Crafts with an autumn theme look original and interesting at any time of the year. The availability of the material and the ease of making miniature trees, funny animals, and three-dimensional compositions allow you to create stunning decor for interior decoration. Autumn topiary is one of the many creative options using the gifts of nature. Anyone, even a child, can make a bright tree in a pot with their own hands. To do this, you need to properly prepare the material and strictly follow the step-by-step instructions of the master class.
Collection and preparation of autumn material for topiary
You can start collecting material for seasonal crafts from mid-summer. During this period, most fruit trees produce a harvest, fruits appear on chestnuts, oaks and spruces. You can get a sufficient number of seeds, seeds, and shells by simply wandering through a forest plantation, a park, or in your own garden.
To create a topiary, only whole materials that are not affected by pests and rot are suitable. In order for the collected components to deteriorate as slowly as possible, they must be prepared before use. Each type of natural element has its own rules:
- Chestnuts. After collection, they should lie for at least 3 weeks in a cool place. Drying is necessary so that they do not puff up and lie flat on the base. During this time, their top layer will strengthen and the shape will become flattened.
- Fruit seeds. The material must be washed well and cleared of any remaining pulp. If necessary, boil cherry or plum pits for 5 minutes. Then they need to be fried in a frying pan, in the oven, or left in the sun for the whole day.
- Acorns. Single-seeded oak fruits must be washed and dirt, leaves, and larvae removed with a brush. Then they are thrown on a towel, allowed to absorb water and fried in the oven over low heat for 1 hour.
- Walnuts. Half shells are suitable for topiary. To split the nut into even pieces, you need to insert a knife between the halves and lightly hit it with a hammer. We remove the core, clean the inner sides of the shells from the veins, and leave to dry for several hours.
- Cones. To prevent unopened coniferous fruits from changing their appearance after drying and starting to open, they must be treated with wood glue. The material is dipped into the mixture several times, the glue is allowed to drain and laid out on oilcloth to dry.
Useful tips
To prevent dry leaves prepared for crafts from breaking, it is necessary to treat them in a glycerin solution at the rate of 200 ml of the substance per 400 ml of clean water. Next, you should put the leaves in tight bags and fill them with this composition, and seal the bags. Leaves are left in bags for 3 days. Then they are taken out, dried on a paper towel - and you can start making topiary.
You can dry the leaves in large magazines or reference books. Just lay out the leaves among the pages, and place a weight on top of the reference book.
Another method is drying with an iron. But this method is suitable for preparing only small leaves. Place them on thick cardboard, cover with paper, iron with a slightly heated iron so that all moisture evaporates.
You can also dry the leaves in the oven. To do this, set the temperature to 50-60 degrees. It is necessary to constantly monitor the condition of the leaves: it is important that they do not lose their shape during the drying process.
In order to dry the leaves without losing their shape, they can be placed in dry calcined sand and left for a month. Bulk flowers – roses, lilies and dahlias – are dried in the same way. In this case, they should be placed in the box with the stem down. But asters and daisies are placed in a container with sand with the stem up.
Natural drying of leaves involves hanging them on a rope in a well-ventilated area. In this case, the leaves are collected in bunches and hung with the stems up.
Master class with step-by-step creation of autumn topiary
Decorative topiaries have become favorite crafts for creative people. Simple master classes are held at various events and city holidays. Parents and their children make miniature trees for the autumn holiday in schools and kindergartens. To make your own crafts from natural materials, all you need to do is study the proposed master class and follow all the steps step by step.
Preparation and selection of base
A wide variety of containers are suitable as a topiary stand. It could be a bucket, a beautiful mug, a flowerpot, a cut plastic bottle, an old box and other interesting ideas. But the best option is a flower pot. It is better if it matches the color and texture of the future trunk and crown. To prevent the tree from leaning to the sides and falling, the base must be weighted with filler.
There are several ways to decorate a pot in autumn. The simplest option is to decorate with fabric. The matter must completely envelop the container. The edges sticking out from above must be glued to the inner side. The base can also be painted in the color of the crown or decorated with gold organza ribbons, artificial bunches of rowan berries, and various leaves. The combined design will look original.
Barrel – sanding and painting
The axis holding the entire structure of the craft plays an important role when creating a topiary. The mini-tree will look natural and natural if the trunk is made from a real branch. In the planting behind the house or in the park you can find a rare and beautiful specimen, exactly repeating the outlines of a mighty oak or maple. It should be a thick branch with slight bends.
Natural material for the future trunk must be carefully prepared. We remove the bark from the branch and sand it with sandpaper until a perfectly smooth surface is obtained. To make the autumn topiary more natural, some woody areas and knots can be left. Then you will have to treat them with epoxy resin. Then the workpiece is painted with a brush or spray in the color chosen according to the theme. A gold, bronze, or dark brown trunk will look great.
To make a trunk, you can also buy ready-made corelius branches. The unusual natural material is part of a hazel bush and has a bizarre shape with varying degrees of curvature.
