Which came first, the shrub or the egg?
The egg, naturally. :D Styrofoam eggs to be precise.
I'm a huge fan of Squeeze Me trees and shrubbery, but if you need a lot of them, it can get very pricey. So, I'm making the pieces myself. Here are the tree forms, purchased from Hobby Lobby.
I started by checking placement around the structure.
Next, I gently shaped the eggs by rolling them on a piece of cardboard.
I then pressed the bottoms flat and shaped the lower edge.
This makes for a more natural shrub shape than a true egg.
Since each one turns out slightly different from the next, they look more natural overall. Of course, since shaping them made them smaller, I needed to add one to each side from my initial count. I ended up using all 18 eggs.
The trees were done similarly by rolling on cardboard, though I cut away bits to make them much skinnier than their original forms beforehand.
I placed each form onto a bamboo skewer for finishing.
I painted them Plantation Pine by Americana, mixed with a little black to darken the green undercoat. I stippled the paint on with a bristle brush for better coverage.
A cardboard box serves as a great holder as the paint and other finishes dry.
I brushed the shapes with Aleene's Quick Dry glue and sprinkled Woodland Scenics Blended Turf in Green Blend onto the glue.
After sprinkling the turf, I gently tapped additional material cupped in my hand to fill in most gaps. Final touch-ups are best left until after the glue dries.
Once the touch-ups were done, I applied Woodland Scenics Cement to each with a spray bottle. Once dry, this keeps the foliage stable enough for gentle handling while keeping a soft appearance.
My finely coiffed shrubbery will be set aside until I'm ready to plant. :]
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