One of my favorite techniques for background trees is the tried and true bottle brush technique. They are cheap and easy to make. Even with my short attention span, I can knock out a dozen pretty quick.

Material List:

  • Sisal Twine
  • Wire - Lately I have been using 18 Gauge aluminum wire but I while I enjoy the flexibility, during the twisting phase the wire loop breaks sometimes. I will probably switch back to regular steel wire for the next batch.
  • Walthers Goo
  • Brown Spray Paint
  • Coarse Ground Foam of desired foliage color. I prefer a bluish green.
  • Block of foam to hold the trees

Tools:

  • Wire Cutters
  • Scissors
  • Cordless Drill with hook to twist trees. Can be easily made from coat hangar. I happened to have a very light ground stake for a front-yard Christmas decoration.
  • Vise to hold the trees during twisting

Steps:

  1. The first step was to cut the sisal twine into approximately 12′ lengths and boil. Yes, my wife gave me very strange looks. After boiling for a couple of minutes I draped the wet twine over some pipes in the basement to dry. I attached a clamp to the ends to hold them straight. The boiling helps to straighten the fibers.
  2. Cut the fibers into pieces ranging from 1/2″ to 2 1/2″. I typically put them in three piles - short, medium, and long.
  3. Cut the wire into pieces approximately 2″ longer than twice the desired height of your trees. I typically create trees in the 4-8 inch range.
  4. Now the fun begins. Fold the wire into tight V shape and apply Goo to one leg of the V leaving about an inch clear on each end. Attach the twine pieces up the wire working from wide to narrow. Spread the fibers apart using your fingers. The Goo gets tacky very quickly and will hold the twine for the next step.
  5. Tighten the V together and clamp the free ends into the vise.
  6. Twist slowly until the fibers rotate around to complete the tree shape.
  7. Remove tree from vise and cut off top loop with wire cutters. Leave the free ends for a trunk to hold onto. Trim the stray strands with scissors and make it look like a tree. Next, apply fairly heavy spray paint. Your lungs would appreciate it if you did it outside. If you have to do it inside, use a respirator.
  8. Sprinkle on ground foam from top, bottom, and sides. Shake off excess. If you are smart you will do this over top of something in order to recover the excess. Do not do it over the area you used for the spray paint step. It goes much faster if you batch each of the steps.
  9. Stick it into foam until planting time and enjoy. Here are some completed trees waiting to become famous on the layout.

Only about 2000 more to go!