Building Palm-trees

Hi,
Ive written this workshop in german already and I just decided to translate it in english so here it is. Hope you like it!

Material:

wire
sticky tape
emulsion paint
bird sand
pencil or a piece of roundly wood

1. Step:
Cut a piece of wire and wrap it round the pencil, till it reaches the length the trees trunk is supposed to be! (so the Trunk is stout but also flexible)
It’s very important, that you leave over a long piece of wire on both sides of the helix. This is used for the leafs (branches, when building a decidous tree) and roots…For the leafs this piece should be at last 1 meter!


2.Step:
Now we start modelling the framework for the leafs.
Bend the wire on one end at a length of 6-8 cm. On the inner side(smaller leafs) 6 cm and the outer side (bigger leafs) 8 cm.turn it back and twist the wire so that you get some kind of a branch. Do so until the wires used up. While doing so, turn the tree, so that the branches point in different directions.


3.step:
The same principle is used for the roots. Just use shorter pieces of wire…roots aren’t that long . You shouldn’t make more than 4 roots.


4.step:
Now we start making the bark. Wrap the sticky tape (it should have a papery surface, it mustn’t be slick!!!) first around the trunk, then the branches and the roots. You shpuld use a thinner tape for the roots, than for the rest of the tree. (Carful! Especially the roots mustn’t get too fat, that looks unpropotioned.


5.step:
Now we start modelling the leafs.
They are mad of sticky tape ,too. Therefor you cut a piece of tape, it spuld be twice as long as the branch you want to attach it to.
Fold the piece of tape in the middle around the branch (as shown on the Pic) Do that with every branch. After this step just cut out the leafs shape with a scissors.


6.step:
Last step is the painting. Make an undercoat of emulsion paint. Let it dry. Next mix the bird sand with brown emulsion paint till it reaches a pulpy consistence and then paint the trunk and the roots with this stuff (alternatively you can use PVA glue and mull and wrap this round the trunk and roots…this makes a great bark-like surface).Let it dry. Then pant the leafs with different green tones. After letting it dry again you can fix it with a thin film of clear vanish. If you want some Coconuts, then eat some cherries, the pits of them look like coconuts (you can glue some model grass on them and paint them brown, for a even more realistic look!)


Hope you like it. And Im always waiting for new tips and ideas =)