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Making Trees with Wire

by: Jan

My wife's grandma is 94. When she was only a few years younger, her eyesight was better
and here hands more steady. She used to pass some of her spare time making miniature trees
with copper wire and beads. The exact same method works excellently to make trees for
dioramas. Here's how you can make diorama trees that are larger than the mini-trees you'll
find in a hobby store. They look very convincing. It may look hard at first, but it's really
easy.

The whole method consists of making a metal wire skeleton, that can be covered by different
methods of your choice to simulate the bark.

You need nine or twelve strands of wire. The length of each strand is easy to calculate : first
you decide how high the tree needs to be, then you multiply its heighth with 2,5. (two point
five). For example : a tree of 30 cm needs strands of wire of 30 x 2,5 = 75 cm. I use the kind
of wire that you'll find in a DIY store or garden center, with a thickness of about 0,5 mm.

Part One : Making the Roots

You cut nine or twelve strands to equal size, and hold them together. You bend the whole
bunch in the middle.

Next, you place 3 or 4 fingers Next, you twist the strands a few
(depending on tree size) on the middle times to make this a firm loop.
section to form a loop around your

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fingers.
The loop that you now created, will
become the base of the tree's root
system. Divide the loop into bunches
of one, two, three or four wires each,
thus creating separate loops.
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Now start twisting each of these loops
to form the root system. These roots
are placed horizontally: they become
the basis of your tree. This basis will
be buried in the base of your diorama,
or you can even make part of those
tree roots visible on top of the grass or
soil the tree "grows" in.
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Start twisting each of the individual

loops a few times, then split them in
two or three again and continue
twisting till you get a root-like system.

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Now the root system starts taking shape. First you spread the roots horizontally
in a way that you like, and that seems natural. The roots in this picture show you
the result we have reached thus far (branches come in the next chapter).

Next, you take a pair of pliers and snap the individual little loops in half. Thus,
the roots don't end in an individual little loop (one strand thick), but in two loose
pieces. Don't cut right in the middle (at six O'clock), but somewhere between
three and five o'clock, so you end up with two pieces of different length. This is
illustrated further down when we discuss the tree's branches. Straighten the
pieces out so they look like real pieces of twisted root.
Part Two : Stem and Branches

To create the top half of the tree, gently twist the 18 (in case you use 9 wires) or 24 (12
wires) to make a stem. You do this for a few centimeters, until the height where you want to
make the lowest branch. At that place you take four strands and separate those from the rest
of the bunch. Those need not be four strands that were already sitting together. You get the
best result when you take two strands from each side of the bunch.

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Twist these four strands together to
make a branch. You make that a few
centimeters long.
After twisting a branch for a few
centimeters, take two strands apart and
twist those again. Twist the other two
strands together also. Make sure there's
a balanced distance between the
heighth of the first branch, the length of
the first branch to the first "split" and
the rest of the branch.

Now continue twisting the stem unto There you repeat the process with four
the stage where you want to make a strands of wire, etc.
second branch.

Adding Extra Branches

When you make a big tree in this way, and you use relatively thin strands, it may look a bit
thin. You can make your tree more bushy by adding extra wires. For this, you can use the
same thickness of wire or a thinner wire. Don't use very thin wire : it is important that your
tree structure remains quite strong and does not bend too much. Too much flexibility will
make your tree vulnerable to damage after you started to cover the metal wiring with plaster
or other material (see further).

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Wind the extra wire up the stem of your
tree, up to the place where you want to
add and extra branch. You can use one
strand or wire for this, or two. To make
the branch, make a loop. Make it about
twice as long as you want the branch to
be. Then keep winding the rest of the
wire up the tree, and cut it at a
convenient location (the last part where
you cut it can serve as a small branch).
Continue the same process till the loop
has ended in several side branches and
even smaller branches. You will end up
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Start winding the loop (branch up to a
stage where you want a side branch. If
you use two strands here, you can split
one off to make the branch. If you use
only one strand, twist it in half so you
end up with two loops. Split one off as
a side branch.
Cut these loops in half (somewhere
between three and five O'clock), so you
make each loop into two small branch
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with small loops where the branches endings.

have to be, like you did when making
the roots.

You can repeat this process with more

strands of wire (blue in the figure) until
your tree looks good.

When the whole tree is finished, start

shaping it up. Twist and turn the
branches till they look natural. When
branches split in two, this is often
horizontally, not so much vertically.
This depends on the type of tree you try
to make.

Step Three : Making the Bark

Next step, you need to cover the metal frame. Try to cover ALL metal parts, to avoid your
tree oxidizing later. Before you do this, make sure your tree skeleton looks right. Bend and
shape the branches and roots till they "feel right".

