Conifer Trees & Hedges – WIP 1/3

 

You know what they say: nothing ever goes as planned.
Well… that definitely applies here!
This was supposed to be a relatively quick stage, but it turned into quite a time-consuming process.

Preparing the trunks

The old wooden arrows I used as tree trunks turned out to be much harder to shape than I expected. Tapering them by hand — using a very old-school pencil sharpener — was honestly a bit of a pain: the wood was dense and not very cooperative. 

I’m already thinking ahead about using something softer for future builds — maybe sushi sticks or even balsa wood. Both should be easier to carve and much more forgiving when it comes to shaping. Alternatively, I might invest in a small power tool for woodwork, which would definitely make this process easier. I just need to figure out how many potential wooden projects I’ll have ahead to justify buying yet another tool. 😉

Anyway — lesson learned. No matter how worn-out they look, never underestimate old arrows. After all, they’re battle-tested veterans! 

Drilling and mounting

To ensure a strong and stable connection between the trunks and the base — round 5 cm (2") discs made of 1 mm cardboard — I didn’t rely on glue alone, since a round trunk has a very small contact surface with the base.

I used a hand drill to make small holes in the bottom of each trunk and inserted steel nails, securing them with PVA glue. This should keep everything nice and solid — especially during later handling or transport.

I’m actually quite happy with how strong the bond turned out. The only downside: drilling through that hard wood by hand took forever (again).

For future projects, I’ll probably try bamboo sticks (like the ones you can find in garden stores), which already have a hollow core and should be much easier to work with.

First color pass

Once that part was done, I gave all the trunks a quick brown wash.

Even though most of them will eventually be hidden beneath the foliage, I still wanted a darker, more nuanced base color with some variation in tone. It just feels better knowing that even the hidden parts are treated with care.

Before painting, the trunks were textured with a wire brush, which gave the brown wash even more natural variation.

Finally — a stage without surprises! Well, apart from waiting for the wash to dry…

Branch structure – the coconut mat challenge

Another unexpected challenge came from the coconut filter mat — it was much denser than I had hoped. I had to spend quite a bit of time manually splitting it into finer strands and shaping them into branch-like forms, both for the trees and the hedges.

But now that I’m through that phase, the first trees are starting to take shape — scroll down to the photos below to see the current progress!

On the bright side, I’d rather have a mat that’s too dense than one that’s too sparse — it’s far easier to thin it down than to somehow make it thicker.

Summary

I’m genuinely excited for the next stages. The first round of experiments is behind me, so I now know what to expect and what to pay attention to. For now, I’ve only built a few prototypes, but I’m hoping to make at least a dozen in total!

And even at this early stage, I can already see the trees beginning to take shape — slowly moving toward their final look… One that Treebeard would surely approve of. 😉

Can’t wait to show you the full set soon — and hopefully earn that Entish seal of approval.

Until then, stay away from Fangorn… just in case!