Styrofoam egg for Easter topiary. Topiary made from sisal balls - step-by-step master class
Festive sisal topiary: DIY compositions
Sisal topiary is not only an original interior element, but also a creative idea for a hand-made gift Floral fiber such as sisal can be seen in every flower shop today. More than one photo or video master class is devoted to making sisal crafts. Sisal is made from the leaves of the Mexican agave; it is a herbaceous shrub from the subtropics. Sisal fibers are coarse and stiff, but very durable. This fiber is most often used to make ropes, ropes, washcloths, and brushes. That is, production is far from artistic creativity.
But it was the masters of decorative and applied arts who drew attention to the fact that sisal is appropriate in needlework, as well as in a variety of types of decor. And now video instructions tell you how to build such beauty.
MK: sisal topiary
Before making a beautiful souvenir tree, you will need a MK (master class) on making sisal itself. If you couldn't find it anywhere, you can make it yourself. Where you should start is by visiting a hardware store. Buy a brush there for whitewashing houses, it’s cheap, and you can pull out a lot of fibers from it.
Not all cities and towns have the opportunity to purchase sisal fiber for decoration
Choose brushes with thin, durable bristles; the bristles must be natural.
The next point is how to make such sisal colored:
- Use dyes in tablets or powder;
- Fill any vessel with hot water, add one tablespoon of vinegar, and then the dye itself;
- Soak the sisal divided into strands in the resulting solution for two and a half hours;
- When the material is dry, you can lay it out to dry on regular album sheets or napkins (clean, of course);
- You can mix shades to get interesting colors;
- Natural dyes are also used - in the photo you can see how beautifully sisal is dyed with your own hands using ordinary potassium permanganate, beet juice, coffee grounds, etc.
Blue can also be used to dye sisal fiber.
And if you need a snow-white blank, you can soak the sisal in “Whiteness”, increasing the soaking time to six hours.
Very important: do not dry sisal on newspaper or magazine sheets, as it is possible that the letters will be imprinted on the material.
There is also such a thing as wicker (linen) sisal. How to make it yourself? Another small master class. Take an oilcloth, arrange the prepared fibers on it in any order, and thoroughly cover the top with wallpaper glue. Cover it all with another layer of film and press it down with a flat board.
After a day, such a woven fabric can be used - for example, to make topiary from sisal.
Sisal topiary (video master class)
Sisal balls for topiary: how to make
And one more simple master class for a future big craft. It involves creating sisal balls with your own hands.
Sisal balls are easy to make. The activity is similar to modeling from dough or plasticine
How to make sisal balls:
- Divide the sisal into small pieces;
- Slowly roll each piece in your palms.
In 15 minutes you can make up to twenty such balls
You decide what size you need to make the topiary ball. It is very easy to roll the circles; the tighter, the more securely they will hold, the better the crown will turn out.
How to roll sisal balls (MK video)
Sisal topiary: master class
Well, now you can start making topiaries from sisal. If possible, film the process on video or photo, so that later you can make a video or photo master class to teach other novice masters.
So, you will need:
- Sisal of a certain color (for example, purple). You can take several colors if you are sure that you can combine it correctly.
- Pot.
- Gypsum.
- Foam ball or any other ball for the base.
- Water.
- A twig from a tree. Of course, the trunk may be different, but the twig will cope with this task perfectly.
- Scissors.
- Glue gun.
- Wire cutters.
- Decorative elements of your choice.
Topiary made of sisal (photo master class step by step)
You can use an old plastic or rubber ball for the base of the crown.
Dilute building plaster with water in a separate container. Immediately insert a twig or stick there for the trunk, since the plaster can dry out quickly. Instead of plaster, by the way, you can use alabaster. Take a blank for the crown and make a hole in it. Add a little hot glue to the barrel so that the ball sticks well to its leg.
