A Scenic interlude

Here goes my first scenic foray.

For quite a while I have wanted to either make or acquire some scenery to enhance both photography and gaming and the catalyst to make some was spare time and a dead sage plant in the garden; the leaves had fallen off and I noticed that it looked peculiarly like a miniature tree so I cleaned it up and trimmed it into several 'trees' then trawled the internet for some tutorials.

There are quite a few decent step by step guides out there and it turns out people are actually paying for dead sage bushes, just type in 'making sage brush trees' and you'll find them, my favourite is this one, the link is a bit broken but you'll get the gist;

http://www.009.cd2.com/tree_page.htm

Further to the instructons stated I would add that it is worth getting some latex gloves for spraying the black undercoat and especially the spray mount. I also decided to make a few hedges with small trees, the hedges were made from wire wool sprayed black and drybrushed dark green with ochre highlights.

The total spend was £50 and all told it took two days to make owing to drying between stages. Bar some more clumping foliage (£5 a bag) I now have the materials to make the same amount three times over so not a bad investment really and fun to make.

Eager to gather some more 'trees' for the next project I have found that roots or interesting looking twigs will suffice so keep an eye out when you're next out and about - perhaps walking off a hangover on the 1st !

Stuart