The material for topiary can be anything, just use available materials. The art of creating jewelry has no clear boundaries and rules. You can make an interesting addition to the interior from any materials found in the house. The main thing is that they competently emphasize each other’s strengths.
Anyone, whether a professional or a beginner, can make a bright decoration for their own apartment. For manufacturing, it is enough to select materials (their variety depends on the creativity of thinking). As mentioned above, there are no rules or canons.
A standard happiness tree consists of the following components:
- Pot;
- Shara;
- trunk;
- Glue;
- Auxiliary accessories for decoration.
The pot should not exceed the size of the ball, in which case the decoration will not be presentable from an aesthetic point of view. The material can be any, many prefer plastic. If desired, the pot is created separately. In most cases, a ready-made design is used.
The ball can be anything, including foam. This material is easy to work with. If it is not possible to purchase this component of the tree, you can make it yourself. To do this, ordinary paper is crumpled and wrapped with thread.
The base is a stick for the trunk. Any piece of wood will do, which will subsequently be wrapped with wire, ribbons or threads. The length of the stick depends on the height of the future topiary. The glue will secure all the parts together tightly.
When the structure is ready, it needs to be decorated. At this stage, fittings are selected. Ribbons, threads, beads, decoupage paper, pebbles, shells and bows - all this gives the tree aesthetic beauty. If the topiary is New Year's, then it is based on Christmas tree decorations and umbrellas. For a spring mood, butterflies, flowers and decorative berries are used.
DIY topiary from scrap materials: crown
In most cases, the crown is made from newspapers. This is a budget-friendly and quick way to create the necessary wood element. Making a crown is simple; to do this, old newspapers are crumpled until you get a dense ball. Pre-wetting the paper is allowed. The ball is fixed with knitting threads.
You can create a crown using other materials.
Polyurethane foam
A foam crown is an ideal solution for a heart-shaped tree. This material is easy to process and you can create any shape from it. All you need to do is wait until it dries. The optimal shape is achieved using a utility knife.
Styrofoam
One of the most common components of wood. It's simple and convenient to work with. Figures of any complexity are cut out of foam plastic, which allows you to create a real work of art.
The art of papier-mâché
The crown is also made from papier-mâché. For this, an inflatable ball, newspaper and glue are used. The paper is placed on the ball and secured. When the glue dries, the balloon deflates. The result is an interesting addition to the decoration.
Topiary for beginners - tips, photos and videos of creation:
Plastic or foam balls
If you don’t have enough tools at hand or don’t have time to make a ball, ready-made designs will come in handy. You can purchase them at any craft store. It is recommended to pay attention to plastic balls and Christmas tree decorations.
Everything for making topiary: what to look for
Creating a unique decoration with your own hands is a simple task. The main thing is to decide on the main components and show the makings of creative thinking. Jewelry based on coffee beans is especially popular today.
To produce high-quality and fragrant wood, you need to purchase the following products:
- Coffee beans;
- Glue;
- Wooden stick;
- Gypsum or cement;
- Ball - crown;
- Scissors;
- Threads;
- Rope.
The manufacturing process is simple. It is necessary to make a hole in the crown ball and secure a wooden stick in it. The other end of the frame is placed in a pot and covered with plaster. This will create a durable structure. Frames can be different, both wooden and metal. It all depends on the desire of the person.
Threads are used to decorate the crown ball. They act as a winding onto which the coffee beans are then glued. The trunk or wooden stick is decorated with threads or ribbons. If desired, it can be pasted over with grains or left unchanged. In order to hide the base of the driftwood and plaster, pebbles, shells or coffee are used. If the tree is coffee, then it should be based on the grains of this product.
The result is an interesting tree, distinguished not only by its beauty, but also by its pleasant aroma. Other structures are made using a similar principle. The main thing is to decide on the purpose and select the optimal components.
How to decorate topiary
There are a lot of ideas for topiary decorations. You can purchase a ready-made set or make do with improvised means. Much depends on the theme of the decoration.
Topiary happens:
- Coffee;
- Marine;
- Monetary;
- New Year's;
- Floral.
