Project – Creepy Trees

As I promised here is the tutorial to make the creepy trees I used in my Graveyard Terrariums.

It’s a little tricky to get the hang of wrapping the floral tape when you first start making these, but after a while I was able to make one of the large ones in about 15 minutes. I made small trees with less detail for mason jar terrariums and larger trees, like the one above, for a larger terrarium and to use on my mantle.

This is a sticky project thanks to the glue on both sides of the floral tape, you’ll end up with it all over your fingers. But it’s that stickiness that makes the floral tape work so well for this.

Supplies:

• floral wire
• dark brown floral tape
• scissors or wire cutters

How to Make the Trees:

Cut a piece of wire long enough to be the trunk of the tree and a branch with enough extra to use to stick in a base. Cut a second piece of wire to be a branch. Cut it a little longer than you want to you can twist it around the first wire.

Twist the branch around the trunk. Rip off a piece of floral tape and wrap it around the twisted wires to secure them together.

Cut more wire pieces to be branches. I kept mine to a total of five or six branches, but you can add as many as you want. Twist them on the trunk over the tape where you attached the first branch. Secure with more floral tape.


Cut smaller pieces of wire to make smaller branches at the end of the bigger ones. Twist them on where you want them and secure with small pieces of floral tape.

You can add two branches at once by cutting a longer piece of wire and twisting in onto the branch in the middle.

Now, start wrapping all the wire with tape. The tape will fold up and be bumpy, but you want that texture. If I have a piece that is too long at the end of a branch I keep twisting it and let it hang off as part of the branch.

You can make the trunk and some branches thicker by adding layers of tape. I use two or three layers on the trunk. Bend the branches into whatever shape you like.

“Plant” your tree. I used some old plastic pots with dirt in them. You can also just plant them in some clay or styrofoam.