'Building' a tree

Yes, that's right - 'building' a tree :)  I went to the model railway shop hoping to buy an autumn tree the other day but they didn't have any that already had their foliage on them.  I did manage to buy a variety of different colours of autumn foliage however, and since I had some kits for constructing trees already at home I thought I'd use those.  You can see them in the photo of the house and beginning of the garden from yesterday's post.  I started by spraying the trunks with plastic primer, then painting them with a colour that is similar to the branches of autumn foliage I had bought the other day.  Here is one of the tree skeletons painted.  You can see the original colour on the circular base bit.

The problem with them however is that they have nowhere near enough branches. even twisting them in different directions doesn't give enough branches in all directions and they certainly don't have enough small divisions.  So part of the foliage I bought was a large packet of these ready-flocked branches in autumn colours.  This is one of the lighter ones and there were also some that were a darker rust colour.

Now super-glue and I are not good friends but I figured that I would need to brave the monster if I was going to be able to glue the branches to the plastic tree.  By the way, if you are using superglue, cover up your good cutting mat first.  Wonder why I say that!  Anyway, I started by bending the ends of the longest branches and hooking them around the trunk of the tree, gluing them into place with the superglue.  Sometimes gluing my fingers too, as usual for me.  I did a sort of framework all over the tree then filled in with more branches, grading the size so that the shorter ones were at the top and the longer ones further down.  As I managed to glue more and more on it became easier because there were other branches already hooked around and I could just tuck the ends of the new branches into nooks and crannies.  There are still more to put in to fill empty spots and cover up places where you can see the wires of the added branches but here it is so far:

I've left this side a bit higher so some paving and a seat can go underneath it. 

the colours are richer in reality than they look in the photo, the flash has faded them somewhat which is disappointing, but you get the idea. I have also trimmed a couple or errant bits off since these photos were taken, but I haven't tried to make it even all round - after all, real trees aren't.

I also bought some 'crazy paving' pieces the other day at the model railway shop, and cut a bit out of one of the pieces for a paved area to go under the tree.  It's only around 2 inches long by 1 1/4 inches deep, with a small area jutting off one side for a bird bath to sit on.  

I sprayed this also with the plastic primer then sponged it with different shades of tan and brown to give a mottled stone effect.  Those methods I learned from the Petite Properties books come in so handy for so many things!  Here's a photo of the paving sheet in its original state plus the piece I have painted for the paving.  The colours aren't quite right in the photo because of the flash, but once again it gives you an idea.

The paved area will have a bit of a garden around part of it, and I've already made a garden bench and table to sit on it.  Maybe a couple of pots of flowers?  What a nice spot to sit and enjoy the autumn sunshine filtering through the trees.

This tree has taken virtually the whole packet of autumn branches that I bought, and it was quite a large packet.  I'll probably add some of the foliage clumps that I also bought as well.  I had planned on doing a second tree too but don't know now whether I will.  It means another trip to the shop if I do, plus I'm not sure whether it would be too much.  But I might do one and just see what it looks like anyway.  Here it is at the moment.

Having a good look at the tree i can see quite a few areas that need work but it's a start.I just wish the colours would show up as pretty as they are in reality.