For each type of jewelry, its own decorative elements are used. You can decorate the trunk with ribbons, fabric, paper and dried flowers. Coffee, beads and decorative berries will do. You can decorate the base with shells, pebbles, beads, large beads and coffee.
The crown ball is transformed with bright ribbons, threads and dry fruits. There are a lot of interesting ideas, the main thing is that the resulting tree reflects the interior of the apartment and fully matches the chosen theme.
Necessary materials for topiary (video)
Every person can create a unique piece of jewelry. You don't have to be a creative person. Topiary is an ornament for the soul and body that has no clear boundaries.
From time immemorial, people have tried to decorate their homes - it doesn’t matter whether it’s a primitive man’s cave or a modern apartment. They always tried to decorate everyday life with stucco, drawings, and paintings. In almost all drawings and paintings, people invested sacred, magical meaning.
People tried to decorate not only their homes, but also the area around them. The custom of decorating trees (such decorations include giving a certain shape to the crown of a tree) has become a kind of cult.
Since ancient times, there have been holidays dedicated to nature and life cycles. At such festivals, trees played a major role.
Ritual actions with trees smoothly transitioned into garden architecture back in the days of Ancient Rome. Topiary or topiary is a garden in which trees grow that look more like garden sculptures. Skilled gardeners trimmed the branches, crown, and intertwined the branches so beautifully that the trees and shrubs acquired intricate shapes.
Topiary in the modern world
Today we can make topiary ourselves. In today's world, it is not at all necessary to have your own garden to have a topiary. Today it is a small original tree, which is also called the tree of happiness or money. Making it yourself at home is not at all difficult.
In order to have a tree of happiness at home, you will need just a few things:
A small pot or stand. A very important nuance - the pot or stand should not be larger than the diameter of the base of the tree.
A small stick that will serve as a trunk. The base of the tree. There are quite a few shapes of the base, but the most common is the ball shape.
Tree crown. To decorate a more beautiful crown, you can use a variety of improvised means that any person can always find in their home: coffee beans, pistachios, fancy-shaped pasta, acorns, buttons, beads and others.
The base can be purchased ready-made (ready-made foam blanks are sold in craft stores) or you can make it yourself from available materials.
The trunk can be made of thick wire, a pencil or a dried twig, which is pre-wrapped with twine or tape.
In order to make a crown, take plain paper, corrugated paper or multi-layer napkins. The ball can be formed from newspaper and wrapped with thread or twine. For strong fixation, cover with a small layer of PVA glue.
Once the glue has dried, coat the ball with paint or varnish. Next, you can stick on the selected flowers, moss or other decorative elements.
To decorate the crown, you can use any available materials - leaves, coffee beans, satin or silk ribbons, acorns and others. The finished design can also be supplemented with colored pasta of intricate shapes, buttons, and pistachios.
Topiary yourself - step-by-step instructions
If you decide to put a similar tree at home, we will teach you how to make a topiary with your own hands from available materials.
Prepare everything you need in advance:
- finished round billet;
- nice bowl;
- not real flowers;
- a pencil or a wooden stick of a suitable color and length;
- a ball of the same diameter as the mug;
- artificial grass or moss.
The first step is to decorate a pencil or stick using ribbon. Place in a ball and secure in the bowl with mounting foam.
The next step is to place artificial flowers on the blank. Keep in mind that it looks beautiful when there are no empty spaces. Now you can string the finished tree top onto the trunk.
You can decorate the edges of the mug with decorative moss or grass. To get a beautiful topiary, you can plant a butterfly (artificial).
DIY boxwood topiary
In order to make a boxwood tree of happiness you will need:
- natural or artificial boxwood branches;
- nice bowl;
- flowers made of paper, felt and other substitutes;
- gravel as filler;
- round blank made of polystyrene foam;
- fishing line or thin wire.
If you use branches instead of a pencil or stick for the trunk, tie them together first using wire. After the work has been completed, the spherical blank must be placed on the barrel.
Place the trunk with the crown in a container into which gravel was previously poured. Lay moss or artificial grass on top. The crown can be decorated with small flowers, which are placed between the boxwood branches.
