How do you make palm trees for your terrain? Somewhere, I saw something from the good folks at GHQ, but now I can't find it. It involved a candle, if I'm not mistaken.
Bruce
terrain, well realy trees
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ltcconard
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terrain, well realy trees
Conard
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Mk 1
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I have used the GHQ approach, with the GHQ terrain kit, with great success.
My earlier technique came from a 1990's wargaming magazine (one of the UK pubs, I think). It made use of nails, and stars cut from felt.
As you can see, the old approach (one stand of trees in front) hardly compares to the new-to-me GHQ approach (all the other stands of trees).
I have, however, made two slight modifications to the GHQ method.
First, I have chosen to use a tool that is not on the GHQ suggestions list.
I use an angle-joint from my local hardware store (actually, from a box of miscellaneous hardware in my garage
) as a flame shield. GHQ suggests using an un-mounted hack-saw blade for the same purpose (described below). I find the angle-joint to be an entirely superior tool, because it is free-standing, while it takes a hand to hold the hack-saw blade.
Second, I don't "melt" as much as GHQ suggests, and rather use a bit of white glue to create a larger quantity of dead leaves below the green leaves of the tree. This gives me trees that look less manicured, and more like the palm trees I saw everywhere except Beverly Hills, while growing up in Southern California.
So here is what I do.
The key source material is bump chenille. Craft chenille is a wire with fuzz coming off of it, much like an extra-fuzzy pipe cleaner (true chenille is a very fuzzy yarn, craft chenille is a craft product that looks like fuzzy yarn, but has a stiff wire at its core). "Bump" chenille has more, then less, then more fuzz making it alternately thicker and thinner along the wire.
Bump chenille is best for making both palm trees and pine trees. But you can use regular craft chenille if you want, as you can always snip off some of the fuzz with scissors. Both craft and bump should be available at your local crafts shop, or through mail-order. GHQ has the perfect forrest green bump chenille in their terrain kit.
Bump chenille can be found in many colors. You want green.
Clip the chenille into appropriate lengths for your trees. I use some variety in lengths (unless I want a plantation or orchard), so my trees have a variety of heights. They range from about 1 inch to about 1 3/8 inch.
When you cut it, cut it in about the middle of the narrow part, and then again in about the middle of the fat part. The idea is to get some narrow, and some fat chenille on each cutting (for each tree). The narrow part, with the short fuzz, will become the trunks of your trees, while the fat part, with long fuzz, will be the leaves.
Stick the clipped piece about 1/2 way through the hole in your angle-joint (or your hack-saw blade, or some other handy-sized piece of metal with a small hole). GHQ recommends putting it about 3/4 way through. I prefer half.
Now use a flame to melt the fuzz on the thin part of the chenille (the part with the short fuzz). The fuzz melted along the wire, will be the trunk of your tree. The angle-joint will serve as a shield, so that the long fuzz on the other side of the hole won't contact the flames, and so won't melt.
I use a cigarette lighter for my flame. GHQ suggests a candle. Since my shield (the angle-joint) is free-standing, I don't need my flame to be hands-free. I feel I get better control moving the flame along a static chenille, than moving the chenille along a static flame.
You don't want to actually light the fuzz on fire. Just melt it down onto the twisted wire.
When this is done, I push the chenille further through the hole in the shield, so that the thick part of the fuzz is now on either side of the shield. Then I put a big glob of white glue on the thick fuzz on the trunk side of the shield, and push it back through the hole. This presses the thick fuzz down around the trunk. When the glue dries, this will be the dead leaves.
Now I leave it to dry for a couple of minutes. One advantage of using the angle-joint as your shield is that it has several holes in it, so I can have a tree or two drying while I'm melting the trunk or gluing up another tree.
Once the dead leaves part is dry enough to be tacky, put three or four small drops of white glue on the rest of the fuzz (turning it so you get the drops on all sides), and pull (from the trunk-side) it through the hole and out of the shield (the angle-joint). Use your fingers to pinch the glue-drizzeled top fuzz into glumps. Make sure to pinch a bit at the very top, to represent the new leaves (which typically grow straight up, then fold out as they age).
Set it aside to dry, and continue with other trees.
When dry, paint the trunks a tannish color. Paint the clump of dead leaves a browner color. Wash both with very dark brown or even black, and then highlight with light tan. If you'd like, wash/highlight the green leaves with some variety of green shades.
I use pennies for the bases. I mash a small ball of self-hardening clay onto the penny, and push the chenille into the clay to make sockets for the trees. Then I let it dry, and glue the now-finished trees into the sockets. Then paint and flock the bases as desired. If you are making terrain boards, you won't need this step, as the chenille is usually stiff enough that your trees can be stuck straight into the boards.
It takes a bit of work to figure out the first few trees. Once you have the hang of it, you can quite reasonably make 50 - 100 trees in an hour, including painting (but not basing).
Hope that helps.
