Baobab Tree - Adding the Leaves

At first when creating the Baobab tree's leaves I intended to use the flock and gradally build up the intensity of the size by glueing it together in large heaps. However this did not get me very far so I decided to try some other methods. At first I tried some cotton wool which seemed to give a nice flowing shape to the leaves, but once painted it would go too soggy and was impossible to keep it's shape.

After this, I then tried some furniture foam which I got for another project a few years back. I still had some left over and I thought it might be worth a try. It is easily cut to shape and it very light weight, which means it would not weigh the tree down and make it fall over or cause the branches to collapse.

This came out looking much better and the solidity of the shapes was much better than the cottom wool. I tested some of the foam with green acrylic paint and added a thin layer of PVA glue to them, and covered them in the flock to add a really nice textured-leaf effect. After painting all of the foam green, my last tasks will be to add the flock to the rest of the leaf clumps and make some small Baobab fruit to dangle from the branches! These will most likely be modelled from clay and then attached using some painted string.

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