If you are still in doubt and cannot decide which tree you want to make yourself, we recommend looking at a photo of a topiary made by yourself. Such photos can be found on handicraft websites.
DIY topiary photo
How can you make a base ball with your own hands? What do the frames for some types of topiary look like? Is plaster always used? Is it possible to buy a topiary kit at a craft store? Which fittings are better? Topiary masters are familiar with these questions. And beginners should give a detailed answer to them.
The basis for topiary is most often a ball around which the crown will be formed. The basis can be done in different ways. If we are talking about how to construct such a ball with your own hands, then two methods are generally available and simple.
Methods for creating a base ball:
- Papier mache. Papier-mâché is a technique that is part of our set of skills, learned in childhood during a labor lesson. You need to take paper, glue, and an object whose shape you want to eventually get. You take a children's plastic ball and layer paper on it with glue. The more layers of “paper + glue”, the stronger the product will be. Then you cut the structure in half, remove the original object, and once again fix it with layers of paper and glue.
- A lump of newspapers. Also the old-fashioned way. You can take newspapers and crumple them until you have a spherical object in your palm. It will be made heavier by glue, which should not be applied in large quantities. And then you wrap the newspaper wad with threads so that you get a ball. It is advisable to cover the lump with something on top, which is easy to paint. For example, masking tape.
- Macroflex or polyurethane foam. The material is sprayed into a plastic bag and after it hardens, any shapes can be cut out of it.
The base ball is also made in other, less popular ways, but these three are still rightfully considered the simplest.
DIY foam ball (video)
Do-it-yourself topiary trunk: what to make from
The trunk is part of the topiary, which is included in the set of required elements. You can make it yourself, for example, from wire or aluminum cable. This is good because it is easy to give any bend to your trunk using such materials.
How else to make a topiary trunk:
- Pencils. Like ordinary thin and non-standard thick pencils - why not a trunk for a tree? What you need is to decorate them - paint, tie, glue or weave.
- Branches. Natural materials make topiary more natural. Therefore, not thick snags, but beautiful strong branches are an excellent trunk for topiary. They can be left in their natural form, or painted, varnished, sprinkled with something, creating a new structure.
- Sushi chopsticks. If you need to make a straight trunk, these literally improvised materials will help.
And the trunk is beautifully made from old brushes. If you have a whole set of brushes, all you have to do is choose the thickness of the brush you need.
Trunk for topiary made of wire (video)
How to make a pot with your own hands: alternative methods
To make topiary, you almost always need a pot, that is, the form where the tree directly “grows”. In a store that sells this kind of goods, you can, of course, buy a whole set of pots. But it’s more pleasant to build it yourself practically from scrap materials.
To make a pot you can use:
- Plastic milk bottles, lemonade, iced tea, etc. Just cut it as you need, and then it’s just a matter of decoration.
- Old cups. You can paint them by hand using glue, decorate them with grains and cereals, wrap them with ribbons, etc.
- Plastic cups. That’s the case when good things don’t go to waste. You wrap it in burlap, tie it with a lace strip, a thin satin ribbon, put a beautiful button in the middle with glue and, here you have it, a beautiful pot - all with your own hands.
Don’t discount old vases, interestingly shaped ashtrays, sugar bowls and teapots, and other goods that are not worth buying, but it’s better to take something old and give it a new life. Albeit in the form of a topiary pot, but why not?
Base for topiary: decorate it yourself (video)
Basics for creating topiary: what else do you need?
Any beginner has a standard set of questions regarding making topiaries.
A couple of detailed answers will not be superfluous:
- Why plaster? Of course, not only gypsum can be used. It’s just that this is the simplest and most affordable option, a material that virtually anyone can properly dilute with their own hands. Dilute the plaster, taking into account the following nuances: first pour water into the container, otherwise the plaster, or rather gypsum dust, may get into the lungs. You can immediately paint the plaster with natural dyes - potassium permanganate, iodine, tea leaves, brilliant green. Even ordinary gouache will paint over plaster well.
- How to turn topiary into an aroma tree? The simple answer is use coffee. But it's really too simple. But buying a set of herbs and spices is a more interesting solution. Vanilla sticks or cinnamon sticks not only decorate the tree, but also give it a sweet aroma.