Now you can decorate the ball with sisal lumps. You can start decorating from the top. If you wish, you can use not only sisal balls, but also decorative flowers. They are glued between the balls. This is how the entire topiary is decorated; between the sisal and flowers you can insert other decorative elements - for example, a ladybug. Although it may look nice on a trunk
The top layer of gypsum in the pot should also be made beautiful and harmonious with the crown. It is decorated with sisal, the remaining flowers, you can add beads, buttons, seed beads, etc. The pot itself also needs to be decorated. At least tie it with an openwork ribbon. You can paint the pot yourself with acrylic paints and varnish it
When the product is almost ready, the final touch remains in the form of a “highlight” in the decoration
Topiary Christmas tree made of sisal: New Year's master class
The most current video and photo instructions are devoted to the production of sisal topiaries, the model of which is a herringbone. This New Year's souvenir will be an excellent gift for friends and family. This New Year's souvenir is very simple to make, and how such a tree will help out on holidays - a thing made with your own hands is always a more valuable present when there is such a New Year's occasion.
A Christmas tree made of sisal will serve you for many years, since it will not have to gather dust on a shelf all year round
How is such a Christmas tree made? The main crown of such a tree will not be a ball, but a cone. Well, if it’s clear where to get the ball, then how to make a cone? The easiest option is to roll it out of cardboard. It’s better to secure the cone with tape, not regular tape, but painter’s tape - the future Christmas tree will be stronger.
Also suitable as a blank is a plastic base for a children's pyramid or a foam blank.
If you don’t have a free flower pot at hand, it doesn’t matter. You can even use a regular tin can
- The bottom of the cone must be covered with a circle;
- Take a piece of wire and bend one end;
- Place the wire through the top of the cone and secure it with hot glue;
- Make a hole in the circle with scissors, thread the circle onto a pencil;
- Finally, glue the cone itself (the future Christmas tree) on top of the pencil, and glue the circle on the bottom;
- Tear off a piece of sisal and use the same hot glue to secure it to the end of the wire;
- Wrap the sisal tightly around the wire, and then begin winding movements around the cone, while securing each turn with hot glue;
- The sisal should be wound around the entire cone in this manner;
- And the pencil-barrel can be wrapped in twine or covered with silver narrow tape.
Decorate the pot too, but this should be done in such a way that the color of the pot’s decor matches the Christmas tree. For example, the Christmas tree is blue and the New Year's pot is also blue. If you want multicolor, it should also be in harmony. For example, the Christmas tree is green and the pot is golden. In a word, the Christmas tree and the New Year's pot should have the same colors.
Well, such a Christmas tree will be decorated the way you imagine. Look at photos or video examples of how other craftsmen decorate a similar topiary made of colored sisal. The Christmas tree can be decorated with a mini garland and New Year's beads. There can even be a festive ball hanging on it, and more than one - only very small ones.
Decorate the pot with your own hands - golden braid, satin ribbons, snow-covered fruits. Inside the pot, on top, you can put a small New Year's photo so that it becomes clear who the gift is from.
Christmas tree made of sisal (photo master class step by step)
For a Christmas tree you will need a cable or wire, a cone-shaped blank, a pot or other vessel, hot glue, plaster and materials for decoration.
We decorate the cable with rain or any suitable ribbon, attach a bell to the end of the wire
We coat part of the sisal cord with glue and carefully attach it to the bottom of the cone
We wrap the cord tightly around the base, securing each row with glue. We insert a wire with a bell into the top of the cone, securing it with glue
We insert the base leg into the lower part of the workpiece, also securing it with glue. The bottom of the future Christmas tree can be decorated with candies, tinsel, pine cones or other decor
We fill the prepared vessel with plaster and fix the trunk of the Christmas tree in it. After the mixture has hardened, you can decorate the pot and the tree itself. The product is ready!
DIY sisal Christmas tree (video)
The master class can thus be changed, adjusted, adding various details with your own hands and your own ideas. Experiment with color and shape. Film your making process on video, take bright photos, and show off your creativity!
Topiary is not only a beautiful decoration for a room, but also an original, inexpensive gift, relevant for most celebrations and holidays. This accessory is called the tree of happiness; it will certainly please the person to whom it is given. To make topiary, sisal is often used, a rather stiff fiber obtained from the leaves of the Mexican agave bush.
Instructions for making topiary from sisal
Any decorative tree of happiness consists of a crown, a trunk and a stand in which it is fixed. The crown can be given any shape: a heart, a coin, a geometric figure. But most often craftsmen make it in the form of a ball. The trunk can be anything: straight or curved. Therefore, both smooth, even sticks and branches and wire are suitable for its manufacture. As a stand, choose a container of a suitable size: a glass or glass, a small jar or pot.
