# Evil Trees



## Tavisteam (Apr 28, 2016)

I wanted to simulate an evil forest for this year but was intimidated by the thought of creating trees. My experience tells me that Nature is tough to fabricate in a realistic way. But after viewing several tutorials (Mizerella, The Dark Gardener, Dave Lowe, and more) I decided to give it a shot. Aver a little dabbling, I got a sudden burst of bravery and deiced that I could make 3 trees all at once. After all, one tree does not make a forest!

































I started by screwing/gluing two 4 ft. section of 12” concrete form tubes together, and played around with the Great Stuff enough to feel like I could make plausible bark. There are several challenges to this project, but the bark was the one that intimidated me the most. I wanted o make sure that I could come up with something decent before committing fully to the project. Great Stuff alone is ok, but ultimately, I wasn’t happy with it without further alteration – more on that later. 








I then made some paper templates for the faces and cut them out with a dremel. The first one was pure and simple thievery (thanks Mizerella). The next two required a little more creativity.


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## Tavisteam (Apr 28, 2016)

Once the holes were there, I started molding the faces out of air dry clay. This step was only slightly less intimidating than the bark, as I am not known for my artistic skill. But I surprised myself and I’d have to say that this may have been the part I enjoyed the most (other than seeing the finished product). 














Once the sculpt was done, I dragged a fork through it to rough it up.


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## Tavisteam (Apr 28, 2016)

At this point, I figured I was at least half way done – wrong! Everything is always tougher than you imagine. Part of that is due to my tendency towards perfectionism… but I digress. 

Though I’m designing these as indoor props, I didn’t want to rule out the possibility of using them outdoors in the future. Air dry clay is water soluble and fairly brittle, so I spent several days applying wood filler to fill the cracks (which inevitably happen when you sculpt air dry clay on a hard surface) and wood glue as a sealer/strengthener. 
I knew I was going to want to attach some branches on top and so I wanted to add some support. Two 2 x 4’s screwed/glued to the inside did the job, and also gave me something to attach a wooden base to. I may add some real branches once they are in place, but I laid the groundwork with some PVC wrapped in chicken wire to make them wider at the base like a real branch. I covered the chicken wire in masking tape before adding the Great Stuff.


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## Tavisteam (Apr 28, 2016)

The great stuff is applied in roughly straight lines up the sides, as this most closely resembles real bark. But, when dry, Great stuff is shiny, smooth and “bubbly” – three things that bark is not. The most realistic bark I’ve seen in the tutorials is Mizerella’s, but it is done by dragging a fork through clay. Covering three trees in clay is not in my budget, so I tried a few techniques to get this effect from Great Stuff. I finally settled on a wire brush attachment on a drill or dremel. The dremel makes smaller groves but takes longer. In the end, I decided that the drill looks better from a distance anyway. This gave me a bark like texture, but it was a messy, unpleasant process. If you try it, wear goggles and a respirator. And know that it’s still gonna suck. Aside from adding to the work and unpleasantness, this also makes the trees a lot tougher to paint. The rough surface has so many crevices that you have to spray every part from every angle and it eats up a lot more paint. But that’s the price of perfection! 















I decided that they’d be a lot cooler if they had lights. I originally thought that some LED’s glowing form inside would do the trick, but I wanted it to look like flames. If that wasn’t tough enough, I deiced the eyes should be red, so they’d need a separate lighting source and a separate cavity. The third tree is more of a “moaning tree” than an “evil tree”. And I didn’t think the flames were appropriate there, so I stuck with the RGB LEDs for one big cavity on that one. 
I tried several things for the eye cavity, and settled on the bottom of a milk carton cut in half diagonally – but what works best will depend on the size and shape of your eyes. I didn’t want it too deep because I didn’t want the angle of viewing to drastically change where the eyes appeared to be. I wanted the mouth to be more cavernous. I used some trailer marker LEDs for the eyes:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B019MGYP6C/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
They worked great because they come with rubber grommets for mounting them. I used 5 mm amber candle flicker LEDs to simulate flames in the mouth: http://www.ebay.com/itm/321687207267?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT 
I covered the parts of the cavity that aren’t visible in aluminum foil to help reflect the light. The “fire” effect is a little underwhelming. I added a red and yellow LED to the reflective plate I put behind the mouth cavity to see if that enhanced the flame illusion, but I don’t know that it did much. The effect is more like candle flicker than inferno, but I finally had to accept it and move on.


