How to Make Cheap Christmas Village Pine Trees Look Better

[@BlackMagicCraftOfficial]

COMMENT PREDICTION: "Are you spraying clear coat inside?!?! Doesn't that kill you?!?!?!" When using a spray varnish it is important to work in a well ventilated area.....well ventilated....that means opening some windows and setting up a fan. Wear a respirator meant for paint fumes if you are really concerned. You don't need to spray atop the highest peak of a mountain to keep the air fresh. For the record my shop has 4 windows I can open while spraying, two of which are very large, and in the winter with the temperature difference inside vs out they exchange the air very quickly.

[@BlackMagicCraftOfficial]

Just checked that link and the price is crazy high, like $67. I'm guessing they have since sold out at whatever price you found them for and bots are now raising the price from other sellers.

[@BlackMagicCraftOfficial]

PS, even if you don't buy what I linked to, if you buy something else after clicking that still helps out the channel with a kickback from amazon ;)

[@G0ldmoon]

Hey, I recently got really into all of this and have binged many of your videos. All your amazon referral links are for US/Canada, any chance you could throw up some UK links too? I really want to throw some support your way and was thinking of doing a full shop.

[@zealottk]

Have you ever created trees with spots for minis to stand in, that doesn't just look like a tree with a platform in it? I'm constantly having characters that want climb/jump into a tree and hide or shoot from a them. Thoughts? Also, those trees look HOT!

[@matthewthechosenoneflatt1452]

Black Magic Craft hey you should check out Luke towen's channel he does dioramas for model trains and things like that where he makes haybails furnaces and other things similar to what you make and his techniques could be applied and adapted to what you do cuz you both use similar materials if you check it out let me know what you think

[@woozleboy]

Trimming the trees into irregular shapes with some gaps on the sides will get rid of the conical Christmas tree look. For conifers, painting the entire tree with primer brown goes a long way towards killing the plastic fake green. Primer grey works well as a base for colder climates. These trees really only have needles on the exposed exteriors, with tbe interior branches bare and a brownish grey. Turn the trees upside down and spray black paint on the under side. It suggests shadow and depth. A base medium green flocking or ground foam works, but a lighter shade dusted lightly as a second coat will give it a nice highlight.

[@KelsaurusRex]

Wow! Thank you, that sounds like it would make a humongous improvement in the realism of miniatures

[@RobertCrable-mf6xg]

A friend gave me several of those cheapy trees. I tried this on the worst (crushed) one. Soaking in hot water really cleaned it up and helped to reshape it. I'm blown away by how much better it looks now! Thank you so much for sharing. Now I'll have to make some for all seasons!

[@aberrantbunny6793]

I really like the action shots. Like when you were pouring the extra flocking back into the canister. It made the video *feel* better somehow. I don't know how to describe it, but nice work.

[@bespokebonnie3187]

When you find a new channel a year later than everyone else 👏🏼👏🏼

[@patrickbarrett6531]

me too!

[@nelishanaicker5868]

Me three!!

[@CarrieLiketheM0vie]

I’m a year after you!

[@direxhalfling2760]

Better late than never. Welcome, guys!

[@panhandlepilot9363]

I’m 4 years late. But thankful I’m here.

[@Michele-qz9sn]

I love this method. I works so well and the trees look so much better. Thanks for showing this. I tried it once 6 trees and now have a bucket full soaking.

[@artistunknown494]

Wow, I didn’t know I could transform them like this! I’m definitely gonna have to try this out, maybe then I’ll be able to use the much larger trees.

[@edwardforbus2318]

This is Ed from Ed and Joyces Custom Dollhouses. Nice job I plan on doing this for my log cabin I am currently working on.

[@WilSisney]

This was sooooo satisfying to watch! I have been loving this winter terrain build series, but know I won't be able to have my players in a winter season for a long time. Seeing you remove the snow from these trees confirms that I can still make use of this giant pack of trees. The results look stellar.

[@BlackMagicCraftOfficial]

Even if you just want to wash of the snow and paint the bases brown those trees are a quick cheap fix for summer settings.

[@skywatcher7]

Nice trees are often overlooked on miniature table setups. I was thinking making detachable bases, so that ones could be made for different scenes, such as, snow, green grass, rocky, etc

[@tulipsmoran5197]

I'm kinda lazy with so much work associate with rejiggering this year's design changes, incorporating new pieces/accessories so I remove the bases from all my trees and simply poke a hole where I want them and insert. Taking them down at end of season is really quick and easy. I plan to incorporate this technique on similar bulk trees of various sizes. I think it really takes the cheap trees to the next level. I've invested quite a bit into spending trees and this technique will help the pocket book. I plan to treat three bags of trees. I also like the uniformity of color with this approach. You solved my dilemma of how to add a forested area without breaking the bank. On the inhalation of fumes thing...I always wait for a mild sunny fall day, set up a work board outside and spray away. I also use my hot tools outdoors as well. Thanks!

