Making Trees from Salal Bushes

I recently found a great source of making O scale trees by using dead Salal bush branches found in the woods near my home. These bushes are a broad leaf evergreen that grow all over Whidbey Island and the Puget Sound in general in coastal areas. When the plant dies it reveals a very nice armature that is perfect for making tree models. The branches are varied enough that they could probably be used for nearly any scale depending on how you cut it. The photos below describe my technique for making a tree out of this material.

1. Salal bush in the field. Notice dead branches ready for harvesting.	2. Salal branch specimen. This branch could yield several small trees or one big one easily.
3. I like to use my Dremel tool with cutting wheel on low speed to cut the branches since it is very brittle. A razor saw could be used but be careful.	4. I use Scenic Express "Supertrees" material for scale branches to add body to the tree. Simply break off pieces as needed and glue using Aileens Tacky Glue (source Walmart or Michaels).
5. You can glue Supertrees material direct to branches to build up foliage however I find that using a Dremel milling bit or pin vice works great for providing a hole to glue the foliage into.	6. Here is a salal branch built up with Supertrees foliage. After drilling holes throughout the tree to achieve a natural look, I start gluing in the foliage from the bottom and work my way to the top. From start to finish expect about 20 minutes to do the drilling and application of foliage per tree. Let the glue dry for at least an hour or two before the next step which is flocking.
7. Finished tree. I use "Aqua Net" hairspray to saturate the foliage and then simply apply Woodland Scenics medium flocking to the foliage by sprinkling from the top. Two applications is usually good. After flocking, I use a stiff brush to remove flocking stuck to the trunk and branches as well as possible without disturbing the foliage.

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