into roots.

Now just sit back and admire your work, possibly tweaking here and there to taste or to make the tree stand upright!

The next step will be to make a base for the trees and apply some bark. There's two options for the bark, one is ready made papier mache and the other is filler (spackle) mixed with PVA glue. Hopefully by the next time I post here I'll have made up my mind!