# Spooky Tree - need advice



## meestercranky (Aug 15, 2006)

I have some excellent old gnarled peach tree branches I used in my cemetary scene last year. The looked great up against the fence etc, but it made me decide to ask the forum if anyone has any projects for building a prop tree. 

THe tree should be at least five feet tall, I'll make it bigger if I can, and genuinely scary. Faces in the bark are optional. It's the tree that matters.

Anyone have a project overview or any ideas that can get me started? Materials, etc etc...

We're coming up on Labor Day and I want to start then.

Thank you to all, you are always a great resource.


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## Hauntiholik (May 17, 2006)

How about Ghostess' Wailing Tree?
http://hauntforum.com/showthread.php?t=7103


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## meestercranky (Aug 15, 2006)

that looks pretty similar to what I thought I'd do... and actually how I thought I'd build it.. but I have seen many people refer to "great stuff" on this site.. what exactly is it and where do I find it?


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## smileyface4u23 (Apr 1, 2008)

Great stuff is expanding foam - you can find it at wal-mart, lowes, hardware stores - pretty much anywhere.


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## meestercranky (Aug 15, 2006)

well I had another idea. We're talking about removing the peach tree and replacing it with a non fruit bearing tree in the fall - so I am considering cutting it limb from limb, then taking the trunk down in two pieces, drilling holes in the trunk and reassembling it with rebar in the front yard! How's that for recycling?


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## pyro (Oct 7, 2006)

thats a cool idea then you can make it the way you want it to look


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## meestercranky (Aug 15, 2006)

Well, it looks like I have to bite the bullet and build the tree vs repurposing the peach tree... Storage of it will be a minor problem, but my motivating factor is that I moved the giant peach tree limb I had stored out back today and EWWWWW termites!! they're eating it to pieces and that means they've developed a taste for my yard. Can't have that so no dead peach trees will be stored ad infinitum in the backyard....

I'll have to make the spooky tree sectional so I can figure out a way to store it. I think I'll build it in two sections and try to disguise the seam in the midsection.


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## Uruk-Hai (Nov 4, 2006)

I've always thought this was the spookiest tree image I'd ever seen. Ghostess' tree technique would work well to replicate it. It's on my build list as soon as I make a skull mold.


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## Bilbo (Dec 13, 2007)

I am making a smaller scale tree for my work "pod" (instead of cubicals, we have 6 work areas surrounding a central "island" with a post running down from the ceiling). 

Anyway, I took a cardboard carpet tube I knew would fit around the post, cut a strip out of it so I can refit it on the post when I'm done - taped it back in place. Then I took chicken wire and formed some roots and stapled those to the bottom. Will do the same for some branches near the top.

Here's the part I think is cool... I plan on running Great Stuff vertically the length of the tree, roots and branches. Some skeleton hands from the Dollar tree will be wired to the branches to form leaves, and a ton of small skulls, also from the DT will be pressed into the foam so I will have a ton of faces peering out like in the pic Uruk Hai just posted. I also took some larger skulls I have down to the beach and jammed their faces in the sand to use as molds. Some more Great Stuff and I have a bunch of larger skulls now to place as well. I plan on cutting the jaw off one and having a branch grow through the open mouth of it.

I'll paint the whole thing black, then dry or sponge paint on brown, ochre and such, then bring it in on Sept 1 after everyone else has gone home.


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## Holyhabanero (Aug 9, 2007)

Don't have any advice for how to make a scary tree, but if I were to make a one I'd look to the movie Sleepy Hollow as my inspiration. It has the most frightening tree I've seen.


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## Devils Chariot (May 23, 2007)

Uruk-Hai said:


> I've always thought this was the spookiest tree image I'd ever seen. Ghostess' tree technique would work well to replicate it. It's on my build list as soon as I make a skull mold.


I red your Obituary, it says you were Infected, Chopped in Half and Turned Inside Out and found in The Circle of the Tyrants. Police reports indicated your Cause of Death was "Dying" and that while Memories Remain, police continue to Search for the Arise.


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