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## Tavisteam (Apr 28, 2016)

Getting the right paint job also took some trial and error. The only two brown shades of my favorite spray paint are Espresso and Dark Walnut. Espresso looked like Hershey’s chocolate and Dark Walnut looked charcoal gray. I settled on A combination of the two in vertical “stripes” as a base. I used gray primer over the top in wisps. But the real finished look didn’t come until I finished it off with a dry brush layer. I wanted off-white, but didn’t think paint was the right way to go. I used a mixture of dry wall mud, water, Elmer’s glue, and a little white paint. The mud gives it texture and the Elmer’s is an effort to make it permanent and hopefully somewhat water resistant. Remember that the Elmer’s dries clear, so depending on your mix, it may dry darker than it looks when applying.


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## Tavisteam (Apr 28, 2016)

The plan is to fill in with fake plants, vines, various evil forest creatures and ghosts, and a Perfect Storm lightning simulator.


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## annamarykahn (Oct 4, 2009)

they look amazing ... well done 

amk


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## Nature Provides (Sep 9, 2016)

Those are so creative and very spooky! Thanks for sharing


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## Halloweenutter (Feb 6, 2015)

What an awesome tutorial! I am so impressed with your forest. I am really not artistic, but this may just have made me rethink my stance on tackling a project like this. Great job!


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## scarybella (Aug 4, 2010)

Super detailed how to.. they look great. I collected quite a few similar cardboard tubes last year for just this job. 
Awesome work.

Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk


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## Tavisteam (Apr 28, 2016)

As happy as I am at how these trees turned out, I was disappointed that they didn't make more of an impact. The detail in them is the cool part and since I'm putting them on the second floor, I didn't think they were going to make the statement I wanted to make. So...
Meet MEGATREE!















The face isn't sculpted with as much detail as the smaller ones, but the size and exaggerated features, and the fact that I mounted it to the outside of the banister, makes a lot more impact, which is what I wanted. I have yet do make the haunted forest around it, but this will pretty much be the centerpiece of my decorations for this year. Can't wait to get it all filled in and add lighting. I'm also adding a Perfect Storm unit to simulate thunder & lightning.


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## Tavisteam (Apr 28, 2016)

MEGA was basically made by the same process. Because I wanted him bigger, and Concrete for tubes larger than 12" diameter are expensive and hard to find, I cut 12" tubes length-wise and stretched it out slowly (so it didn't rip/break), and mounted it on a piece of plywood.


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## Tavisteam (Apr 28, 2016)

I skipped the clay sculpting phase altogether and just made is features with Great Stuff.


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## Tavisteam (Apr 28, 2016)

The one part of Mega that made him a lot tougher than the others is the roots. I started with pool noodles and flexible tubing rather than the PVC pipe I used for the branches. I knew I'd be banging this thing around trying to get it in place and I figured if the roots were ridged, I'd break the tree or put a hole in a wall. This turned out to be a good move as I still did some damage getting him in place. 







As with the branches, I added chicken wire and tape to taper the roots.
Roots are tough to simulate, so I just went out and picked a bunch of weeds and used reel roots. Because it's tough to pull up long, full roots, I had to glue a bunch of smaller roots together. 







Not only were the roots tough to do, they made everything from there on out tougher because I could no longer stand the tree up.


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## Deaths Reach (Aug 7, 2009)

I'm in love with these! As someone who's yard lacks foliage I've always wanted to make a haunted tree, your work is super inspirational! My fav is the one with the roots hanging down.


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## Wolfbeard (Sep 22, 2008)

WOW...just...WOW!!!!!!


Eric


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## SpookyDude44 (Sep 29, 2012)

Those are some amazing works of art! Thanks for sharing your process. They look fantastic.


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## Mogwai (Jun 10, 2014)

These trees are incredible. Definitely one of the best DIY props I've seen on here.


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## Tavisteam (Apr 28, 2016)

My Evil Forest is starting to come into focus.


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## margaret (Aug 19, 2013)

Those are simply amazing and they really do make an impact ... I love mega tree ... I like his features even more than the others. Job well done ... quite the project and excellent out come!


