STEP 1: BUILDING THE TREE
I used peppergrass sprigs, also known as candy tuft and sesame bloom, for the crown and branch structure of the hardwood trees. Lou gets his peppergrass from Carroll Creek, P.O. Box 535, Center City, MN 55012. Peppergrass can occasionally be found in big-box craft stores, but it’s usually dyed bright colors for use in floral arrangements. Raw peppergrass is easier to paint.
I selected sprigs that best represented the branch structure and crown of a hardwood tree. Raw peppergrass has flowers and leaves. I removed the plant’s leaves but left its flowers intact, as they looked like O scale tree leaves ❶.
Once the leaves were removed, I wrapped two separate bunches of peppergrass together with floral tape ❷. I then combined the separate stem assemblies with more tape ❸.
To force the two trunks apart, I wrapped tape between the two groupings of sprigs and pulled gently on the tape in a downward motion, crossing them over each other ❹. I taped additional branches to the tree structure to form the desired shape of the crown. I used tweezers to pull the tape through narrow spots.
Once the branch and trunk assembly was completed, I trimmed off the base of the trunk with cutting pliers.
Then I trimmed the head off a 2" finishing nail and inserted it into the bottom of the trunk.
One additional feature I added to my tree is branches that have broken off. I captured this detail by dipping a short stub of peppergrass stalk into white glue and attaching it to the trunk.