Tree holders - lessons learned

Mapper · **Posted:** Sun Apr 26, 2020 5:09 am

I had bought these trees from Michaels (sorry Kurbio) and they are actually decent trees. Twisted wire trunks and branches, not bad foliage. No bases for them though. One was a little too dark green for my taste so I dry brushed some lighter green on it and dry brushed the trunks.

I was going to put them on a cd scatter terrain

but it makes it hard to store. I had use fender washers before as a base on trees and thought I could use them again. This time I cut a straw to use as trunk bases on both the cd terrain and as stand alone trees.

Easier to store when the trees lay flat and can be arranged differently just using a straw as a trunk holder.

Kuribo · **Posted:** Wed Apr 29, 2020 6:37 pm

Michael's must pay you a hefty commission for your product endorsements :wink:

I tend to just attach trees to the base and I can attest that storing them is more challenging as you need more vertical spaces which is harder to get than horizontal space. Thanks for sharing your thoughts and techniques with us. It definitely gives me food for thought

Mapper · **Posted:** Wed Apr 29, 2020 10:05 pm

Haven't really put this idea into play yet, more of a concept. One aspect was storage, another was the ability to use the same trees in different environments (whole glade, small stands, individual) Need to work more on how good the straw ends can be made to look more trunk like.

Doubt they will give me a commission since every thing I buy from them is either on a coupon or clearance :-)

Grumpy Gnome · **Joined:** Sat Feb 15, 2020 1:17 pm **Posts:** 81

Let me echo Kuribo. Thanks for sharing and giving me something to consider!

Mapper · **Posted:** Thu Jul 09, 2020 11:26 pm

Went to Michaels for the first time since March when our lockdown went into place. They had the trees at 70% off so bought out their remaining shelf stock, 12 trees for less than $20.

Here is what I have just stuck into the insulation board I'm cutting up for the face of the Moria East Gate mountain side

Now I need to start doing some greenstuff roots and painting to use the trees.

Grumpy Gnome · **Joined:** Sat Feb 15, 2020 1:17 pm **Posts:** 81

Great stuff mate! Coming along nicely and nice touch on being so affordable!

Mapper · **Posted:** Fri Jul 10, 2020 10:03 pm

Grumpy Gnome - I can never pass up a bargain when it comes to terrain.

While waiting for the greenstuff to harden so I can paint the bases

I took out my old GW hill and drilled some holes into it. My wife thought I was ruining the hill by doing that so I might have to come up with a solution to fill the holes when I don't have trees on it.

This is why I didn't want to attach the trees permanently to a base, to allow me to use them in different ways.

Grumpy Gnome · **Joined:** Sat Feb 15, 2020 1:17 pm **Posts:** 81

Versatility is important.... and it is cost efficient!

Mapper · **Posted:** Sun Jul 12, 2020 11:41 pm

Finished the individual tree holders with some lessons learned and a redo.

The plastic straws I used for the holders would not hold paint or have the greenstuff stick to it. When I started to use them the paint would flake off and weren't as stable as I would have liked. Pulled the plastic out and replaced with paper straws. Also found that a little longer "stump" held the trees better if they happened to be a little bigger than the trunk of the tree. As before, cut the straws length wise and squished them a little to make the diameter smaller.

All in all, did what I wanted, keeping the trees where I could use them in various terrain pieces, either as stand alone or on piece of terrain. Keeping the tree separate from the holder also allows for pulling the tree out to move/measure the figures without moving where the tree is.

Grumpy Gnome · **Joined:** Sat Feb 15, 2020 1:17 pm **Posts:** 81

Great result mate! Thanks for letting us learn from your experiences.

Kuribo · **Posted:** Sun Jul 26, 2020 3:03 pm

Really nice work here to find a functional solution to a common problem. The trees look really nice in their holders. Your pictures of terrain and minis are always top notch, my friend!

Tree holders - lessons learned

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