- How to get a heart-shaped base? Again, either use the papier-mâché technique or a foam blank. It is possible to build a blank heart using three balls, but it is more difficult. And sometimes they use multilayer cardboard, from which they cut out a heart shape and then decorate it.
As you become more interested in creating topiaries, questions will only increase. Don’t be greedy, share your master classes, tell us what materials you use, reveal the secrets of your craft.
Sweet topiary (video master class)
Topiaries are amazing trees that today you increasingly see in home decor and beyond. This is also an excellent gift for almost any occasion, which can be constructed in one day, and will delight you with its magnificence for a long time.
Good luck with your creativity!
The art of topiary came to us from Ancient Egypt. In those days, the talent of giving plants unusual geometric shapes was highly valued. An example of this is such a wonder of the world as the Gardens of Babylon.
Today, topiary is a small tree made from natural and artificial materials. We will share decor ideas with you and tell you what you can use to make a beautiful tree yourself.
Secrets for Beginners
Having created a tree of happiness, you can both decorate your own home with it and present it as a gift for a wedding, housewarming, or anniversary. The product sizes are different, depending on your preferences and range from 15 to 50 cm.
Important! Topiary has a purely decorative function. And it depends on your imagination whether you will make a small original tree in the shape of a heart, or unusual models from shells.
The simplest available materials for making topiary are as follows:
- pasta;
- money;
- branches;
- coffee beans;
- napkins;
- candies;
- cotton pads.
Advice! A popular option is a money tree. It is made as a gift using small bills. It symbolizes wealth, luck and business success. Suitable for placement in the kitchen or any other room.
Usually the money tree is made in mini versions for installation on window sills. Also, such a gift can be in a small pot on the floor, which is placed near a coffee table or sofa in the living room.
How to make topiary with your own hands
If you decide to decorate the house yourself, then before making the composition, consider the design of the main components:
- bases for topiary;
- crowns;
- trunk;
- stands.
Suitable bases include paper, old newspapers, polystyrene foam, polyurethane foam, and a children's ball. What to make it from is up to you.
Advice! Experienced craftswomen use foam plastic for shapes in the form of letters, numbers, and hearts.
You can simply make a trunk from strong wire, branches, and plastic tubes. When choosing what to make a topiary trunk from, consider the size of the future product. If it is a small model, use a simple pencil; if it is a floor model, use one even, thick branch.
The crown is the part of the craft that will attract attention the most. Suitable materials include paper, polymer clay, beads, buttons, and shells.
Depending on the size of the product and the idea, an ordinary flower pot, a toy bucket, or a flat wooden board will serve as a stand. Decorate it with fabric, lace, decoupage or paint it. How to do it is up to you.
Advice! An ordinary cup that you no longer use in everyday life is perfect for a stand.
Step-by-step instructions for crafts
For those who are carried away by this wonderful idea, we will tell you how to make a beautiful topiary step by step. Before you start crafting, carefully think through the idea of the future tree and prepare all the necessary materials for the trunk, crown and stand.
When creating your topiary, follow this sequence:
- prepare the crown. To make it, use scrap materials or specially stored shells, beads, and seed beads. For a non-standard crown shaped like a number or letter, cut out the required shape from foam plastic. Be sure to make a hole for the barrel;
- prepare the barrel. Depending on the idea, use branches, sushi sticks, or plastic straws. If you are planning to make a large outdoor topiary, which you will place in the garden or outside in a private house, use wooden sticks wrapped with twine or varnished in the desired color. Place the crown on the trunk;
Advice! If the crown is round, you just need to put the base on the trunk. If your topiary has a non-standard appearance, additionally secure it with glue.
- stand. Use pots or planters. First place polystyrene foam in the pot and fill it with weak cement mortar or alabaster, level it and dry it. This will serve as a reliable frame for the craft.
Advice! Since novice craftswomen do not always guess the proportions of the solution, experienced needlewomen advise using the consistency of liquid sour cream - too thick a mass will not fill the space between the pot and the foam.
This interesting craft can easily be made with children to decorate the garden or any room in the house.