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## RCIAG (Jul 19, 2010)

Do I dare even ask how many cans of Great Stuff you used!?!


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## Tavisteam (Apr 28, 2016)

You're going to make me count it up and face the dollar figure! Ouch. Especially sucks when you get done with the dremel/bark process and see half of it on the floor. 
The small ones take about 5 1/2 to 6 can's each. I thought I could do the big on with 8, but it took more like 12.


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## Chopz (Oct 4, 2016)

This is AWESOME! Great job!


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## punkineater (Apr 26, 2014)

Most excellent trees!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The mega tree~POOF! Mind blown. Awesome job


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## oaklawn Crematory (Jun 25, 2010)

WTG Team Tavis...They look SWEET !


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## ozaz (Apr 26, 2016)

Unbelievable!!!
Hollywood sign this guy up now!

Sent from my SM-G920I using Tapatalk


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## Chilliboo (Aug 31, 2016)

Travisteam these are incredible!!! Dude, take a bow!!!

I'm so gonna make some and leave them in the patio year round... Aussie's aren't really into decorating yards for Halloween YET so if anything it would only be outside for one night... such a lot of work for one night of glory so patio it is ; )

Seriously, fantastic job!


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## Tavisteam (Apr 28, 2016)

For anyone within driving distance of Greenville South Carolina who is interested, Megatree will be going up for sale on Nov. 1. As much as I'd love to keep him, I lost track of the dimensions of the attic door somewhere in my quest to make him look more realistic.


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## RCIAG (Jul 19, 2010)

Tavisteam said:


> I lost track of the dimensions of the attic door somewhere in my quest to make him look more realistic.


If it makes you feel any better, I do things like this all the time. I don't look at the dimensions of stuff I buy so when I order that mummy pumpkin & there's a ginormous box on my doorstep I'm all "Oh crap...where am I gonna store this." Or the opposite, I think it's gonna be huge & when it arrives it's about 6 inches high.

Did the same thing with some mache groundbreakers. I made one with long, oversized outstretched arms then realized I had no idea how it was going to fit in the attic with its arms like that. So now he's sitting on the basement floor with a broken arm.

So the next one I made with detachable arms. It's always a learning process with the first of everything you make.


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## Haunted jan (Oct 26, 2016)

Thanks for a great step by step tutorial. You have proved that you don't know what you can do until you try. You should be very proud of those trees. 
Pat yourself on the back, a great first project. I hope that it's the first of many!


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## SewingPirate (Oct 27, 2016)

They are great, I especially love the middle one


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## Bryan316 (Oct 18, 2009)

I do not like Mega Tree.

I do not approve of his construction.

I do not want to be near Mega Tree.

I don't even want to finish reading this thread.

Mega Tree is not good.

Mega Tree is EVIL.

I am not attending your parties anymore.

*shivers*


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## Tavisteam (Apr 28, 2016)

Evil forest turned out pretty well... now where am I going to store these trees? Hmmmm...


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## PoorCdnHaunter (Sep 5, 2015)

This is on my to-do list for 2017. I'm sure i will be revisiting your post again quite a few times next summer. They look awesome. Out of curiosity, approx. how many cans of spray foam did you use for 1 tree? And was it the less than 1" or more than 1"?


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## Tavisteam (Apr 28, 2016)

PoorCdnHaunter said:


> This is on my to-do list for 2017. I'm sure i will be revisiting your post again quite a few times next summer. They look awesome. Out of curiosity, approx. how many cans of spray foam did you use for 1 tree? And was it the less than 1" or more than 1"?


The small ones took about 5 1/2 cans each. It goes on 1 to 3" thick, but you end up stripping half or more of that off when you get to the dremel/grinding stage. The big one took almost 12 cans.


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## sommerfuglen (Feb 16, 2017)

What an amazing work!


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## whichypoo (Jul 29, 2009)

I have to say bravo!! that is just awesome ..


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## halloween71 (Apr 22, 2007)

love them!!!Where did you find the templetes for the faces.


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## Tavisteam (Apr 28, 2016)

I printed the first one out from an image I found online, taped it to the tube and cut it out with a dremel. After the first one, I felt more comfortable drawing them on - though I still looked online for references.


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## dawnthedead (Jul 22, 2011)

These are amazing. I can see how hard this was for you but they really do look great.


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