To make topiary from sisal, you can take any fiber: in the form of threads or linen. The color can be any, but it is necessary to take into account the design of the room or the style of the celebration on the occasion of which it was decided to present this original gift. Regardless of the type of sisal you choose, it will roll equally well into balls. They are the ones who will decorate the crown of the tree.
To make a topiary from sisal, you need to carefully study the master class and prepare all the necessary materials. Photos will be of great help when choosing an idea for creativity. To work you will need:
- foam ball or newspaper (necessary for making the crown base to which the sisal balls will be attached);
- a small round container (you can use jars for cotton swabs, paints or gouache);
- glue stick, “Moment” or “Titan”;
- construction gypsum or alabaster mixture;
- wire or tree branches (needed to make the trunk);
- elements for decorating the base (beads, sparkles, seed beads).
If you decide to use newspaper as the base for the crown, you will need threads with which you will need to wrap a paper ball you made yourself. It is important to make sure that it is as dense and even as possible.
The process of making a decorative tree
Making topiary involves the following manipulations:
- Make a ball with a diameter of 5-7 cm from a newspaper with your own hands, or take a foam ball of a similar size, which can be cut from a piece of frozen polyurethane foam.
- Using an awl or a strong stick of the appropriate diameter, pierce the base for the crown so that the material chosen as the trunk can be inserted into the resulting hole.
- The container is filled with gypsum mixture, water is added and the resulting composition is stirred.
- Place the barrel with the ball in the middle of the jar and keep it in this position until the composition hardens. After this, the gypsum mixture is again diluted with water and the container is filled.
- Now you need to form the crown of the tree from sisal with your own hands. If canvas is chosen as the material, cut off a small piece of it in the shape of a square. They hold it between their palms and begin to roll the ball. If the fabric is difficult to roll, you can wet your hands with water. On average, a ball with a diameter of 5 cm will require 25-30 balls. The number of these topiary elements depends on their diameter.
- Next, they begin to decorate the trunk. Paper of different colors, twine, twine, thread, and fabric are suitable for this purpose. If twine is chosen, it is wound evenly around the trunk, and the remaining tip is glued. This drop of glue must subsequently be hidden with the help of decor: beads, sparkles, sequins, leaves.
- They begin to design the crown. The balls begin to be glued from the top of the base and gradually move down. Sisal topiary can be made from balls of different colors, which will give the tree a festive look.
- To decorate a container that serves as a stand, you can use a jar slightly larger than the one in which the tree is installed. A small container is inserted into a large one, and small pebbles, beads or any other decorative material are poured into the gap formed between them.
In a similar way, you can make sisal topiaries with fruits.
Sisal and sisal balls (video)
How to make a Christmas tree from sisal
If you plan to make a New Year's topiary, you need to stock up on Christmas tree needles and the appropriate accessories: tinsel, broken Christmas tree decorations, confetti, etc. For the New Year's celebration, you can make a “Christmas tree” topiary. In this case, the crown of the tree is given the appropriate shape and decorated in holiday style.
The only difference is in the shape of the crown. A sisal tree is an excellent New Year's gift for colleagues, family and friends.
The crown of the tree is made of green canvas, rolled into a cone. Tinsel, rain, bows, and miniature toys are glued onto it or reinforced with decorative needles. The Christmas tree can be decorated with a garland and serve as a night light.
If you bend the top of the crown, this will give the tree mystery and charm. This New Year's topiary will resemble a fairy-tale forest and will certainly appeal to both children and adults. You can give it as a gift or place it as decoration in your apartment. A spectacular sisal Christmas tree will certainly create a festive atmosphere in your home. The upper part of the stand is decorated with cones and Christmas tree needles. After studying this master class, you can understand how to make topiary for any holiday or celebration.
Sisal topiary (video)
In order for the home to be cozy, it is customary to decorate it with flowers or some other compositions - paintings, panels. You can also add a bright accent using topiary. Its second name is the tree of happiness. With its help, you can easily complement the room with a bright element. And if it is not bought in a store, but made with your own hands, then it will bring warmth and happiness to its owners to a much greater extent.
made from ribbons, coffee beans, foamiran and other materials. One of the easiest ways is to make a tree of happiness from sisal. For production you will need:
- a foam ball (or you can crumple up a newspaper) with a diameter of approximately 7-10 cm (more or less is possible - at the request of the craftswoman, because the size of the product will depend on this),
- old pen or chopstick for Chinese food,
- hot gun or regular super glue,
- sisal,
- alabaster,
- threads,
- tree pot,
- finishing elements: beads, half-beads, a small piece of satin ribbon (or any other materials as desired).
