Thread: Very Very inexpensive trees

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I dont know if this is the right place to ask this but........

I need help from the more crafty and imaginative people here.

I need 5-6 trees about 18"-2ft diameter and about 8ft tall, I just need the trunks, I dont need branches but for the life of me I cant find a cheap way to make these tree trunks. If I can get the form I can handle the detailing but the whole creation of the form has me stumped.

I have looked into cardboard but cannot get any cardboard boxes large enough for this. I thought about chicken wire but a roll long enough for this is around $50 and the wood supports for it would be another $1-$2 each.

I'm stumped.

I dont want 2D trees either, so no Spirit Halloween trees.

Any ideas?

Thanks

no ideas huh?

Not sure if its what you are looking for but ghostess has a monster mud tree trunk how to on her site. You might be able to adapt it for your needs.

http://www.theghostess.com/

If durability or weight aren't a problem, paper mache might be you're best bet. You could also have pvc run up the center to plant them in the ground and to act as a frame.

the only problem with the paper mache is the chicken wire required makes it cost prohibitive.

MsMeeple, I'll check that out and see if it's possible to adapt to my garage haunt plans, thanks

Hmm.,..they wouldn't be as wide as you're asking for. But you might think about using the round concrete molds from a hardware store. They're only like 4 ft tall, but if you put 2 together it would give you the right height. But, by the time you get all 5-6 trees done you'd be back up there in the price. They're like $6 each. So you'd be paying out close to $80. The only good thing is that you wouldn't have to us a crapload of paper mache in order to build up your trees. lol

hey Anji4062, I looked at those at Home depot first, the largest I saw was 12". That would actually be okay but like you said I would need 2 per tree and here they sell for $12 and change ea.......so yeah, it would be huge expensive.

I did have another thought today, I could get a few sheets of plywood and cut 8 2ft circles per sheet and then use 1x2 stringers as a frame and the circles as the base and top then wrap them in something and make "great stuff" bark and paint........still working out the economics of this option tho.

carpet tubes taped together to get required circumference then paper mache.
cheap.

Winklesun, thats a good idea, I'll call a few carpet stores around here, thanks!