Simple topiary master classes
Wonderful trees can be bought in souvenir shops, or you can make them yourself. A common topiary model is created from foamiran. Watch the video for a master class on how to make an unusual tree
Delicate original topiary from foamiran.
Make your own topiary from beads. The master class includes the following steps:
- preparation of materials. Buy beads, ribbons, twine, wire for the trunk, pot, plaster, glue. Use tweezers to easily glue the beads to the base;
Advice! Use a regular ball as the basis for the crown or cut out another shape, such as a heart, from foam. This topiary will be an excellent gift for Valentine's Day.
- glue the beads to the base;
- for the trunk, take a wire, wrap it with twine or tape, bend it as desired;
- insert the crown into the trunk and secure with glue;
- place the second end of the barrel in a pre-prepared pot with pieces of foam plastic;
- fill with plaster and leave to dry;
- decorate the stand.
The product is ready. This MK is used by many beginning craftswomen.
Tulle topiary looks beautiful. Watch the master class on video. They will tell you step by step how to make a craft with your own hands.
Some more interesting ideas for tulle topiary.
Interesting DIY topiary made from cotton pads. A step-by-step master class is presented in the video:
For advanced needlewomen, it is interesting to make a topiary from beads with your own hands. With this choice, various wood weaving techniques are used: knotted, French circular, tight oblique, American braid. A detailed master class is offered in the video:
Below are two more works of art - beaded trees.
The easiest option is to make your own pasta topiary. After all, every kitchen has pasta in the shape of shells, horns, and spirals. You can decorate the pasta glued to the base with various paints or cover it with an aerosol. The master class is similar in manufacturing principle to a tree made of beads.
Advice! Crafts made from pine cones, buttons and threads look interesting and creative.
Which crown to choose
Among the common types of crowns, you can choose the option that suits you best. So, the shape of the crown of your topiary can be as follows:
- hearts;
- flying cups;
- bicycles;
- Christmas trees;
- bird nests;
- ships;
- birdhouses;
- sunshine;
- apple trees;
- umbrellas;
- shoes;
- roosters;
- fairy houses with nests.
A craft made from beads in the shape of a glued nest with birds looks beautiful. For lovers of non-standard solutions, a floating cup will look great in any room or office.
Idea for a flying cup
A heart-shaped design or a tree with dollars are suitable as a gift. For a spring mood, make a fruit tree. For memorable events, build a product in the shape of letters or numbers.
Marine crafts decorated with shells, sand and other natural materials look great. Craftswomen like to additionally decorate the crown with a nest of branches and flowers. An interesting option is a vintage burlap topiary decorated with a real small clock. Marshmallow topiary looks festive. If you don’t have enough indoor plants in your home, make a craft from lagurus.
Coffee tree
Creating a topiary with your own hands is not an easy task for beginners. Especially if a person has no experience in needlework, and his artistic taste has not received proper development. But when meeting such an elegant and unusual interior decoration, many have a strong desire to try to make it themselves. It also attracts with its delightfully romantic name – “Tree of Happiness”. Such an unusual interior decoration, and even with such a charming name, is always a pleasure to place in your home or give as a gift.
For inspiration, you can watch or attend topiary art classes. This will help you make compositions without making mistakes. If you carefully study at least one master class, the topiary will definitely come out well. And if you watch more than one master class, the tree of happiness for beginners can turn out even better than for professional designers.
Making topiary is extremely interesting. This is a very exciting activity. By plunging into creativity, you can completely escape from the everyday routine. A topiary is a not too large stylized tree of a neat geometric shape, standing on a base. Consists of 3 parts - base, trunk and crown. Therefore, step-by-step instructions for making it consist of 3 sections. But before you start making topiary, it is important to understand what you will need for this.
Tools and materials for work
Before you start, you should stock up on everything you need to make the craft. These are both necessary tools and consumables. In order to decide what supplies you will need, you must first imagine what kind of topiary you want to make.
