Spooky Tree Tutorial

How to make Spooky Trees from Wire and Paper

Here's my tutorial to make cool, spooky trees from wire and brown packing paper and glue. And here is another tutorial, called the Twisted Tree Tutorial, that includes a video on how I make this kind of miniature paper mache tree.

What do you need to make the Spooky Tree?

Brown packing paper or even newspaper would works. I've made 6 so far and each time I make one I get better at it. You can make these spooky trees pretty quickly. This is a fairly photo-heavy post to help you better visualize how to make these cool Halloween trees.

Tear the paper into strips to wrap around the floral wire

First, tear the paper in strips to wrap around the wire. If the branch is pretty small I don't use glue, but on the longer, fatter branches I do glue them because the paper unwinds. When I paint the trees, the paint also functions as glue to hold the twisted ends together permanently.

I usually make the wire longer than the paper because it is easier to twist the ends of the paper on the wire. Also if you use a shorter piece of wire, the wire tries to slip out of the paper and you can't bend the limbs as easily.

You can trim the wire when you are done.

See, doesn't it look better with the paper wrapped around the wire?

Just twist tightly and it usually stays very well. If you have to use a little glue on the ends, that's fine. As you can see below it is the fatter strips that tend to unwind.

Glue the fat ends together so they don't unwind.

Wind two branches together

Now wind 2 branches together. I try to offset them a little so the branches aren't all the same size. Then wrap a strip of paper with glue on it around the 2 branches so they become one branch.

Keep doing that until you have a tree. I try to vary the length of the branches. Since each one has wire in it, you can bend them however you like. The base of the tree and the roots need more filling out.

Here you can see how I've wrapped the trunk and even wired 2 branches together.

Use a short piece of paper-wrapped wire to help make 3-pronged branch

I used a short piece of paper-wrapped wire to make a 3-pronged branch.

Fill in the tree at the base of the trunk of the Spooky Tree

Here is the tree with the base of the trunk filled out and more paper wrapped around the roots. If your tree doesn't stand up very well you can bend the roots to get it to stand the way you want it to.

Trim any excess wire with wire cutters

I trim the wire with wire cutters when I am satisfied with the shape of the branches. The trees are not fancy or perfect, but they work well with my Halloween houses. Below is a photo of the tree standing up. It tilts a little, but I will play with it when I glue it to the base of one of the the houses.

I like this spooky tree and as I said earlier, each time I make one, I get better at it. Let me know if you make one or if you have any questions.

Spooky Tree to Twisted Tree - new Tutorial with Video

I've written a more detailed tutorial on the making a Twisted Tree if you would like to check that one out. I've even included a video tutorial for making a twisted tree. Thank you for stopping by.

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