ZEN ART

I originally wanted to do a Japanese sand garden at the base, but I changed my mind and decided to do red rocks at the base. I'll do a Japanese sand garden at a different time. This is another example of what you can do with branches that lean to one side. These type of branches usually need a lot of trimming.

HALLOWEEN

I'm always inspired by Tim Burton, and I wanted to do a tree that looked kind of like a spooky hand. So I used two supplementals that had a nice arc to them and I trimmed off most of the small branches. I secured them with cable ties, then painted them a glossy black. I then used one of my favorite bases to use, a manzanita burl and secured the branches to the burl by drilling a 1" hole and securing the branches in the hole with wood glue, then filled in the gaps with wood filler. Then I found these cute little wooden round balls at a yard sale, and painted them orange. I used a stencil to draw on the pumpkin faces and little bats and painted them black. All in all I thought it turned out cute. I may head out to "Hot Topic" and grab some "Nightmare before Christmas" garb and decorate my branch with those.

Autumn Themed Tree

I fell in love with this little branch in my stock pile and I just knew I had to make something interesting out of it. Again, I went for an Autumn theme and I used the same autumn themed silk flowers that I found at my local craft store, but I used a different color (fall yellow), and I spray painted the branch a metallic gold to give it a "metal" look. I hung darling little acorns that fell from the Oak tree in my front yard and I also spray painted those metallic gold. I had to glue on the acorn heads before I painted them because most of the acorns did not have heads. I used a black and gold nylon string to hang them from the tree. I knew I wanted a "blocky" base. Previously I had experimented with a manzanita burl slab, but now I just wanted to use the whole burl as a base. I had cut the sides of a round burl to make it in the shape of a short rectangle. I sanded it down and then I gave a few coats of gloss. I drilled a hole in the middle of the burl base and secured the branch trunk into the hole with a generous amount of wood glue.

Autumn Themed Centerpiece

This season I am going to work on a lot of different seasonal and holiday themes. Here is a go at an autumn themed centerpiece. I spray painted the branch brilliant gold. The branch is attached to a manzanita burl slab that I hand cut, sanded, and glossed. I used a drill to drill a hole in the middle of the slab, but did not penetrate through the slab, just put enough of a hole to secure the trunk. I put a generous portion of wood glue in the hole. Once the branch and base were all painted and secured, I decorated the branch with these beautiful autumn themed silk flowers that I found at my local craft store. I loved the colors and they look beautiful on the branch and loosely accenting the base. Although the branch will stand on it's own on the small burl base, I preferred to secure it down with some votive candles that accent the piece nicely.

Glimpse Crystal Trees

This is a glimpse of some of our Crystal trees.

Natural Manzanita with Orchids

This branch was pulled out our stock and we didn't do anything to it. We just left it natural and attached these lovely orchids.

Elegant and Simple Supplementals

This arrangement is using 2 supplemental branches. One supplemental is 48" tall and the other is 36"

Lovely Sandblasted Manzanita

At this time I do not offer Sandblasted Manzanita, but this is just one the amazing and beautiful things you can do with it. I personally just love it, and once I get my hands on a decent sandblaster, you'll be seeing me in my shop all suited up and ready to go. These branches are from Nettleton Hollow.

Simple Jewelry Hang

This little guy is about 20" tall and is secured to a Black Walnut base. I cut a small slab of black Walnut using a table saw. I sanded the base and slightly rounded the edges. Then I attached the branch to the middle of the base using a flat head screw and a drill. Then I painted the branch with a matte based spray paint, and painted the base with a matte based black latex paint. Then I finished it off with a laquer. It turned out to be really cute. I gave it a friend and she ended up painting little white polka dots on it! So cute.

8 Supplementals

This centerpiece is 8 supplemental branches anchored with a floral tube and set in a tall black ceramic vase with gold accents. The branches are from our "Supplemental" branches, which are generally considered too spare to be used as a centerpiece on their own. We use them to fill in arrangements, or couple, triple, or multiply them together to give this amazing effect. We spray painted the branches a bright red, and finished with a gloss coat. A couple coats of red really gives it nice look. At some point I'll start taking photos of these arrangements in a studio, because it's a huge pain to photoshop out the backround (my garage). So when you enlarge the photo, you'll see all the messy photoshop blurs. It's best to keep this picture small :)

A gift to my mom

On this branch we used maroon for the flowers, and white river rocks. My mom loved it and thought I paid a fortune for it. LOL...

Classic Sakura

Another "Sakura" in a black hand painted ceramic vase. This Tree looks fantastic in an Asian Inspired room.

A recent Sakura Tree Inspired Creation

This is one of Natural Decor's "Sakura Tree" inspired creations. The Manzanita branches are painted black with a laquer finish. Then we purchase artificial flowers, usually the hydrangeas (easiest to find), and then we spray paint the artificial flowers a deep red. We then attach the flowers onto the branches using craft glue. Then we anchor the branch in a glass vase with black river rocks.

The First Blog!!!

Hi Everyone! Welcome to our blog. Natural Decor Design is dedicated to the beauty of natural art. Especially the beauty of MANZANITA.