by Nathan 'Ironworker' Miller
I'm making some conifer using scouring pads as foliage. This is not a new idea and in fact I'm using this article as a guideline.
However instead of using dowels or skewers or some other very straight objects I'm using whittled down twigs instead to give the trunks a more natural feel and shape.

Here are the trunks for 20 trees. Carved down and painted with a watered down brown paint.  ​

Here's a shot of the foliage going on. I'm using Aleen's Tacky Glue instead of the super glue that was used in the article. It dries clear.

Here's the first completed tree. I've finished eight so far and I should have another two done by the time I turn in for the night. I think they are going to look quite good as a group with the irregular trunks.
I don't like flocking anything other than small bases either on figures or terrain.  I really like my terrain to stand up to abuse and flock and turf and glue on foliage comes off too easily. So, instead of adding flock, I am going to drybrush the trees with a lighter green to make the foliage pop a bit.  
Of course your methods may vary. That's the nice thing about DIY projects. Any enhancements or simplifications are up to the builder.

Here's a group shot of the 10 I finished last night.  I haven't yet drybrushed the lighter green and I may not for a while since most my paints are already at the other house I'm in the process of moving to. I may decide to go pick up a bottle of cheap paint just to get them done but I haven't decided.  
I also haven't decided on basing them. I've been basing my trees individually with the idea that I'm going to make some big forest bases to put them on later. That way I can just move trees to allow room for blocks of ranked up troops or tanks or big monsters or whatever. I don't want to make the bases too big though but I need them to be heavy enough to hold these trees up since they seem a bit top heavy. I could base them in smaller groups of two, three, or four but that will impact their flexibility.
Well I was going to base these last night but then I realized my hot glue gun was at the other house. I tried using my tacky glue but it didn't really have enough body to hold the trunks up. At least I got the bases cut out.

Here are the finished trees. I'm pretty happy with the way they turned out and I'll be making at least another 10 trees very soon.

Nathan's other projects can be found in Making Vehicles: