Topiary used to decorate gardens. Now you can enjoy the figured tree at home year-round. What is a topiary and how to create it with your own hands, we will consider below.
What is topiary?
Since ancient times, there has been such a form of art as curling trees. Her story began with one of the wonders of the world of Egypt - the "Hanging Gardens" of Babylon. From them, Roman gardeners borrowed the idea of cutting plants and began to give intricate shapes to branches of bushes and trees, creating entire parks of sculptures and labyrinths. And the name of these masterpieces is topiary, which in Latin from topiary means "curly undercut."
The heyday of topiary as garden art in Europe came in the 16th - early 18th centuries. In the XVII century, curly bushes became an adornment of almost all the famous gardens of palaces (French Versailles, English Hampton Court and others) and suburbs (Petersburg Peterhof, Oranienbaum, the royal village and others). But at the end of the 18th century, landscape style replaced it, and the topiary was forgotten right up to the present day.
Today, the art of trimming shrubs and trees is again popular. And designers and florists learned how to create artificial curly trees themselves, which are also called "topiary", and in a simple way - "Tree of Happiness." Now they have become decor items that anyone can make, and in most cases from improvised means.
What do you need to create a topiary?
Simple materials are usually used to create a miracle tree, which can be found both at home and in a regular store. Naturally, there is a standard set of tools (base) and an additional set (needed for decoration), which depends only on your idea and imagination.
Topiary base material:
- construction foam;
- paper;
- Styrofoam;
- floristic sponge ;
- any ball;
- branches, twigs and so on;
- a pot or container.
The decorative material used is divided into:
- natural: branches, nuts, leaves, cones, straw, spices, coffee grains and so on;
- artificial: flowers and leaves, fruits, fabrics, cords and ribbons, beads and beads, plastic and so on.
Instruments:
- glue: PVA, mounting, universal;
- glue gun;
- polyurethane foam;
- scissors;
- stationery knife.
The process of creating a topiary
Despite how you imagine the final result, the topiary is almost always the same. The difference is only in the final steps, when we set about decorating.
- We make the basis for the crown (ball): you need to take fabric, paper, foil, polystyrene, a floral sponge or something else and form a ball. For example, you can fill the fabric with cotton and sew a round bag. Or make paper papier-mâché in the shape of a ball. You can also use some object of a round shape (Christmas tree toy or a small ball).
- We make the core of the topiary: we take either a finished thick rod (for example, a branch), or we make it ourselves from improvised materials. It can be simple pencils wrapped in foil, paper or cloth.
- We make the base (the place where the rod and crown are inserted): the best option would be to use polystyrene, a floral sponge or polyurethane foam.
- Pot: you can take a ready-made flower pot of the right size or make a special container by decorating it the way you want.
- Topiary decoration. At this step, your topiary turns into a unique piece of decor. Here you can use all available materials.
How to make topiary from shells?
As described above, any improvised materials can be used to decorate the topiary. For example, shells. After all, almost everyone brought a package of these seafood from the rest, which probably then lie in the far corner of the pantry. If you want to make a topiary of shells with your own hands, then it's time to get your supplies.
Shell topiary can be used as decoration in any corner of the house: in the living room, in the bedroom, in the kitchen, and the bathroom will be an ideal place. This decor has an airy look and will always remind you of warm days on the sea coast!
Master class - shell topiary
To create such a sea topiary from shells, you need to take:
- light seashells;
- white beads;
- a small flower pot;
- long skewers;
- foam ball ;
- blue sisal;
- white and blue satin ribbons about 0.5 cm wide;
- white and blue acrylic paints;
- a brush;
- scissors;
- putty or building plaster;
- super glue, but best glue gun.
Work sequence:
- We spread putty or building plaster with water. Stir until thick. The resulting mixture is poured into a flower pot, and in the middle we place skewers.
- Lubricate the tops of the skewers with glue and attach the ball.
- Glue one end of a white satin ribbon to the skewers near the base of the ball. Loose tape wrap tightly along the entire length of the barrel. We cut off the excess and fix the end of the ribbon with glue.
- Proceed to decorate the ball. To do this, gently lubricate the edges of each shell with glue and alternately place them on the foam ball as densely as possible .
- While the glued shells are drying, we decorate the pot. To do this, apply white acrylic paint on it. Until it has dried, take a wet brush, moisten it in blue paint and make light strokes on the already painted pot.
- We apply glue to the putty or building gypsum (the one in the pot) and glue the blue sisal.
- We make a pearl pearl: in the middle of the shell we glue a bead, and on its end face - a second shell. We glue the finished pearl on sisal.
- We make some bows. We take the blue satin ribbon, cut its parts to 10-12 cm and tie neat bows that we glue in any order to the shells on the ball.
- Add beads between the shells on the crown of the topiary in a chaotic order.
- Allow all the details to dry and the smell of glue to weather.
DIY topiary from shells is ready!
A few more shell topiary options
You can use shells not only as a decoration for the crown of topiary. They can serve as decoration for the pot. For example, when you don’t have it ready or you want to make your own container, then shells will be an excellent tool for decorating the walls of a container. You can also use them to decorate building gypsum or putty.
As for decorating the crown, there can be a ton of options, and it all depends on your desire, imagination and the amount of time that you have to do all the work.
For example, a ball of topiary can be decorated in the following way:
- Take 6 shells (3 larger and 3 smaller) and 1 bead.
- Glue 3 shells together with the sharp sides.
- Then we connect the resulting 2 sets of petals with each other, and paste a bead on top.
As a result, you should get it like in the picture:
With these petals, completely decorate the crown of the topiary.
In general, use shells of any size and type in the decor, the more there are, the more beautiful it turns out.
Topiary with shells and pebbles
Another great option is a shell and stone topiary.
To create such a masterpiece, burlap, twine and sea stones are additionally required. We decorate the container with burlap, and wrap the barrel with twine.
We will decorate the crown with shells, pebbles and beads glued in a chaotic manner. To enhance the effect, easily wrap the ball with the remaining twine.