Crown formation
You can buy a spherical base for the crown in a store or make it yourself. The purchased version will be made of polystyrene foam. Thanks to a huge range of sizes and densities, this is the easiest way to select the ideal shape. To prevent the ball from melting upon contact with glue, it is wrapped with twine.
Many creative people want to make truly original, original crafts. Therefore, they prefer to use homemade products as a basis. You can form a crown for autumn topiary of any size from the following materials:
- Paper. Coat the sheet with PVA glue and crumple it into a tight ball. Then gradually add paper strips until you get a ball of the desired size. We glue the protruding edges and wrap the workpiece with thick thread.
- Papier mache. From newspapers and glue you will get a large dense ball for fixing any decor. We tear the paper into pieces and gradually glue it onto any round element.
- Scotch. We make an even ball out of paper and wrap it with tape to the desired size. This option is suitable for fixing three-dimensional decor, for example, flowers from napkins, maple leaves, plastic apples, pears, since it will not be possible to make a perfectly flat piece.
- Threads. The fragile, delicate base is only suitable for gluing practically weightless material. We wrap the inflated ball with yarn moistened with glue and let it dry. Then we release the air and take out the former form.
- Wool. To make a ball you will need special wool for felting, tools and skills in working with the material. You need to start preparing the craft by studying the detailed instructions for felting wool.
- Polyurethane foam. We coat the lampshade with cream or oil, fill it with foam, and distribute it evenly. After drying, remove the mold and trim the edges.
Installing the trunk into the base - what solution to fill
The filler for the stand can be anything. Simple gravel pebbles, sand, crumpled paper, and foil will do. The most reliable and durable of all options is gypsum casting. It will take more time to make the solution and dry it, but this will make the craft stable and durable.
You can mix the mixture directly in the pot. It should be thick enough to hold the spherical craft well. Place the prepared and painted trunk into the liquid mass, leave the pot to dry until the moisture has completely evaporated (3-12 hours). Then we decorate the base with sisal balls.
Decorative design of the crown/ball and fixation to the trunk
To make the craft decorative, the bare base must first be wrapped in sisal. It is better to take natural coarse fiber in shades that are as close as possible to the autumn theme. Brown, orange, yellow colors are suitable. We coat some areas of the twine with glue and apply the material to the workpiece.
We make the first layer of decor from chestnuts and nut shells. Materials can be pre-painted or left in their natural form. We glue the parts to the sisal over the entire surface, alternating randomly with each other, not forgetting to leave a small area for the trunk.
Until the craft is densely overgrown with decor from wrinkled and fragile materials, the crown must be placed on the prepared trunk. We make a hole in the base up to half the ball, coat the branch with glue and send it inside the crown of the topiary. While the glue has not dried, the base must be given the desired position.
At the next stage, we begin decorating the tree with the main elements of the composition. First we attach the sisal balls. To make them tough and not fall apart, when rolling, you need to wet your hands with glue. Then we fix maple leaves, grape leaves, and acorns evenly to the chestnut meadow. We mask all unsightly cracks with sisal balls painted with seeds.
Decorative door
In a kindergarten or in an art studio where children are engaged in creativity, you can decorate the front doors with such an interesting craft. This is a three-dimensional flowering tree made of cardboard, on which nests for birds are made from plastic or paper disposable plates. This composition looks very interesting and is easy to make. To make the wood stand out against the background of the white door, first glue a blue background. This is heaven. Next, the trunk and branches are made from brown compressed paper. The plates are cut in half, you can evenly, more beautifully with notches, as in the photo. These are nests in which little chicks wait for their parents. The picture is very symbolic for the premises of the kindergarten. After all, there, too, children eagerly await their parents. The chicks are made from plastic spoons painted black.
The eyes and beak can be made with applique. Children also make flowers with leaves and place them throughout the tree. There is grass glued to the bottom of the door. To make the lawn with flowers also voluminous, the edges are cut and curled a little with a pencil.
Topiary of autumn leaves
Materials for simple crafts can be found in any park within the city. With the onset of autumn, bright leaves, bunches of rowan, beautiful branches are always available and in any quantity. You only need to purchase a flower pot, a foam ball, and several strips of foam rubber as a filler for the container.
First of all, you need to make a strong frame for the craft. To do this, fill the pot with foam rubber, compact it well and insert a branch. We put a foam ball on its other end. The resulting gaps can be filled with a glue gun or left as is. The weight of a topiary made from leaves will be light, so there is no need to worry about the structure falling.
Decorating the workpiece is very simple. Use a small nail to make a hole at the base of the crown, drip glue into it and insert the leaves in any order. Add rowan sprigs. You can also decorate the pot itself. It can be a satin bow, thread, fabric, colored paper.