[@AliiSparkle]

🎄2 years later and this is just what I need to make my 3D ornaments not suck! Thanks! 🎄

[@lewisharris3400]

Wow! I really wasn't taken with the winter trees when you showed them straight out of the bag in your other video, but now they look flocking amazing! Good job mate. Definitely going to see if I can grab a bag or two of these trees when I go Christmas shopping.

[@bettsdn]

For real. These trees look so freaking good. You've got me looking for a way to do a deciduous tree version of this now!

[@dawnoneil9793]

Wow, the result is amazing, I have been looking at trees to make a Christmas village and couldn't find any I liked, I love these and will be having a go. Thank you

[@IrishAnnie]

Those turned out great! They look so much better.....looks natural.

[@Nat1videos]

These are perfect ! Definitely going to be using this technique. Great video 👍👍👍

[@vienslatelier]

So I started this project after watching both videos for the final terrain pieces. This portion was very sticky messy and kind of fun. I did spray the hell out of my trees to keep them from shedding. And, I did have to flock parts of them a second time. But overall a good project and hunting down the trees in stores was a bit of an adventure.

[@TheRavenLilian]

Wow that looks really good. I bet if I found some round trees in the right size I could do this and make them into bushes for a doll house. Thank you so much.

[@LEVARIOMIKE]

I use the same type of trees for my 1/24 scale rc crawler course. I'm going to try this . what I was doing was wash off the white flocking then I would use spray paint to give it better color and add a little thickness to them. Yours are definitely better than mine.👍

[@AnneAndersonFoxiepaws]

Oh thanks....now if I could only remember where I stashed the bag of trees! This turned out great!

[@JNHEscapes]

This is exactly what I was looking for. Now i need to know how to light them as a Christmas tree for a project thank you

[@missionhill7863]

what a great idea. i love this video lol. ty for the idea :) I did this but i'm cheap so i used dollar store moss, clear school glue, a dollar store spray bottle, dish soap, and an old tooth brush lol. I blended the moss in my magic bullet till it was a fine powder (you can sift it if you want a less clumpy texture) I then scrubbed the trees like he did with an old toothbrush then dipped them in a mix of clear school glue and water( 1 part glue to 2 parts water) I then sprinkled the moss powder over the tree then set it with a mix of dish soap and water, I washed the spray bottle out then put 3 tablespoons of water to 1 teaspoon of clear glue. I then put it back on its little stand it came with ( i should've got a block of foam at the dollar store because it was wobbly af lol) then i put cornstarch in a flour sifter and sifted it over for a snow effect then re sprayed it with the glue/water mix because im too cheap to buy spray snow or spray paint and they didnt have it at the dollarstore lol. the tree looked great before i put the cornstarch on it. we will see how it looks tomorrow :)

[@russellmiles8783]

Huge success is an understatement! These are astonishing.

[@lordjesseye2685]

I've got sveral hundred of those been buying them for years, I've tried everything and you just solved one problem. However mine all have wooden dowel bases not plastic. My solution to that has been clay, pushed on two inch metal washers baked and spray painted flocked to match my table. Nice heavy sturdy bases. Pos looking bright green trees. Thank you. I see a mess in my future lol

[@AlexBabcock-hw9iz]

Came out very nicely for cheapy trees. You could even add more detail by clipping off the lower branches using hot glue to "BARK" the tree add some dead limbs on the lower part. Give then more personality and visual interest. The larger ones a mini could even stand under. Cheers great job Jerome!

[@shadowcat6lives639]

I bought about 60 trees from my dollar store when they had a 10% off coupon. I was wondering how i was going to fix them up, but now I don't have too. So thank you Black magic craft!

[@judydeangeles9516]

I sure did like this I have a Christmas village I did every tree and they turned out. I’m talking 200 trees my village takes up a whole room Thanks for the best idea

[@beverleybell128]

I hope you are well. New to this hobby. Your presentation is perfect. A born teacher with ease into lessons, or tutorials.Well done.Love your work.

[@rogervandusen8361]

Very nice! The fine flock really gives the impression of needles. I think Noch, or some other company, makes dead needles to liven (deaden?) up the ground under your pine trees.

[@Csrumk]

I liked all the parts of your video, but my favorite was seeing your kitchen sink.

[@yvonnesamaniego8114]

I'm so surprised how you did this. It's like magic. They came out looking so good!