For greater strength, you can glue it every 2-3 cm. After the entire handle is wrapped, the thread needs to be secured and cut.
2. Make a hole in the foam ball, drop a little glue there, insert the handle and leave to dry for a stronger fixation.
3. Take sisal, tear the fibers into small pieces, from which roll into balls.
On average, you will need from 30 to 100 pieces (it all depends on the size of the foam ball and the sisal balls themselves).
4. After the balls are ready, you need to glue them to the foam. It is convenient to start from the top and move down.
You need to glue them as close to each other as possible, otherwise the base will be visible.
5. The trunk of the topiary can be decorated with a thread with beads or a thin ribbon, and beads can be glued between the sisal balls.
6. Now you need to fix the tree in the pot. To do this, alabaster is diluted in an unnecessary container with water to the consistency of thick sour cream. Transfer this mixture into a pot (although you can immediately dilute the mixture in it), and place the barrel with the ball there. Hold it with your hands for 5-10 minutes until the mixture hardens.
It will take several hours to dry completely. To prevent the alabaster from being visible, you can cover it with sisal and glue half beads.
Today I want to tell you how you can create a very bright and beautiful topiary from sisal balls, which will delight not only you, but will also serve as a pleasant gift for any celebration and holiday. This is not difficult to do, but very exciting and interesting!
DIY topiary made of sisal and fruit - master class
For our own sisal topiary we will need:
- foam ball;
- Corillus stick;
- sisal-2 colors (green, beige);
- decorative apples;
- flowers, artificial greenery;
- satin ribbon;
- gypsum;
- glue gun;
- a pot for our sisal topiary.
Execution:
- Now I will tell you how to make topiary from sisal balls. Let's start from the top of our tree. First, let's figure out how to make sisal balls for topiary. It’s not difficult, we take sisal, pinch off pieces and form balls in our palms, as if we were rolling a piece of plasticine or dough. The balls need to be made approximately the same size as our apples, so that the ball is uniform. Don't forget to leave the sisal for the grass in the pot.
- Now we need to glue the finished sisal balls onto our ball, while mixing them with apples and flowers. We glue the ball, somewhere nearby there is an apple, somewhere not far from the apple there is a flower, so all over the ball. We definitely need to leave some flowers and greenery for our pot to create a beautiful look there too! When there is a little space left, we spin the ball and see how everything fits and decide where the top will be and where the bottom will be. When we have decided, we take scissors and pierce a hole for our trunk (corillus).
- Now we need to squeeze the glue from the gun into the hole that we prepared for our trunk, fill it almost completely, and insert the corillus there. Now we have a formed top and the materials for the bottom remain.
- When the top is ready, we plant it in a pot, for this we need plaster. If you have any building materials at home, such as putty, drywall adhesive, they can also be used for planting. We take our mixture, add a small amount of water to make a thick paste, the thicker you get, the faster it dries, liquid takes longer to dry.
- Now we transfer our pulp into a pot, making sure that there are no voids. When the pot is filled, we take our tree and plant it in the center, making sure that it grows evenly. To do this, we can lean it against the wall or fix it with anything, for example, bottles of water - this is so that it does not fall or become askew. We are waiting for the plaster to dry.
- When the plaster has dried, we begin to add “little things” to the top of the tree, such little things will be flowers, green leaves, possibly beads. In our case, we added greens. Now we will decorate our pot. To do this, take the sisal that was left initially and make grass. We drip glue near the base of the tree, twist the sisal around it, then glue it using the same circular technique to the plaster.
- Now we are making the finishing touches - we will glue an apple into the grass, perhaps some insects, flowers, greenery. We will decorate the pot itself with a bow made of satin ribbon, also gluing it to our glue gun.
- When everything is done, we remove the threads and sisal that is hanging. You can simply trim off with scissors everything that is unnecessary; maybe there is some grass sticking out in the pot somewhere.
- This is what we got!
This topiary can fit very well into kitchens, or! Can be a wonderful gift for any holiday!
