Blossoming cherry trees are the quintessential symbol of springtime in Japan and an important part of the Japanese culture. As such, a bunch of tiny pink trees was a scenery element I wanted to include on the layout from the very beginning.
To keep costs down, I knew I had to make my own trees. Easy enough, there's a fairly well-established method of making model trees using the appropriately-sized armatures (i.e. trunk and branches), polyester fiber to form the bulk of the canopy, and ground foam (or similar material) to add texture to the foliage. The challenge then became sourcing these three elements.
I started by looking for a commercially-made pink ground foam or similar product that I could include with my upcoming online order of the track. The only thing I could find find was made by Scenic Express, and it was $10 for a 16-oz container. The price was enough of a deterrent that I decided I would try and make my own ground foam from scratch. I had seen online articles about how to do that with some seat cushion foam, craft paint, and an old blender, and I had always wanted to give it a try. Now I had an excuse to do it!
I planned to get my supplies during my upcoming trip to the U.S., so I started making a list. Once I was there, I gathered the supplies I needed for each of the three main components of the tree.
For the armatures, I thought about collecting tiny bits of twigs from nature but quickly realized it would take too much time to collect and prep them for use on the layout. Time was not a luxury I had, so I decided I needed to make my own armatures. I thought of a couple of different ideas, either using bits of jute twine with one end unraveled to represent the branches, or by twisting bits of floral wire into shape. I planned to make the armatures once I got back to Bahrain, but couldn't decide which method to use, so I picked up both a roll of twine and a roll of floral wire from the Dollar Tree.
For the ground foam, I planned to make what I needed while visiting with my family in the U.S., then take the finished product back to Bahrain with me. I purchased a piece of white foam and some pink craft paint from Hobby Lobby. I just needed to find a suitable blender. To make a long story... less long..., I ended up getting a small personal smoothie blender from Walmart for $10 that seemed to do the trick.
The last ingredient I needed was poly fiber to form the tree canopies. I knew I only needed about a handful of plain white poly fiber, but all I could find in the stores was a pillow-sized package for about $4. This was way more than I needed and was willing to pay, so I started looking for alternative sources. I found a small stuffed Easter Bunny at the Dollar Tree and figured he had more than enough stuffing inside to do the trick!
