Terrifying Trees

I love these spooky (and campy...Okay, maybe slightly tacky) Halloween trees. They would look marvelous in the corner of a room to set a festive mood on Halloween Night, an entrance hall to greet wayward trick-or-treaters, or even on the stoop, outdoors.

In this example, a fallen branch is used to create the foundation for this dark decoration. The branch is sanded and then painted in high-gloss black. Its base is a black, plastic urn - inexpensive and available at most craft stores. The branch can be set in sand or propped up with stones and then covered with brightly coloured moss. Halloween ornaments adorn the tree, with small green pumpkin decorations catching the green highlight of the moss.

Here, it is wire that forms the tree. Tightly wound and coiled into elaborate 'branches,' the wire is easily manipulated and casts an eerie glow in dim light. The plastic urn in this case has been glazed in glue and then covered in glitter. Inside the urn is a plaster cast that the wire 'tree trunk' was set into when the solution was wet. Once dry, the plaster holds the wire firmly upright. Halloween decorations hang from the branches. Foam pumpkin forms, glittered in accessorized with wire filagree, catch the sparkle of the entire arrangement.