Several materials can

be used to cover the
tree. Several brands of
plaster can do the trick.
I would not use
expensive high quality
products like "magic
sculpt" or milliput. PU
resin is not the best
choice either, since it is
too runny (and too
expensive).
After trying several
options, my choice goes
to a product that is
made to glue bathroom
tiles. It is a powdery
cement-like substance
that is mixed with

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water, so you can make

it as thin as you want
and apply it with a
paintbrush. I prefer it to
plaster for two reasons :
it contains a sticky
substance that is meant
to literally "glue" the
tiles to the wall, so it
sticks well to the tree
frame and does not run
off. This gluey aspect
makes it a bit more
flexible than plaster too
(which may crack if
you're not careful).
Furthermore, it has a
slightly sandy aspect,
that gives your tree a
natural look.

Making trees like this

takes some experience.
Even if your first tree
does not look perfect, it
will have taught you all you need to know to make a splendid second tree.

Step Four : Adding Twigs

Too add finer branches, you can also call in the help of Mother Nature. Several "brands" of
shrubs and trees - or their roots - offer a nice selection of fine twig-like extensions that do
just the trick. You can add these individually to the tree structure by using a drop of CA glue,
or tie them to the branch with a stand of sewing thread. Twist the thread around the "branch"
and the small twig(s) you want to add, then add a drop of glue. Finally, remove the surplus
thread.

Instead of one piece of twig, you can tie a few of them

together first. To do this, you place a few twigs next to
each other, as if you would arrange a bouquet of flowers.
When you like the result, add a drop of CA glue at the
basis where they must be kept together, and wind a string
of sewing-thread around that place. The drop of CA glue
will make sure the thread stays fixed for the coming 348
years. Next, you cut away everything below the thread
with a sharp hobby knife.

The resulting "bouquet" of twigs can now be added to the

tree, at the place where you think this will look right.
Keep repeating this process till the whole tree is done.
This is a painstaking job that can take an hour - or more -
but the end result is worth it !

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Here's a few pictures of the same tree. I entered it in the dio contest. Regretfully, I did not
take any pictures before the snow was added, but I think the pictures give a good idea of the
final structure. Since this is a winter tree, no leaves were added : only branches and twigs.
You could also use the commercially marketed "moss" to replace these twigs, but I think
they don't look convincing.

Step Five : Adding Leaves

Ah ! A lot has been said and written on this subject. Many products can help you here, and
I'm far from the expert.
To make a naked tree (dead trees or trees in winter, autumn), you can leave the tree as it is
and just spray paint it. You can make it even nicer by adding extra branches from nature.
Several bushy plants have roots that look fabulous as model tree branches. you can glue
these into your tree, and cover with some plaster/tile glue where needed.

When the whole tree is finished,

you can add extra drama by spray
painting it. This too is a time-
consuming process, but it works
wonders. Start by painting the
whole tree dark grey (almost

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black) or very dark brown,

depending on the result you want.
Then start adding more spray
paint colour as you go along.
Look at trees in your garden or in
nature to see how nature "paints"
its trees in summer, winter, fall,...
Not just the leaves, but also the
stem and branches. A coating
with dark green (the one-celled
moss that covers most tree stems)
looks convincing, too. Make sure
you mix your colours right before
you add them to the tree.

Leaves are not my specialty, but I

discovered a superb product that
makes the most wonderful
leaves : birch tree seeds. When
you roll a seed cone in your
hands, it breaks down into
individual 1/35 or 1/15 (120mm
series) scale leaves. All you need
to do is spray paint them.

There are several diorama wizards on Armorama who can advise on leaves. There's plenty of
specialized products on the market, not to mention what mother nature and your wives spices
and herbs cupboard can offer you !

Options : Snow

There are several ways to add snow, and several threads in the diorama forum deal with
these. To add snow on a tree, you need to make sure it looks 'real". That means adding snow
to the big branches and the stem, as well as to the small twigs.

In the example tree, I sprayed a mixture of white glue with water on the tree, and "snowed"
microballoons over that. It looked splendid. But for two reasons I'll never do this again : the
microballoons are a very unhealthy product that irritated my eyes and throat for several days.
Enough reason to ban this from my household forever ! Since they are very light, they spread
all over the place. You could achieve the same result with other products like talcum powder
or dry shampoo powder. Avoid all edible products like flower or starch : they attract
unwanted visitors (bugs !) and colour yellow/brown after a while.

The same thing happened to me with the glue. Don't just use any white glue to add your
snow. I'd suggest you add white paint to the glue, to avoid discolouring.

Good luck, and have fun with this!

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