Before we start I made
two with 6 fronds, 1 with seven fronds, and in hind sight the ideal for
appearances would have to be 8 plus a new shoot. I say this because it gives far
better options regarding displaying the leaves realistically. (just my opinion.) Can you
imagine how I felt when, having put them together, I found baby had wondered off
with two fronds? Gutted! I thought I'd made more!!!!! Should have counted them.
Little rascal.
You’ll need
Heavy paper (not card)
Masking tape
cotton
Paints
Tiny can of dark green spray paint, semi gloss (optional but fun) or
airbrush. optional but even more fun)
5 minute epoxy
Super glue (not essential, but very helpful)
Toothpicks or sharp pointy stick.
Small scissors (really small)
Plant wire (preferably steel not copper)
Patience. Lots of it.
1)
Decide on size wanted (large or small, slightly different taping
method.)
2)
Cut wires to length all about 9-12 inches long or longer for a large
palm.
3)
Cut out your blank paper leaf shape. I just made them ½ inch wider than the tape.
4)
Using one piece of tape stick the wire to your paper leaf. Note the wire
doe not go to the end of the leaf.
5) If you are
making a large palm, lay one piece down the middle, two down either side
and then another down the middle. This gives each leaf a tapered
thickness and means the root of the leaf is strongest.*also double the
wire up so there are 1 ½ wires in the leaf, then twist together the wire
which will be out of the leaf. see pictures. (don't twist the wire in
the leaf, it looks lumpy afterwards.)
Large leaves 2"x6"
Small leaves 1 1/2"x 2 3/4"
5)
Make a new shoot using a LITTLE tape with the corner cut off wrapped around a piece of wire.
6)Now patiently cut out all the leaves individually. I made one cut
straight and then the second cut was slightly rounded to give a leaf
shape.
7)Bend the wire to a curve and then bend the fronds down so the
tape is on the TOP of the branch. This gives a ridge along the top.
8)
When happy with the general shape, which you can change later, paint the
middle and ends with a dirty yellow.
9)
Using a brush or spray can or airbrush, paint the leaves a dark, semi
gloss green leaving some of the middle and some of the leaf tips
slightly yellow.
Now the fun begins.
10)Arrange
the branches roughly into shape, at this stage nothing is critical.
11)Bind
the wires together with cotton until everything is held very firmly.
12)Arrange
to your final desired shape.
13)At
this point I ran instant glue down the wires and cotton to lock
everything together.
14)Paint,
using a tiny throw away brush or a sharp thin stick, the branches and
trunk with 5 minute epoxy to get a lovely smooth finish. Two applications
may be needed. 5 minute epoxy has two advantages. One it gives fast
results and secondly it always stays slight malleable.
15)At
this stage paint your branches and trunk dark green and, while it’s
still wet, mix on just a little dirty yellow for character.
16)Wrap
several short pieces of tape around the base to give the appearance of
older branch rings.
17)Paint
these a dark brown and again, while wet, add little rings of dirty
yellow to the tops of the tape ridges.
18)Cut
the unwanted base off with heavy pliers and plant.
I couldn't get the clay pots I wanted so I made a
couple of solid copper pots. I then painted around the base with thick
brown paint and sprinkled with tea leaves, Quite cool I thought.
NB. I made some out of
copper wire before using soft steel and found the copper a little too soft.
Hopefully at this
stage your done and happy. It’s a lot easier than it sounds.
I used acrylic paints all round and at no stage had to wait for anything to dry
more than 5 minutes. So the project flows once you get started.
I found it really enjoyable and hopefully you’ll post some picks if you have a
go.
Please feel free to ask any questions.
