Excerpted from Topiaries for All Season
by Valeta Norris, HGTV Ideas magazine
Photography by Charles Brooks
This ghostly topiary is a fun family project. The kids can help make the ghosts and decorate the tombstones.
Materials:
3/4" x 1-1/2" x 6' wood strips
one foot long 3/4-inch diameter wooden dowel
two foot long 3/8-inch diameter wooden dowel
two foot long 1/4-inch diameter wooden dowel
1-1/2" x 12" x 1/8" thick balsa wood
wood glue
black, 19-gauge annealed wire
flat black spray paint
12" x 18" x 1/8" thick MasoniteTM board
1-1/2-inch long flat-head wood screw
Spanish moss
gray or white latex paint
white tissue paper
white and black thread
needle
drill
screwdriver
needle-nose pliers
vise (optional)
Steps:
1. Make a rectangular base frame with 3/4" x 1-1/2" wood strips (approximately 12" x 18").
2. Cut Masonite and glue to frame for topiary base.
3. Paint the base black.
4. Cut the tombstone shapes in varying heights and make approximately 1-1/2 inches higher than desired height to allow for moss.
5. Paint tombstones white or gray and add inscriptions with a black, felt-tip pen.
6. Glue the tombstones to the base.
7. Cut a "tree trunk" from the large wooden dowel (approximately 12 inches).
8. Drill eight to nine 3/8-inch diameter holes in the tree trunk dowel at random locations for "branch" inserts. Drill only halfway through the dowel on a slightly upward angle.
9. Cut 3/8-inch diameter dowel into four- to six-inch varying lengths to make large branches to insert in the tree trunk. Make eight to nine of these--depending on the number of holes drilled in the trunk.
10. Drill 1/4-inch diameter holes in the large branches. Again, drill only halfway through the dowel on a slightly upward angle.
11. Cut 1/4-inch diameter dowel into two- to four-inch varying lengths to make smaller branches to insert in the larger branches. Make four smaller branches for each large branch.
12. Paint the branches and the tree trunk black.
13. Place the tree trunk securely in a vise. Glue and insert large branches into the tree trunk.
14. Glue smaller branches onto the larger branches.
15. Wind varying lengths of wire around all the branches for special effect.
16. Glue and screw the tree to the base.
17. Fill the base with moss or real sod.
18. Create ghosts with tissue.
19. Using a needle and thread, pierce the tops of the ghosts and hang them from the branches of the tree.
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