The Tree - foliage
I wrote a post just over a year ago on my landscaping materials from Scenery Express for the Heritage. In that post, I mentioned building a tree from Fall Mixed Wire Foliage Branches by JTT Scenery Products. These are meant to be standalone trees in smaller scales.
After building the dogwood tree, with its individual leaves and flowers, I didn't think The Tree would stand for foam foliage. Plus, I will be scattering the realistic leaves I took so much time to make, so the leaves on the ground should match those on The Tree.
Instead of making more right from the start, I filtered out the maple leaves from the bunch I already had. There are 88 branches, so I figured 1-3 leaves per. Mid to late October often sees sparse trees with more leaves on the ground than on the branches.
I colored the stems on these leaves with a brown marker so they would blend in more with the branches. I'll leave the ones for the ground as is since those look better without the darker stem.
I glued them on individually, just enough to give The Tree a pop of color and some life. Having leaves on the ends of the branches also disguises the non-tapered ends resulting from the water putty process.
This old tree isn't dead or dying by any means. It's just ready for its winter slumber. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Once I have the roof finished, I'll plant it and sculpt around the roots. :]
As for the original foliage branches, I'll save those for my next project where they will be colorful low-lying vegetation. :]