[@wizkidd2079]

The 1# thing I really enjoyed about this video was your sink. Love that style of sink lol

[@lindamiller3991]

Will be sharing your link with several "christmas village friends". I'm sure they will find your post as informative as my husband and I did. Thank-you for posting this!

[@janalovespaper]

Yes!!! Those look so much better and the process looks super simple. Thanks for sharing your skills and creativity!

[@sharaleeinsley7289]

And now... I have miniature tree envy. Little wooden bases would look awesome.

[@davidgray4138]

A seasonal favourite! I had bought these trees before and was quite unimpressed with them but these look 10x better. A video on making them using spray adhesive or even refurbishing them after some use would be a great addition.

[@thefunbot]

so glad you did this. when i first saw the trees i was like ugh....these are a HUGE improvement!

[@craigdunc]

I did a very similar thing with the same brand of trees, it's been interesting to see your version of this. I painted mine a nice green first before flocking, I'd recommend that step it puts less pressure on having perfect flock coverage. I'm impressed with the results from the watery PVA step, though, I was laying down a lot of spray varnish on these to keep the flock on.

[@laptitegraine1298]

Very nice! With the poking bottom of the trees you could easily makes replacable basing. Quick ready for any kind of map.

[@maryzylema9699]

That is awesome ,they look alot better now. Now make a video showing us how to decorate. 😊 Thank you for sharing.

[@naomicupcakes8102]

Thank you for putting in links for both the US and Canada

[@dianaphillips8038]

Spraying with the varnish helps with keeping them dusted and allowing the use of a air spray can.

[@recycledbottlescraft]

Great and beautiful idea!

[@OrlandoGameRoom]

Ahh as a Northerner who moved down South 12 years ago, it warms my heart to hear someone say POP instead of soda.

[@ginacable5376]

What a beautiful job don't know how I found this video but I really enjoyed it.

[@borkpork8824]

Wow, this was super helpful! :D I found a pack of 4 pure white trees from the dollar store where I live for $2 (Dollarama if anyone is wondering) for a Christmas one-shot I ran. The flocking kept falling off but it was almost as if the trees were magical and covered the map in tiny bits of snow XD I`m going to pick up some more trees though because I really want some green pines for my d&d group to use all of the time. I will certainly be using the techniques shown in this tutorial thank you so much the group is going to love them :D

[@stuartfarrell6729]

just re-referenced this video I am now in the process of making my trees

[@boldbeagle6678]

Cheers to simple solutions that work really damn well!

[@frankling.robertsiii6811]

Wow! Sweet tutorial Jeremy! I have a couple of these tree packs, and only use them if I’m in a pinch for table terrain. I’ll be using this method when I’ve got the time, to fix them like you have. Thanks

[@chrisfox961]

Great video! This will be very valuable as those Christmas trees are cheap on clearance after the holidays!

[@bigbrowntau]

Can't get these trees here in Australia, but artificial Christmas trees are everywhere. I was thinking I could cut off tree size parts, trim into a conical shape, then flock as per what you've done here. Thanks for the inspiration!

[@jimyoung194620]

Hi. I have bought these trees previously at Myers. With all the Christmas village accessories.

[@christinastalder1268]

Wow they look so much better, Nice job

[@peggyirvin7358]

Victim: That guy stabbed me with a Lil' dollar store Christmas 🎄 Cop: right and I'm Santa Claus 🎅 😂🤣😅😄😆😂🤣

[@Batshitcrazy57]

Love this. They look 100% better

[@albaluciapinedadiaz8338]

Hermosos ,pinos naturales ,para exportacion a nivel mundial ,en temporada navideña para proyectos de villas etc tambien blancos , Saludos desde colombia

[@jeremydailey]

I did this very thing to my Dollar Store tree a few weeks ago! Worked great and makes you realize that spending tons of money on Woodland Scenics trees is sort of silly lol.

[@mercedesfiorella6736]

I am so glad to find you your very talented. I loved your trees....

[@arianaajbeaverhausen8175]

Perfect!! I need some realistic looking Christmas trees for filling clear baubles, you have just saved me a small fortune! 😂 All the best from Scotland 💙🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿💙

[@rexb333]

"Liked"! Thanks. Helped me turn my Christmas village trees into summer model train layout trees. I switched to a plastic bristle brush instead of wire. And next time i'll do it in a bucket outside instead of the kitchen sink. Overall, very helpful video to get the sisal off! Thanks! : - )

[@bhavinishah7774]

Great trees! That sink though...😍

[@dalewood3676]

Just bought 2 bags of those a couple weeks ago! Thanks nicely done.

