im looking at make a 6 foot tall tree , thats hollow and can be taken apart in half. and is reasonable light. whats the best material to use other than foam, would papermache work? or would you use plaster, or fiber glass.
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I made a tree for my leopard about 2 years ago. He is standing on the limbs about 8 feet off the ground. I had it at the nationals last year. I believe there is a photo of it on their web site. It is about 12" in diameter at the base and 12 foot tall. The branches all pull out of the trunk and pack up in a box.The trunk used to come apart in two pieces but I connected both pieces together now. It is made of 4" pvc pipe and elbows then reduced down to smaller diameter at the crotch and even more on the main limbs. I foamed around the pipe and carved and textured it for the bark. I resin (bondo) the foam and painted it to look like bark. It is light enough I can lift the tree from the base and pick it up easily myself and put it over my shoulder and carry it away even though the main trunk is about 9 to 10 feet long.With a 6 foot tree I would make it so the branches pull out, and leave the trunk in one piece. Mache and plaster will get heavy because of the thickness. The bondo can be thinned and painted on and doesn't need to be very thick 1/16th to an 1/8th of an inch