Hey, I'm making a diorama with trees in it, however I can't get my hands on any tees. So anyone have ideas on how to make some from scratch? Any kind of trees will do, but preferably the non pine trees. Thanks!

Hi

You can take a look at Jan'sarticle for some tips :
https://armorama.kitmaker.net//features/135

HTH

Frenchy

Thanks, but I need to know how to make the foliage from scratch as well, without snow. But thanks for sharing that website, now I know how to make the trunk!

Can I suggest you get hold of the Let's build a Diorama book #2 as reviewed below. Some excellent articles on how to make all kinds of trees.

Andy

OK so go with the tree that Frenchy directed you to. Then for foliage get some steelo (steel wool) - get the plain not the soap impregnated stuff - I got mine from Coles.
Unroll one of the rolls of stel wool and tease a 1-2 inch section off and then tease this piece out to aboiut a 4 - 6 inch oval shape.
Place that shape loosely over the ends of a few branch ends and shape it around them a bit so it finishes up being about a 2/3 sphere over them. You can use a bit of PVA glue/aquadhere to hold this in place.
Then get some different herbs - I used mint, parsley and something else that looked leafy - marjoram I think - all Masterfoods bottles again from Coles.
Use some spray adhesive - I had a can of 3M I think - from Bunnings - and spray the steel wool on the tree, then shake the different herbs onto this. Hint place the tree on some newspaper when you do this to collect all the leftovers which you can then tip back over the tree. You may want to do this a couple of times for a more leafy appearance.
If the tree may be viewed from the "inside" you may then turn the tree upside down and repeat the process to hide the steel wool from prying eyes.
From memory I thought that this look made the tree look too uniform and I airbrushed a greenish mix over the top just so there was some contrast between the top and bottom of the leaves.
A final satin coat preserves the herbs and also gives a bit of a glisten to the leaves.
I made this tree about 6 years ago now and it still looks like it was done yesterday - but the lovely smell has now gone. It took about 6 months to go so my study was very aromatic.





The first photo gives a bit of a close up of the leaves which hopefully makes sense of the above description. The second photo just gives you an idea of the setting this tree was put into - I would say that it is about 10 inches high and probably about the same in diameter.

Brian

I use tree roots to start or wire strands twisted and coated with thined down putty. With the roots you can add branchs of smaller roots or of twisted wire and coated. To fill in the upper branchs I use furnace filters or scrung pads pulled apart and spray painted. This way my trees fit the scene I want. For leaves I use silfor seeds. A slow but nice look. Paint leaves to your color after appyling. I will be trying out some leaves from plus models as soon as they arrive. They are printed paper with stems. Like I said, it;s a slow process but I think they look better than the sprinkled on spices as they look more like real leaves. don't forget the root syestem as most hard wood trees have them showing to a point. Hope this helps you.

Frenchy- Thanks for the link you posted. It sure solved my problem of how to make
tree trunks and branches!
Andy- Thank you for sharing! I will try to get that book. But I don't see a link below!
There is a "/review" of the book in forums, though.
Brian- Cheers mate! That's a great idea. Both the tree and the diorama it is in
look great. More photos please!
Bob- Yes, it does help me! Thanks!
Thanks everyone!