Filling the pot with solution
Having made the peg, we move on to the next step - preparing the container for the topiary. Most often, the pot in which the tree of happiness will “grow” is filled with plaster. This building material is quite cheap. You can purchase it at any hardware store. To prepare the gypsum mixture, you need to pour water into a container. Then pour in gypsum powder in a thin stream. At the same time, it must be stirred continuously. For 1 liter of liquid, approximately 1.5 kg of gypsum is required. To make the base for the topiary more durable, add a little PVA glue to the solution.
Next, you need to place the prepared mixture in a pot and immediately stick the prepared tree trunk (branch or peg) into it. The fact is that plaster hardens very quickly. Therefore, there is no time to delay.
At the base of the tree, you can selectively repeat the decor of the topiary itself: place several acorns so that they correspond to the crown, a couple of cones, or one or two leaves. Another option to decorate the base of the topiary is to cover the plaster with moss.
Topiary of fresh autumn flowers
This DIY autumn craft made from fresh flowers will be an excellent gift for any occasion. A product made from natural materials can be given as a gift to a teacher, friends or relatives. An original bouquet simply cannot fail to turn out worthy and beautiful. Its creation requires a minimum of time and financial costs. With the correct formation of the crown and base, live chrysanthemums will retain moisture and freshness for a long time.
Materials and tools
To make this craft you will need a small flower pot, floral sponges, stabilized moss, fresh chrysanthemum flowers, plant stems, and tree branches. To fix the materials you will need the following tools:
- Gerbera wire;
- Paper clips and staples;
- Stretch film;
- Anchor tape for bouquets;
- Elastic ribbon for creativity;
- Scissors, hot glue, thread.
Creating a topiary
First of all, you need to prepare all the initial elements. We make the trunk from gerbera wire, add branches and stems, and wrap everything with special moisture-permeable tape. If the crown is small, you can get by with one thin stick. If desired, decorate it with green ribbon.
The base can be quickly made from a floral sponge. We lay a piece of polyethylene at the bottom of the pot and lay the material in the form of a hemisphere with the slide up. We insert the barrel into it and fix the place of interaction with a special tape.
We will also make a spherical base for the crown from a floral sponge. Place the piaflor in a container of water and wait until it is completely saturated. We carefully form a circle and insert the trunk into it. To retain moisture for as long as possible, wrap the resulting base tightly with stretch film.
It is better not to prepare chrysanthemums for crafts in advance. When the entire holding structure is ready, cut off the caps at an angle of 45 degrees and place them at the base of the crown. To make it easier to transfer living stems, you can make small holes in the sponge with a toothpick. It is better to distribute flowers taking into account their size, this way you can avoid the formation of voids. At the final stage, we line the surface of the pot with stabilized moss and decorate the pot to your taste.
When immersing flowers in the crown base, at least 3 cm should remain between the chrysanthemum cap and the sponge ball. Otherwise, the living topiary will quickly lose its freshness.
How to make a crown
This is the main and most difficult stage when creating an autumn topiary with your own hands. This is where the real creative process begins. It consists in the fact that you must attach the selected natural material to the base of the crown (ball). Cones, acorns, and nuts must be attached using a glue gun. The elements must be placed close to one another so that they completely cover the base. After each glued fragment, select the most successful combination. This is a leisurely process that takes an hour or more. You can create your own autumn topiary for kindergarten. Kids make excellent helpers. They can work with you to attach pine cones, acorns or other natural materials to the base.
When the crown of the tree is ready, you need to place the ball on a peg inserted into a pot of plaster.
Beautiful examples and ideas for creating topiary on the theme of autumn
For many needlewomen, inspiration comes precisely during the creation of their next masterpiece. There are many original ideas for making autumn topiary. Everyone chooses a suitable craft design based on the availability of the material, the season, the complexity of the composition, and the need to process the elements.
A chestnut tree with only fruits looks boring. But if you add burlap leaves, twine bows, and walnut shells to it, you will get a beautiful and colorful topiary. A great idea is to create a tree from just pine cones. Some of the material can be bleached, painted with gold paint, and sprigs of pine needles added.
To make a craft from several components, you will need to stock up not only on pine cones and chestnuts, but also on acorns, nuts, autumn flowers made from corrugated paper, and thin leaves from napkins.
An extraordinary solution is a topiary made from one type of material. The berry tree looks beautiful, but it will require lengthy processing of the fruit before starting work. A complex craft on the theme of autumn - a tree made of maple leaves. You can simply insert them into the base in any shape or roll up stunning roses. The material for such crafts also requires special processing.
A tree of dried flowers will remind you of autumn. Dried spikelets, beautiful leaves, flowers and whole inflorescences, poppy boxes and other materials are suitable for creating topiary. If desired, the composition can be enlivened by simple coloring.
Coloring
Not all elements of autumn topiary are usually left in their original color. Some can be painted so that only certain shades predominate in the composition. For example, if acorns seem too faded, apply silver or gold paint to them. You can do the same with cones, nuts, chestnuts. It is more convenient to use aerosol paint in a can.
