GEEKLINGS
  • Home
  • PROJECT FANS
  • Blog
  • Knutsels aan huis
  • About Me
  • Contact

How to: a tree in your room!

12/13/2018

0 Comments

 
Picture
Throwback thursday... Dedicated to my eldest, who turned 4 this week. When we decorated her babyroom I decided to turn the ugly algove/hollow molding into a tree. Because, come on, who doesn't want a tree in their bedroom?!

First we needed to make the shape of the tree. I used chicken wire to do this. Choose the type you can bend easily. Don't worry, it's strong enough. 

Picture
I used the wire to make a tree trunk, roots and branches that went across the ceiling. To be honest, I don't really remember how I fixed it to the wall, but I did use some nails. I made a dent in the wire, to create the suggestion of a hole in the tree. I might have done more of those if I could do it again!
​
The second question was, what to put one the wire to create a real structure. I was afraid that paper mache wouldn't work, because of the gaps in the wire. I had some linnen fabric left over and I used this to make a first layer. A good friend helped me to put on newspapers with wallpaper glue as a second layer. This was structurally fine, but I was afraid that the newspaper would shine through when I started painted, so I added a third layer, of white paper.

Picture
Thanks to the chicken wire and the paper, the tree already had a nice tree-like structure. I started with a lighter brown, but it turned out rather dark, not too dark I think. But that's a question of taste. I used a simple waterbased gouache (plakkaatverf), but did need a few layers before I couldn't see the paper anymore. Be careful and wait a while between layers, to give the paint time to dry.

You've got yourself a tree! Now go to a store with seasonal decorations and buy boatloads of leaves. They will probably be fall leaves, but those have to best colors anyway. faux ivy branches are also great to get a nice result. Complete the tree with forest critters, such as birds and squirrels, stuffed animals might be a bit heavy, so papercraft is perfect for this! 
Also: we included white Christmas lights in the leaves, for a the feeling of a magical forest!

0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    Tamara, Geek, mother of two Geeklings, editor.

    Archieven

    February 2021
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018

    Categorieën

    All
    Activities
    Agenda
    Avatar
    Bargains
    Books
    Buffy The Vampire Slayer
    Clothes
    Cosplay
    Crafts
    Dark Crystal
    Dinos
    Disney
    Doctor Who
    Dutch Comic Con
    Elfia
    Firefly
    Harry Potter
    Interior
    Lego
    Marvel
    Movies
    My Little Pony
    Papercraft
    Peg Dolls
    Pokemon
    Science Fiction
    Star Trek
    Star Wars
    Superheroes
    Toys

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly
  • Home
  • PROJECT FANS
  • Blog
  • Knutsels aan huis
  • About Me
  • Contact