One Palm On Deck

Good morning from the deck of the Adelaide Beachy beach house.

This tree won't stay here, but I wanted you to see something that is finished for a change. 

The little orange tree, the wreath and calla lily as well as the roses were all handmade. Sorry for the blurry photo. The sun is just coming up this morning and I have only had one cup of coffee...

I like making plants and flowers. I had an idea yesterday to make one tropical plant for each letter of the alphabet each week.  After 52 weeks I weeks I would have 52 different plants!  A for Amaryllis, B for Bromeliad, C for Calla Lily etc. Okay, maybe 26 weeks? That would still be a lot of plants!

See how easily I get sidetracked?!

Back to work on the palms. P is for PALMS. No more excuses. Hope you have a great day!

Cutting and Carving

Seven leaves cut.  Fourteen more to go...

My new plumber's wrench worked great for adding texture to the trunk. Much easier than the little screw driver I tried yesterday!

I have more rings to carve.  Then I will try the boiling water soak. Hopefully, I will have at least one palm tree done by tomorrow?

Hope you have a lovely day!

Palms In Progress

I've been painting palm fronds this morning. Now it's time to start cutting. I'll need to get out my magnifying lamp to finish them.

I'm also trying to turn a wooden dowel into a palm tree trunk. I scraped it first with a small screw driver to add some texture. Then I cut rings using an old file. The top is carved with my Stanley knife.

Palm tree trunks are not always perfectly straight.  I read on a model railroad site that you can soak the dowels in boiling water to make them bend a little.  I'm going to see how that works next.  Then I will drill a hole in the top of the dowel to add my leaves.

I have this photo on my desk top for inspiration.  Hopefully, my little trees will look something this these?

I like the look of a palm tree in the sun.  The fronds are brighter than the ones in the photo above. They are more like this one found on Flicker.

Looks like I will need to do more hi-lighting on my leaves. I'm only making three of these larger trees.  Right now I'm thinking that is a very good thing!

Hope you have a beautiful day.  I wish I could go hug a palm tree. :D

Update:  After I've done all of this work, I found this great idea!  Using feathers to make palm trees! I may just start over?!