Time for something a bit different but continuing the experiments with the textured paint. As I made up a batch, I had better use it up :-). Don’t get too excited, this was just a little play to see what could be done. What I needed was a finished item which could be used on many layouts … how about a tree stump? Note the photographs are a bit cruel here, they are much larger than life size (that’s my excuse, anyway) .

The thinking here is not just to use the method for a stump, the same techniques could be used to produce the flare at the base of a tree - something that is often lacking when natural material is used to create trees on a layout.

The material used as the basis here was a short length of twig, cut from a Willow tree. I liked the bark texture and colour, not that you see that when finished. This piece is about 10mm diameter and 25mm long. Had I known it was going to come out so well, I think I would have used a thicker material. Below is how uninspiring it was to start with:

This was simply glued to a scrap of card then thoughts turned to forming the roots which gives a tree the flare at the base.

For this, I used a cheap substitute for Blu-tac. This adhesive putty should be the same as the brand leader but it’s not very sticky so has been relegated to jobs like this. It is very quick and easy to shape and prod into place using a craft knife and the handle of a small paintbrush. The fact that it doesn’t set hard doesn’t matter for this job. Plasticine, Das, Milliput and the like can be used in much the same way.

The next step was to cover the putty and provide a base for the textured paint to stick to. This was done with a mixture of PVA, emulsion/latex paint and a bit of Chinchilla dust (fine sand would also work) mixed into a thin slurry. This was then brushed over the base of the stump. I did add a touch of black poster paint to the mix so it showed up better in the pics, but this is not needed.

This only took a few minutes to dry as it was applied quite thinly - it is just a key for the next coating. The textured paint is what will add body to this and rather than the smooth coating that I used on the troughs, I wanted a rougher texture so added in some more Chinchilla dust (a very versatile material, but fine sand can be used instead).

This was then brushed over the entire base, leaving the cut top of the stump showing (I know I should have two cuts on a cut down tree, but that will have to wait till next time :-)).

So thats it :-). This was quick and easy to make, even taking drying times into account. Excluding the drying time, the whole thing took less than 30 minuted to make but next time will be a lot quicker, now that I know how to do it!

[This tip originally appeared in the GnATTERbox which continues with Steve expanding the technique to complete trees]