Step 1:

What you will need:

1. Plaster Cloth

2. Bases to mount the trees on (I used the flat 60mm GW bases)

3. Armature wire (Or some other easily bendable thicker wire)

4. Wood Glue

5. Sand for the bases

6. Red, Orange, Black and Gray Paint (Or white to mix with black)

7. Knife to cut the Plaster cloth

8. Bowl to fill with water

9. Wire cutters/pliers

10. Paint burshes

Step 1:

Cut 8x 8” sections of wire for each tree you want to make.

Each 2 wires will make one branch, so if you want more or less branches add or subtract 2 wires.

Bunch up your set of wires for a tree and grip them with the pliers twisting the wire to create the trunk. After you have a long enough trunk, go ahead and twist out the branches. After you have twisted them out, bend them around enough to look like a gnarled tree. Trim the “roots” so that they fit on the base you are using.

 

Repeat this as many times as you would like trees.

Step 2:

Warning: This will make a huge mess. Either, do it when you parents/spouse are not home, or give them fair warning that you are going to clean it up.

Cut an 1” to 1.5” strip off the Plaster Cloth

Fill a bowl with water and get one of your trees. Submerge the plaster cloth for a second then remove it. Do not squeeze it out. I would recommend doing this somewhere where it will not matter if you drip plaster all over the place. I used the kitchen sink (don’t tell my wife!). Start wrapping it around your armature until you have covered it all. You may need to cut multiple strips to cover the whole tree. You can also press it down and smooth it out in areas as needed. Do not move to slowly either as the plaster strip can harden on you while you are working with it. Repeat this until all the trees are wrapped

Once they are all wrapped up set them aside to dry for a few hours.

Step 3:

Once your trees are dry it is time to mount them. I drilled a few holes in the base so that it would be easier for the glue to adhere to them.

Next, spread some wood glue on the bottom of the tree and plop it down on the base over the holes

This will take a while to dry, but will be very strong once it is dry. After it is dry spread glue on the rest of the base and dip it in sand to texture it. Do this to all the trees and set them aside to dry.

Step 4:

Once this is all dry, get out your paints. First off I painted them red then let it dry, then painted parts of them orange. This is to achieve a glowing charcoal log look once you are done.

Once all this is dry, dry brush them black and also paint the bases.

[img]http://www.figurepainters.com/cmon/lava/trees18.jpg[/img]

Once this is all dry, dry brush them varying shades of gray to give them the cooling ash look. When finished should have a tree that looks like it has been set on fire and all that is left is a burn out husk that is glowing from within.

I then coated them with 2-3 layers of clear coat as paint will chip off plaster fairly easily when they rub together in a storage box.

Enjoy!