Articles on topic:
Sisal topiary is an excellent gift that will be happily received by anyone: both adults and children. What’s remarkable is that you can get a masterpiece the first time! Even if, until recently, any mention of creativity caused bewilderment. A little patience, desire, effort and skills, watching thematic videos... The wonderful fruit of your work will not keep you waiting too long!
The first thing you will need in the process is a special floral fiber called sisal. Unfortunately, sometimes it can be very difficult to find, so it is quite possible to make this material from scrap materials.
You should start by going to a hardware store, where they usually sell brushes for whitewashing houses. You should only choose an option with natural bristles, which are both thin and durable. However, economic “sisal” has no color, which the future topiary categorically does not accept.
You can add color to it in the following way:
- Buy dye in tablet or powder form.
- Take warm water into a vessel, add a few drops of vinegar, and then the dye itself in the specified amount.
- The brush fibers must be separated from each other and soaked in the solution for several hours.
- After a period of time, the sisal fibers should be laid out to dry on a clean surface.
Of course, when doing the job for the first time, you can use just one color, making sure that all the fibers are thoroughly dyed. In the future, it will be more advisable to mix several shades at once to get a more interesting composition. On this score, there is not a single master class designed to become a real assistant in this matter.
When starting work, it is very important to pay attention to where exactly the sisal will dry. For these purposes, newspaper or paper with a printed print is absolutely not suitable, the prints of which may well remain on the blanks. A perfectly clean and snow-white surface is the ideal solution!
DIY sisal topiary: master class for amateurs
Making topiary from sisal is no more difficult than from any other material.
First you need to prepare the following components:
- Construction gypsum.
- Flower pot.
- Wooden stick.
- Sisal.
- Decor elements.
- Glue.
First of all, it is necessary to “strengthen” the topiary by planting it in a solution of building plaster. At the initial stage, it is enough to secure only the barrel. The crown can be installed after it dries.
While the plaster is drying, you can start making sisal balls that look quite impressive on topiary. It’s too early to glue them onto the base.
The crown of the tree can be a small rubber ball that holds its shape tightly, or crumpled paper tied with twine. It all depends on the capabilities and desires of the master. In order for this element to adhere more tightly to the base, it must be fixed with instant adhesive and held in a given position for several hours. Now you can safely start decorating.
Sisal balls are also securely attached around the perimeter using glue, and then decorated with any elements you like: ribbons, flowers, beads or decorative mesh. The pot in which the tree will grow from now on is decorated in a similar way. Everything is very simple, stylish and elegant.
How to make sisal balls for topiary: simple tips
When deciding to make topiary from sisal, in most cases you have to deal with small balls, which will not be difficult to roll.
For these purposes, the fibers must be separated from each other and laid out on a flat surface. Now, choosing each of them, you need to roll the pieces in your palms. This should be done slowly, with virtually no force. After about 10 minutes, you will have a small but fairly dense ball in your hand, the edge of which can be fixed with glue. Based on the size of the product, you can calculate how many balls are needed for the topiary. Of course, it can take quite a lot of time to make the first one, but once you get the hang of it, you can make them in a matter of minutes.
From such completely extraordinary designs, a New Year's gift can be realized - a Christmas tree that can stand for a single year! In addition, this particular tree is popular among all modern designers.
Its main advantages are:
- Ease of implementation.
- Laconic forms.
- The originality of the composition.
What’s remarkable is that you can make balls of different colors and sizes! And the most interesting thing looks like a ball rolled from two colors at once! This will not only make the work more interesting, but will also give the topiary a touch of piquancy!
Topiary made of sisal and flowers
When starting to make topiary with your own hands, you need to look around and understand what else might be useful in the manufacturing process. You can decorate it not only with decorative elements suitable for these purposes, but also with fruits or flowers. The latter option is more preferable, however, over time, fresh flowers tend to fade and lose their appearance. The only way out of this situation is to use their dried or artificial equivalents.
In this case, the flowers must be chosen correctly, based on the following rules:
- The chosen option should be a perfect match in color and style.
- It is better to choose small flowers so that the topiary does not look too crowded.
- Before installation, it is better to remove the stems of the flowers.
How to make topiary from sisal (video)
A little effort, a sense of proportion and taste... Making topiary is not at all difficult. Especially if you approach the issue with soul.