My earlier technique came from a 1990's wargaming magazine (one of the UK pubs, I think). It made use of nails, and stars cut from felt.
As you can see, the old approach (one stand of trees in front) hardly compares to the new-to-me GHQ approach (all the other stands of trees).
I have, however, made two slight modifications to the GHQ method.
First, I have chosen to use a tool that is not on the GHQ suggestions list.
I use an angle-joint from my local hardware store (actually, from a box of miscellaneous hardware in my garage
) as a flame shield. GHQ suggests using an un-mounted hack-saw blade for the same purpose (described below). I find the angle-joint to be an entirely superior tool, because it is free-standing, while it takes a hand to hold the hack-saw blade.Second, I don't "melt" as much as GHQ suggests, and rather use a bit of white glue to create a larger quantity of dead leaves below the green leaves of the tree. This gives me trees that look less manicured, and more like the palm trees I saw everywhere except Beverly Hills, while growing up in Southern California.
So here is what I do.
The key source material is bump chenille. Craft chenille is a wire with fuzz coming off of it, much like an extra-fuzzy pipe cleaner (true chenille is a very fuzzy yarn, craft chenille is a craft product that looks like fuzzy yarn, but has a stiff wire at its core). "Bump" chenille has more, then less, then more fuzz making it alternately thicker and thinner along the wire.
Bump chenille is best for making both palm trees and pine trees. But you can use regular craft chenille if you want, as you can always snip off some of the fuzz with scissors. Both craft and bump should be available at your local crafts shop, or through mail-order. GHQ has the perfect forrest green bump chenille in their terrain kit.
Bump chenille can be found in many colors. You want green.
Clip the chenille into appropriate lengths for your trees. I use some variety in lengths (unless I want a plantation or orchard), so my trees have a variety of heights. They range from about 1 inch to about 1 3/8 inch.
When you cut it, cut it in about the middle of the narrow part, and then again in about the middle of the fat part. The idea is to get some narrow, and some fat chenille on each cutting (for each tree). The narrow part, with the short fuzz, will become the trunks of your trees, while the fat part, with long fuzz, will be the leaves.
Stick the clipped piece about 1/2 way through the hole in your angle-joint (or your hack-saw blade, or some other handy-sized piece of metal with a small hole). GHQ recommends putting it about 3/4 way through. I prefer half.
Now use a flame to melt the fuzz on the thin part of the chenille (the part with the short fuzz). The fuzz melted along the wire, will be the trunk of your tree. The angle-joint will serve as a shield, so that the long fuzz on the other side of the hole won't contact the flames, and so won't melt.
I use a cigarette lighter for my flame. GHQ suggests a candle. Since my shield (the angle-joint) is free-standing, I don't need my flame to be hands-free. I feel I get better control moving the flame along a static chenille, than moving the chenille along a static flame.
You don't want to actually light the fuzz on fire. Just melt it down onto the twisted wire.
When this is done, I push the chenille further through the hole in the shield, so that the thick part of the fuzz is now on either side of the shield. Then I put a big glob of white glue on the thick fuzz on the trunk side of the shield, and push it back through the hole. This presses the thick fuzz down around the trunk. When the glue dries, this will be the dead leaves.
Now I leave it to dry for a couple of minutes. One advantage of using the angle-joint as your shield is that it has several holes in it, so I can have a tree or two drying while I'm melting the trunk or gluing up another tree.
Once the dead leaves part is dry enough to be tacky, put three or four small drops of white glue on the rest of the fuzz (turning it so you get the drops on all sides), and pull (from the trunk-side) it through the hole and out of the shield (the angle-joint). Use your fingers to pinch the glue-drizzeled top fuzz into glumps. Make sure to pinch a bit at the very top, to represent the new leaves (which typically grow straight up, then fold out as they age).
Set it aside to dry, and continue with other trees.
When dry, paint the trunks a tannish color. Paint the clump of dead leaves a browner color. Wash both with very dark brown or even black, and then highlight with light tan. If you'd like, wash/highlight the green leaves with some variety of green shades.
I use pennies for the bases. I mash a small ball of self-hardening clay onto the penny, and push the chenille into the clay to make sockets for the trees. Then I let it dry, and glue the now-finished trees into the sockets. Then paint and flock the bases as desired. If you are making terrain boards, you won't need this step, as the chenille is usually stiff enough that your trees can be stuck straight into the boards.
It takes a bit of work to figure out the first few trees. Once you have the hang of it, you can quite reasonably make 50 - 100 trees in an hour, including painting (but not basing).
Hope that helps.
Last edited by Mk 1 on Sun Jan 08, 2012 6:10 am, edited 1 time in total.
-Mark 1
Difficile est, saturam non scribere.
"It is hard NOT to write satire." - Decimus Iunius Juvenalis, 1st Century AD
Difficile est, saturam non scribere.
"It is hard NOT to write satire." - Decimus Iunius Juvenalis, 1st Century AD
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