Ideas for creating a topiary can also arise when looking at various materials in the store or available in the house. If there are materials in the house from which you want to make a topiary, then you will need to buy them much less, and maybe you won’t need them at all. Some necessary tools can also be found in every home, while others can be borrowed for the first time from friends and acquaintances, in case the activity is not to your liking. When creating a topiary, it is almost always possible to replace some materials with others. This allows you to avoid spending extra money. You just need to choose a method for manufacturing certain elements from available resources.
You will need few tools. This:
- Glue gun – it is very convenient to glue decorative elements with it. But if it is not possible to purchase it or borrow it for a while, you can do without it, using any quick-drying glue.
- A stationery knife (can be replaced with a well-sharpened kitchen knife) - for making a foam base.
- Spatula or spoon - for stirring the construction mixture
Required and non-replaceable materials:
- Quick-drying glue or glue gun glue.
- PVA glue - for gluing the crown base with paper or napkins.
- Long enough branch for the trunk
Replaceable or not always necessary materials:
- Polystyrene foam - for making the base for the crown.
- The egg tray is the same.
- Newspapers are the same.
- Napkins - for gluing the base.
- Foil - for wrapping the base.
- Flowerpot - for making the base.
- Empty tin can - for making the base.
- A plastic container made of fairly dense plastic.
- Dry building mixture - gypsum, alabaster, putty or cement with sand.
- Fabric - may be needed for decoration and for wrapping the base.
- Needle and thread - for making artificial flowers with your own hands and for wrapping the base for the crown.
- Cotton swabs - for making flowers.
- Artificial flowers and fruits - for decoration.
- Coffee beans, chestnuts, acorns, nuts or their shells, cones, branches, leaves - for decoration.
Topiary proportions and harmonious use of colors
Before making topiary for the first time, it is very important to understand what the proportions of its parts should be relative to each other. Because even a perfectly decorated souvenir will look ridiculous if the proportions are not respected. In order for the tree to look elegant, its base should be 2-3 cm smaller than the crown, so when you first look at it, attention will be focused on the crown. The base should not be elongated. It should be close in shape to a cube or ball.
The length of the trunk must necessarily be slightly larger than the diameter of the crown, so that the tree does not look squat. But also only by a few centimeters, because a tree with a trunk that is too long will look awkward. The thickness of the trunk should be proportionate to the base and crown. The trunk should be neither too thin nor too thick. A tree with a thin trunk will look defective, and with a too thick trunk it will look rough. Typically, the thickness of the trunk is 1-3 cm. For small topiaries, the trunk can be 1 cm thick, and for large ones – 3 cm.
When making topiary with your own hands, it is very important to follow the rules of decoration and the correct use of flowers.
When decorating a product, you do not need to use more than 3 primary colors.
If you use more flowers, the tree will look tacky. For a small accent, you can use 1 additional color. When decorating the base, you need to use 1 less color so that it is the crown that attracts attention. Single-color topiaries with small accents of a contrasting shade look great. To correctly select color combinations, you can use the color combination table. Accessories made from natural materials in different shades of the same color look interesting.
Topiary for beginners (video)
Step 1: making the base
The base is made from a flowerpot, tin can or plastic container. You can decorate it with fabric, or you can use the same elements as the crown. You need to fill it with a building mixture, diluted to a thick sour cream, not reaching the edges of 4 cm, then insert the tree into it and fix it until it dries.
Step 2: make the base for the crown and decorate
The base for the top of the tree can be made by crumpling newspaper into a ball, wrapping it in paper to match the decor or foil, or wrapping it with thread. You can form a ball from the soaked egg trays and let it dry. You can glue a cube out of foam plastic, and then cut a ball out of it and cover it with paper or napkins. Decorative elements are glued to the base and base with quick-drying glue. Twigs and artificial flowers are first stuck into the base, then taken out, coated with glue and inserted back.
Step 3: select and attach the barrel
For a topiary trunk with a round crown, you need to take a smoothly curved branch. When choosing the length, you must remember that when fastened, it will fit into the finished crown with decorative elements to the middle and into the base to the bottom, and be sure to take this into account. A perfectly straight trunk is suitable for topiary with a cubic crown. To secure the trunk, you need to stick it into the crown base, take it out, coat it with quick-drying glue and stick it in again. There is no need to place decorative elements on the trunk.
DIY coffee tree (video)
