Friday, March 8, 2013

Assembling An Easter Egg Tree From Scratch

      For many years I have assembled Easter egg trees from scratch. In part this is due to the lack of them that may be purchased. I do have an artificial Easter egg tree that you will see in a later post after I have decorated it. This year my youngest begged for a "real Easter egg tree" similar to the ones she grew up with. As you can see by clicking on the photo below, this one is made with real branches that have been manipulated with great industry. If you have access to lovely branches that need pruning, it is totally unnecessary to paper mache over the branches. Unfortunately, this year I was unable to find suitable branches for such an assembly. The branches that I used were those that I picked up off of my front lawn after a early March storm. These were fragile and uninteresting at best. So, I decided to improve them myself, thereby, demonstrating that one can have only a few options and still create a truely lovely Easter display.

      Left, are the river rocks brought to me by an Easter guest one year. These are highly unusual quartz. I have saved them for many years and I think they will indeed become a traditional inclusion in my Easter decor. Next, I have photographed an old ceramic pot that has very decorative raised designs. I love the patina on the pot and it also goes with the colors on the walls of the study area where I will be displaying my Easter egg tree. In the middle, you can see I have very little to work with in terms of nicely shaped branches and these are falling apart as well. In the following photo, I have begun to hot glue and tape my little tree. Last photograph, I completed the shape as it pleased me and also assembled the mache covered branches into my ceramic pot between the river quartz. This process took approximately three hours. I only need now to hot glue the pink silk, floral buds onto the little egg tree to complete it's final look.


      I layered onto my branches masking tape and then brown paper with tacky white glue. The finished tree structure is really quite strong. I could probably save this little tree for a few more years to use in displays if I wanted to. A few trimmings and a little hot glue are not normally worth the storage space to me. 
      Young teens could craft such a project and create even more elaborate additions. Next year I will include some more examples of egg trees for my visitors to think about crafting for themselves, but for now this classic version will suffice.

On the far left you can see the finished Easter egg tree. Center, a closer view.
 Right, a close up of the Easter figurines below.

A few things included on this egg tree are tiny white doves, Easter lilies, birds, and very light
weight Easter eggs. The pink silk flowers and rustic ceramic pot are complemented by the brick
 colored walls and concrete counter tops.

I have tied a paper cross to the very top branch.

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