Make cut-price trees

You can spend a fortune on trees – but you don’t always have to. I bought a Woodland Scenics TR1101 pack, from which I made 36 trees of different sizes. I started a production line that enabled me to turn out a finished tree approximately every five minutes… and I reckon that each one ended up costing around 50p!

Step BY Step

1 What you get: Woodland Scenics Realistic Tree Kit TR1101 contains 36 plastic armatures and three packs of foliage. You will need paint and some Hob-e-tac adhesive.

2 Cut off the plastic base with a sharp blade. It’s unrealistic, so bin it. Bend and twist the tree armatures between your fingers into a realistic, three-dimensional shape. It takes just a minute per tree to do this.

3 Brush on a little Hob-e-tac and leave for about 15 minutes until the adhesive is clear and tacky. Fix together any pieces to be joined. Once the adhesive is clear, dip the deciduous tree armatures into the mixed foliage.

4 Ensure that all of the glue is coated in foliage and shake off the excess material. Squeeze the foliage between your fingers to fix it to the adhesive. If there are any bare branches, brush a little more Hob-e-tac onto them.

5 Wait 15 minutes for the glue to go tacky and then push the foliage onto the adhesive again. When you’re happy with how the tree looks, spray the entire tree with Woodland Scenics Cement or hairspray to fix it in place.