For any of you who might not know what furnace filter material is, It is a square material that comes in a variety of shapes and sizes and different type of material compositions; how ever the material that we are going to use is almost or could be the same material used to make straw brooms only mulched up,then glued together to create a filter that is about 24 inches wide and 30 inches long by about 1 inch thick.You can find it in green if you are lucky but from what I have been seeing lately it is now blue in color which is not a problem as for a can of dark green spray enamel will take care of that problem.

You can find this material depending where you live at Wal Mart, Bi Mart, or at most any building and supply outlets,The cost is about $3.00 a sheet and will create many tree's.Next you will need to get yourself a packet of bamboo skewers, these can be found at any grocery outlet, a packet of about 50 will cost about $2.00, So now you can create some where between 50 and 100 trees depending on how and if you decide to cut the skewers to make adult trees and saplings,for right at $7.00 depending on the cost of the paint.Be sure that the paint that you purchase is flat color not gloss.

First off after gathering all you supplies that you will need first open up the package of furnace filter material and start out by cutting a strip about an 1" and a half wide, then cut the strip into 1" and a half squares. There is a web like mesh on the back of the material, I always peel this off. I take the skewers( about 10-15) and stick them slightly into a small piece of styrofoam (pointed end downward) to hold them in a standing up position then take dark brown spray paint and spray them. most all skewers that I have purchased come about 12" in legnth, So not to end up with a forest where all the tree's are the same highth I cut the skewers in a mannor to where it gives me a sapling and an adult tree at the same time or two adult trees of slightly different highths.

After the paint has dried on the skewers I decide how long I want them to be and cut them to that legnth. I then take them to the grinder and reshape the skewer so it has a point on both ends. This is so the skewer feeds through the furnace material easier and leaves a pointed end to push into the layout. After cutting and shaping the skewers its time to start feeding the skewers through the squares of material. You can put the material on so it is really compacted for really thick tree's or kinda spread the material apart after you've ran the skewer through it to give it a sparse look, it's something you just do to your own preferance.

Once I have the stock of the tree filled with material I usually apply a few drops of super glue right at the top of the skewer so it runs down through the filter material holding it in place so it does'nt pop off while you are trimming it. I usually complete all the tree's that I am going to make before starting to shape the tree's , this allows the glue time to dry. I usually start the shaping of the tree's by trimming the corners off first to get them round then work on the taper. I trim the tree's using just a really good sharp pair of scissors.