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This is my first tutorial so bare with me if it's a little iffy, and please feel free to give some constructive critism.

I wanted a gnarled and twisted tree for a scenic base I'm making and wanted to make it from scratch. It's for a choas model so I will be adding some additional details to make it look suitably...chaosy

This first post details how make the skeleton of the tree.
You will need:

- A large quantity of thin wire; no thicker than paperclip wire and preferably much thinner. To thick and it can't be easily bent into shape.
- A pair of needle nose pliers

I had a bundle of wire that was actually seven strands wrapped together, I simply cut of lengths and unwound it giving me seven strands of about the right thickness


To start you need to first define the basic shape of the tree. I cut a 15cm piece of the complete wire and just unwound a portion at each end to give me the roots and branches. The same effect can be achieved by just winding together a bunch of strands. This stage also gives you a great oppertunity to play around with positioning of the branches and roots to best achieve the desired affect. 15cm lengths of wire and gives you a tree about 10cm tall when completed. Its easier to use you fingers to wind the wire at this stage.


With the rough shape of the tree sorted I started to thicken up the trunk. I was going for an hour glass shape so started winding at either the base of the roots and working up or vice versa. Again figures is easier until you start to reach the end of a strand. At this point its easier to finish it off with the pliers. If you can try and tuck the ends of the wire in or under somewhere as they are damn sharp.


I then started on the roots. I wound lengths of wire from top to bottom making sure the top was thicker than the ends. Again I used my figures at the start and used the pliers nearer the end. As i added to the roots I found that i didn't have enough room for seven so I just wound a couple together to make more room. I ended up with five having started out with seven. When winding the wire start in a tight spiral that gets longer as you move away from the base of the tree. This ensures that you get the right shape on the root.


With the Roots completed I moved onto the branches. I wanted these to split so as to differentiate from the roots. The same process that I used on the roots I used on the branches however once I was about half way through I left a protruding piece of wire. With the next strand I worked along the orginal branch and when I reached the protruding piece I worked along that. I continued to work along each piece alternately until i was happy with the thickness.


I repeated this on each branch, putting the protuberence at different angles each time. Again I found I didn't have room for seven branches and wound two together so I had six, one of which went strait up. Here is the finished skeleton:

Even in the finished state you can still play around with the exact positioning although it is much stiffer.

In the next post I will show you how to add the "skin" to our "skeleton"
If you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask either here or via a PM.

Looking good so far. Are you going to use Green Stuff to skin it? Can't wait to see the end result!

Rather then GS, I can't help but think wrapping it in some thin strips of masking tape (trunk only) might also give a pleasing effect. I saw something similar in a 10 year old White Dwarf I have since lost and that's how they did it. I'm pretty sure they used "floral wire", if someone can be more specific or source it that would be awesome.

Great technique, I've been meaning to try this out for my terrain. Great writeup and pics too.

Ouze wrote:Rather then GS, I can't help but think wrapping it in some thin strips of masking tape (trunk only) might also give a pleasing effect. I saw something similar in a 10 year old White Dwarf I have since lost and that's how they did it. I'm pretty sure they used "floral wire", if someone can be more specific or source it that would be awesome.

Great technique, I've been meaning to try this out for my terrain. Great writeup and pics too.

Thanks for the comments. Now you mention that, I remember reading a similar article. Thats probably where I got the idea, although I must of unconciously remembered it . Floral or florists wire would be ideal for this, in fact it would be better than what I used as it's thinner and easier to bend. I was planning on using filler or something like that to coat the tree, this would allow me to easily texture it and provide a good painting surface once dry.

It's looking good, how long did it take for you to make it?

I've also seen people use plaster of Paris (the ones that comes in strips) to give their wire tree some substance.

It is pretty cool. Be sure to post an update once it is painted (and based).

Hive Mind Greenage wrote:It's looking good, how long did it take for you to make it?

I've also seen people use plaster of Paris (the ones that comes in strips) to give their wire tree some substance.

It took me about an hour to make the wire frame. I thought about using the plater of paris strips but I've opted for filler instead. It allows me to more easily texture the tree the way I want.

Karnagar wrote:

Hive Mind Greenage wrote:It's looking good, how long did it take for you to make it?

I've also seen people use plaster of Paris (the ones that comes in strips) to give their wire tree some substance.

It took me about an hour to make the wire frame. I thought about using the plater of paris strips but I've opted for filler instead. It allows me to more easily texture the tree the way I want.

I tried filler once. The damn stuff just crumbled off of the tree. Anyone else had this and how do I stop it?

What wire was used? I can't find any good wire for sculpting things like this or skeletons for models. Nothing really remembers its shape very well and goes back to its original position. If I could get a brand name, it would help A LOT.

Mewiththeface wrote:What wire was used? I can't find any good wire for sculpting things like this or skeletons for models. Nothing really remembers its shape very well and goes back to its original position. If I could get a brand name, it would help A LOT.

I'm not sure what sort of wire it was that I used, it was just a roll I found in my garage. Florists wire is the sort that you want ideally; it's thin and holds its shape once bent. I assume you get it in a florists or from a craft store or somewhere similar.

If you have a Michaels or similar craft store you can find the florist wire dirt cheap in the fake plant section.
Easy to work with and generally has green thread spooled around it to make it easier to bend and form.
I have used it before to make a similar tree. I based it off the old WD article. I used air dry modeling clay.
I tried filler first (to save some money) but as mentioned above it crumbled off.

end result was the tree in this pic.



Edit - sorry, not quite sure how to insert the picture.

I need to know this! Thinking of making a scenic base for my wood elves... I'll be looking for the next stage to be posted!

Sorry for the wait, I havn't had enough time to do this properly yet. I will have ample time over the weekend though so expect an update then.

I'd love to see the end result. I've seen a couple of mentions of using wire to make trees, but this is one of the better pictoral ones without a doubt.

Hate to bump this older tutorial but I am in the process of wanting to make a tree as well. I have a solid twisting iron frame. I was using this video here as inspiration: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOgWPAxoGO8

Problem is the wood filler I tried did not want to dry and according to my buddy he said it would crumble. So I found the masking tape idea mentioned here: http://archive.brushthralls.com/terrain/tree-templates.html. Unfortunately I looked up spray texture and it's a little expensive about $15 a can and I was wondering if anyone could point me in the right direction. Would green stuff be the best option? I'm not too worried about leaves I like the idea of a barren "spooky" tree.

Nice tut, I would love to see it painted!