How to Make Pine Cones Into Trees

Fully open pine cones make the most realistic trees and are easiest to paint.

Tiny trees add dimension and realism to any model landscape. Whether you're making a winter holiday wonderland or scenery for your model train, crafting realistic trees is much harder than, for example, a convincing cellophane lake. Craft stores sell small trees, but for larger projects, buying a dozen bags of model-sized trees gets expensive. Using objects found in nature, however, is an environmentally supportive and inexpensive way to turn your landscape into a masterpiece.

Things You'll Need

• Pine cones
• Green paint
• Paintbrush
• Powdered sugar
• Empty egg carton
• Paper towels

Instructions

1. Rinse your pine cones, and pat them dry with paper towels. A quick cleaning removes any sap or dirt that would make painting difficult.

2. Paint your pine cones using a paintbrush and green paint. Poke the paintbrush between each row and layer of the pine cone petals, so that you paint the entire pine cone, not just the outer edges.

3. Sprinkle your green pine cone with powdered sugar to create the appearance of snow. Dust the powered sugar with your fingers while the paint is still wet, and hold your pine cone upright to ensure an even distribution of "snow."

4. Set your complete pine cones in an empty egg carton. Position each pine cone in its own carton indentation, to prevent them from sticking together or smudging the sugar snow.

Tips & Warnings

• You can also paint your pine cones white and sprinkle them with clear glitter, for an ultra-snowy winter wonderland.

• If the sugar or glitter keeps falling off after the paint dries, brush clear glue on the outer petals before sprinkling.

References

• All Free Crafts: How to Make Pine Cone Trees
• Matakishi's Tea House: Silly Scenery - Pine Cone Trees