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hi there, i dont know if this would work but how about feathers? ive seen them for sale in craft shops usually assorted colours in a bag . maybe you could get some of the green ones (or maybe paint them with the airbrush) ,im sure they would cut to shape easily with scissors and the filaments of the feather would be about right for scale palm fronds. hope this is of some use ,good luck let us know how the dio progresses ,cheers tony

ahhh, I think you might be on to something there tony, right, I think thats a job for me for tomorrow.. I'll let you know how it goes!

hey all,well for some reason im having trouble sourcing those feathers I wanted to try out, apparently they dont have birds in this town, so while I wait for the pigeons to come and eat the loaf of bread I chucked in the garden (im not joking either) I thought I would try out a couple of techniques!

Heres what im doing...

Firstly im using tin foil, wide sticky tape and wire to flesh out the leaves. I started by placing a length of wire down the center of the tape, and then placed this sticky side down onto the foil.

I turned the fond over and covered the other side in tape to completely cover the foil. Then cut the resulting sandwitch to the required shape.

After several coats of green paint and a couple of coats of satin varnish, I started to cut strips between .5 and 1.5 mm wide from the stem of the fond to the outer edge..

What happened next I was not expecting, but when I lifted the fond off the surface, it had stuck to slightly because of the cuts which were made into the surface. I loosened it free, and the fond immediatly took the (almost) prefect form of a true palm fond with the edges curling under.

Now I just had to give the fond its overall form by shaping the stem wire, and touch up the paint job, finally giving it one lats coat of varnish.

If I cant find any feathers in then next couple of days or so, im gonna refine this method (maybe without the 14 coats of paint I used), and maybe post some pics of the process I used!

If anyone has any ideas, materials or other tips to add to this process, please feel free to add them and I will give them a go!

Cheers, Billy

hi again ,billy, you can get packs of coloured feathers at hobbycraft for about 2.50. You shouldnt be too far away from a store.good luck ,we'll all keep on thinking as well in case another idea occurs to us! cheers tony

Bill, I've just had an idea. It may sound daft but I took a stroll in the garden for inspiration (along with a beer,of course) and I spotted these.
Have you any ferns in your garden or Leylandii?
Take a look at the fresh growth....Bl***y near as dammit to palm leaves I recon.
I can hear yakface laughing from here!!
Ron

Originally Posted by spanner570

Bill, I've just had an idea. It may sound daft but I took a stroll in the garden for inspiration (along with a beer,of course) and I spotted these.
Have you any ferns in your garden or Leylandii?
Take a look at the fresh growth....Bl***y near as dammit to palm leaves I recon.
I can hear yakface laughing from here!!
Ron

hee hee youre right ron,not about the idea though,thats great,but the image of you wandering ,a bit wobbly,around your garden in the dark with a pint in your hand definitely made me chuckle.great idea though ! There might even be some dried plants for flower arranging that could be good too , if you go to hobbycraft,billy,check out that option too.Im off to have a beer now,but im staying indoors tony

hi billy, guess what i found on the floor today? yes a pigeon feather,so i thought id give it a go to try and make a palm leaf out of it.All i did was trim it to shape with scissors,spray it green,and once it had dried teased the filaments apart (if you try and do this before its painted they just zip themselves back up again!) I dont think it turned out half bad,what do you think, could this be anything like what youre needing? all the best tony

Hi Tony,

I have been watching this thread in the background and well. Wow, that looks just like the real thing. Totaly amazing mate. Now how would you make the trunk i wonder. I will keep an eye open for any one legged pigions. LOL


Andy