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I started out by buying a few cans of Great Stuff from my local Home
Depot. I don't know if it is available exclusively there or not -
they always have a big display of it right when I walk in. Anyways,
I got some and decided to try it out. I read the instructions and
after using it, I must stress: BE SURE YOU WEAR GLOVES AND EYE PROTECTION.
This stuff is a pain in the butt to work with. It comes out sticky,
stays sticky for about an hour, and will dry on your skin for over a week
(I know from personal experience. If you are a long-haired freak
like I am, be sure that your hair is well-tied behind your head.
If you do by chance get some on you, be sure you have some acetone (fingernail
polish remover) handy and it will come off. They suggest being in
a well-ventilated room and I must agree, especially if you are sensitive
to organic fumes.
Other supplies you will need are masking tape, bendable drinking straws, material for the base of the tree (heavy cardstock, foamcore board, plastic, an old CD, etc), and material for the center of the tree (papertowel rolls or a manilla folder rolled up and taped work well). Throw down some newspaper to prevent the Great Stuff from getting on your table and you are all set. |
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To make the scaffold, I took a manilla folder, cut it in half, rolled
it in a tube, and taped it down. I poked holes in the tube and taped
the straws in on a slight angle so that they looked like little spindly
legs all about the same length. I then securely taped the legs to
the base that I was using (this example shows me using corrigated cardboard
- I would not recommend using this as it became slightly warped when I
later flocked the base. I would recommend a black foamcore board.
Black because then you don't have to paint the edge black before you flock
it).
Be sure you take the time to securely tape the legs to the central tube - when you add the Great Stuff, the weight of it may collapse the legs. I learned this the hard way. Also, take some tape and tape up the top of the tube so that the foam can rest on the top. I didn't bother covering the bottom of the tube. |
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Now the fun part - applying the Great Stuff. Like I have said
before, this stuff is kind of difficult to work with at first. It
comes with an attachment that you screw on the nozzle that will allow you
to apply the foam in tight corners. I would not recommend using this
for the trees because the control of the foam is not that great with the
attachment. When you depress the lever, there is about a two second
lag time before the foam comes out. When you stop pressing it, foam
will continue to come out. This simply wasn't acceptable, so I took
it off. To get the foam to come out, all you have to do is press
the nozzel toward the edge. You can even control the amount of foam
coming out by how hard you press the nozzel. After a while, your
finger will get tired, but that's the price you pay for control.....
Now start at the top of the tube and slowly let the foam out in strips from top to bottom. If you are gentile, the foam will stick when it contacts the tube. You should move in squiggly lines to give the tree some texture (I was going for a gnarled, vine-encrusted look for the trees). When you get to the legs, you need to put a thin layer down over the drinking straws - if you put on too much, it will fall under its own weight. When this dries, you can put on a second layer to cover up any of the exposed straw. To get the underside of the straw, I found that I needed to use the attachment that came with the Great Stuff - don't worry, if it looks a bit sloppy, it will all be covered by paint. |
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To paint the trees, I started with an undercoat of black. Spray paint works very well for this. I tried using a very thin paint, but I had to use several coats and it still didn't work. When it was done, it looked like this: |
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I next drybrushed the tree with brown, and then highlighted with a light brown. |
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I wanted my trees to look like moss-covered giants, so I then dry brushed with a forest green, followed by a leaf green, and then a light highlight with yellow. |
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The next step is to flock the base. I mixed white glue (Elmer's)
1:1 with water, brushed it on in sections (roughly quarters), and then
sprinkled flock over the glue. Be sure you do this over a box top
so that you can recover your flock! If you've never done this before,
sprinkle (hell, pour) the flock over the glue, let it sit for a few seconds,
and then tip the tree and shake gently so that the excess falls off into
the box.
The next step is to seal the tree and the flock. To do this, mix your white glue about 1:10 with water and put this in a spray bottle (you can get these for about a buck at the local grocery store). Put the nozzle on the "mist" setting and spray liberally. The glue will soak into the flock and when it dries, it will prevent the flock from falling off. It will also help keep the paint from scratching on the tree. To decorate the the tree, you'll need lots of foliage. I used plastic greenery that I obtained from my local craft store (Michael's - they often have greenery at 40% off - it pays off to be a regular visitor to your local craft store so you can keep the costs down because this stuff can be expensive) Basically I picked a theme for the main foliage of the tree and put this on top. I then put several different leaves on the sides and at the base to represent parasites and epiphytes growing in the nooks and cranies of the trunk. I bought lots of different types of leaves, flowers, berries, and other colorful things to put in the tree. It all looks good. |
Below are some examples of other trees that I've made with this method:
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When you put them all together, you can have some dense jungle
terrain (this is a bit excessive - it is very difficult to move pieces
unless you are on a low table, but you get the idea)
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