[@lovecraftwithme]

Awesome-sauce, epically transformed. Thanks for sharing your genius :)

[@rebeccacarter5520]

Trees are Gorgeous

[@BardsCraft]

I would be nice to have some kind of battlemat / terrain board where you can simply stick in trees without using any bases

[@meadbringer]

You can always use a foam tile. You can just have the trees stuck on that tile then you can remove them later as needed

[@zarlus8]

I thought about using ceiling tiles for a while, but they chip too easily.

[@Candorsmayhem]

Try roofing felt

[@HerooftheTable]

I guess I'll be hitting my local craft store to get some of these trees. I wasn't impressed with the look of them out of the box, but your addition of flock really improves them. I'm sold. P.S. I love the slow motion shots of you applying the flock. :)

[@PossumLady8262]

Idea...why don't you put some trees back on the plastic bases...After you take hot glue and add creepy or natural looking roots. Then paint the now rooted bases to look like the forest might walk away...LOL! Mossy bases would look cool too. But whatever you do...I know it'll look awesome!

[@debbiebrown8752]

Very real looking. Spray snow or white paint next

[@golfgunsandcocktailschannel]

Looks so awesome. Can't wait to see you do winter trees. 😃👍

[@redmist1122]

What a super cool and cheap hack for those trees. I suspect you have unleashed the hounds to all the craft stores where these things are sold and we'll have a hobby crisis as they're all sold out. Great stuff...looking forward to you basing project.

[@talliyahrose]

Awesome! I keep trying to decide what to do for my DM for Yule... and I think this will be an after Yule gift... you know, the sales... Thank you!

[@paulsniadach6909]

Nicely done this was useful as always!!! I just got my Black Magic Craft tee shirt in today - awesome!!!

[@BlackMagicCraftOfficial]

Nice 😎

[@nikkiejones4606]

Wow 🤩 amazing! The bases would look awesome with either wine bottle corks or drilled wood branch to poke wire stem into! I think that would really finish them off! You could even do long trunks on some of them using dowels and stained ! Fab video Tfs

[@joeg875]

Sweet. I just bought a dozen of these last week.

[@bhartibhatia7699]

Wow what beautiful model of tree love it 😍

[@Jamie-zs2bl]

Wow! Such a great idea! I want to try this so bad, but I just know that my arthritis will kick in after spraying about five trees. 😔 I just wish that we could purchase great looking little trees for a cheap price without having to do anything to them! But these turned out soooooo good!

[@CrazyCrethon]

Your new kitchen looks nice!

[@RyngsRaccoon]

Suggestion. Take the white bases, paint and flock them to look like spring/summer bases. :)

[@madmusial]

GAH wish I wasn't moving right now, I would totally be doing this as soon as I got home.

[@Angie-ci1lp]

WOW! Awesome!!!!! Great job! You just taught me something new👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽.Peace

[@davidsimpkins7495]

Hi I,m from the UK that's a great idea love the colour of them I'm going to have a go at that thx

[@normajones9827]

Love these so will make next year. Thanks for sharing.merry Christmas.

[@claylewis8233]

SLOW MO!!!!! great video, great results with the trees

[@Disjointedimages]

This is a great idea and I'm geeked to go look for a pack of trees and some flocking now. I have been trying to find really good trees for terrain and had so many poor options previously. Mildly disappointed the intro wasn't "You think I'm going to leave these as is? As if !"

[@giovannacarmenpaola4231]

Che belli questi alberelli!

[@thehastyterrainmaker9485]

I found hair spray works wonders for a complete lock in after a water/glue solution

[@Relatista38]

After the wash and just with a basecoat and drybrush or flocks to the base and some highlights on the trees this would get nice, I mean for an even quickier build, I am going o try this method this christmas :D

[@mikekennedy2733]

First time viewer and now I’m a fan!

[@PhoebesWorldProductions]

WOW!!! Great work! They look amazing!!

[@scelago_games]

Awesome video mate! just bought some trees from Aldi. thanks heaps!!!

[@irenecraggs6123]

they look great nice job

[@mythoughtwhatyousay]

Very nice, more thick! I would get green tree instead of snow tree, less work!

[@noemid1458]

Thank you for sharing your video. your trees look amazing 👍👍👍👍👍👍

[@edmay3181]

I've been using this method for a while as well, these can usually be gotten really cheap at Michael's after Christmas on clearance. I turn them upside down and spray the underside with olive drab spray paint for a natural darker tone, then flock from above with brushed on modge podge then flocking.

[@brokenterrain]

This inspired me to do my first video. Love your videos so much.

[@joyceterra2265]

Loved this. Will be trying this too.

[@heathergustafson4237]

Have you ever flocked these with a color like pink? These are great!

[@willowalytus2355]

I grabbed a pack of these on clearance for this purpose

[@nikkiejones4606]

That's awesome! Thanks for sharing

[@wandacruz5183]

Tremenda idea muy lindos los arbolitos