Untitled Document

VILLAGE TREES GROW FROM THE TOP DOWN

Following are my instruction on how to make winter trees. This is the same method I use to make my fall trees with leaves. I¹ll show the slight modification I use at the end. For materials I am using

Brown Floral Tape (I use white tape to make birch trees) and my wire of choice is 20 gauge floral stem wire. I also need a simple wire cutter.

Now to start I cut the wire approximately in half making 9 inch lengths.
My simple tree will require 25 nine inch pieces. But I often will make a larger tree using as many as 50-60 piece of 9 inch length. It all depends on the tree size I need.

I start by selecting 5 pieces of wire and wrapping floral tape from the tip down about 2 to 2.5 inches. (pic 1)

Next I select three of these wires and wrap them together leaving about 1.5 inches of wrapped wire to be the branch tips.

Then about .5 inch below the junction of the three branch tips I add a fourth wire wrapping it to the first three. Next a 5th wire is wrapped about a half inch below the fourth wire. (pic 2) In picture 2 you can see three branches in the three steps of assembly I have just outlined. Note that I did not wrap the floral tape to the ends of the wire---it is not necessary. To complete the tree you will need 5 assemblies that will look like the right hand piece in picture 2,

Picture 3 shows the five assembled branches ready to be joined into a tree.

Now select any two of the five sets and wrap them together by moving one branch about a half or so below the top of the other (see pic 4)

Repeat this same process with two of your remaining three pieces. (pict 5)

Now take these two pieces and wrap them together making certain to place one about a half inch below the junction of the first branch. (pict 6)

Next, take your remaining twig and wrap it on the trunk which has been made from the other four pieces. (pic 7) Once you have the 5 original pieces joined together you have your tree. Just finish wrapping the floral tape down to the bottom of the bare wires. I usually have to cut off some wire to keep the tree from getting too leggy but usually not more than an inch or so. Remember that when you stick the tree into the styrofoam the deeper you press it the shorter it becomes.

Once the tree is wrapped all that you have to do is bend the branches to suit your taste. The more you bend them the better the tree looks. I¹ve also found that trees tha thave been used in a display and then folded together and stored and then reopened and displayed again have more character.

I don¹t have a digital camera so I am scanning these trees for the picture.
I¹ll try to bend some limbs so you get the idea. (pict 8)

FALL TREES WITH LEAVES

The process by which I make my fall trees (you can see several if you look at my Halloween displays in the Group File on Dan¹s page) is much the same as on the bare winter trees.

However I start by cutting 2 two inch pieces of the small leaf garland I found at Michael¹s. I then twist the lower ends together enough to keep them from separating. Then I take a single piece of the floral wire and bend a half inch "hook" on one end. This hook is placed over the twisted joint of the leaf branches. (pic 9)

Finally, using your wire cutters (or pliers if you think necessary) crimp the hooked wire and the twisted ends of the leaf branches tightly together.
This keeps the leaves securely fastened to the tree limb. After crimping wrap the hooked wire and the twisted ends with floral tape like you did earlier on the bare branches. (pic 10)

You will need 25 twigs like this to make a tree---the same as you did for the bare branch trees.

See---Nothing to it!!

Just for the record. I completed a bare branch tree tonight while I typed these directions. The entire process of making the tree, and typing these directions took about 45 minutes. I can make a bare branch tree in about 20-23 minutes and a leafed tree in about 40 minutes. I have made more than 200 of these trees for my villages.