How to Build A
3/4 Life Size Coffin
Items Needed To Build As Shown
Two 2x4 (or 1x4 or even 1x2) boards per tree.
Scrap plywood to be the base
Box of Screws or nails (having wood glue helps)
chicken wire
Newspaper
Paint - black, brown, and gray spray paint
Flour and Water for the paste
Tools: hammer, drill, measuring tape, and a saw, staple gun, wire cutters, scissors
Cut boards to appropriate height. We tried to keep ours at 6ft so that we could get them inside doorways. Screw 2x4 boards to plywood base
Cut chicken wire so that it wraps around the boards, stapling it to the wood as you see fit. Push in and alter the shape of the tree at this point so that you can give the tree some character.
Mix 1 part of flour with 1.5 parts water (units can be whatever you want, depends on how much glue you need) and stir until most of the lumps are out. Tear newspaper into about 3 inch wide strips. (TIP: if you visit your local newspaper, they may have end rolls of blank newsprint paper that they will sell you for cheap. End rolls are whats left of a newsprint roll after they have printed newspapers. If there isn't enough left for the next nights run, they change out the roll before it is used up to make sure they have enough paper for that night. So....call them or stop by and ask). Dip the newspaper into the flour mixture and wipe off excess. Wrap paper around the tree base. Trial and error taught us that you should place alteast one paper strip over the top of the chicken wire and then go side to side. That way when it dries, it sticks on the wire and doesn't fall off like a cast. T&E also taught us that you need about 2 coats to make it thick enough to be carried without breaking.
Let papered trees dry for several days before painting. We did a base coat of gray and then sprayed black and brown over top in a very camoflauge looking way. At one point it was so windy a neighbors tree kept blowing leaves into our paste, so we ended up adding more leaves to the paste and making one tree alot leafier than the others. We also added character here and there by placing leaving branches in the top of trees or by adding fake fall foliage strands bought at the local dollar store.