Truffula Trees

There is a YouTube video of the build coming soon. But if you'd prefer a short reel of the build I have that on my youtube channel here.

I just always wanted to make Truffula trees. I like the environmentalism in the story, I really do. But, mainly, I just think the truffula trees are cute.

I started with a simple pattern for the head of the tree. If you print the above image on and 8.5" x 11" piece of paper, it should come out pretty close to the right size. It should almost fill the page.

I started with some fake fur. I had to order it online.

First Online Fabric on Etsy

My local shop didn't have more than green, and I wanted longer fur, or pile. First I tried cutting out the fur with scissors. Terrible mistake. It cut through those long fibers that I loved so much. Plus, it made a gigantic mess. Fur everywhere. Then I remembered a trick that I heard of online. Use a razor blade. I can't tell you how wonderful this was. I used a brand new blade, so it was super sharp. After a few truffula trees, it got pretty dull, so buy extra blade if you want to make a bunch.

When you are tracing your patterns on the back of the fur, angle the pieces all in the same direction so that the fur is alway consistent. It will create a nice little swirl in the front. Or if it doesn't, it is perfect enough.

It is a bit finicky to sew all the panels together. Keep tucking in the fur as much as you can so that it will be all on the outside of the tree later. Inevitably I had to still pick a bunch out of the seam with a needle later. Also, since the fur is so thick, I wasn't able to get the sewing machine into the corners very well. I hand stitched those shut before I flipped it right side out.

I used some scrap fabric to make a simple tube to go inside the head of the truffula tree. This shouldn't ever be visible, but I tried to make is not TOO contrasting in color. And I am using black thread because that was what was already in my sewing machine, and didn't see a point in changing it.

I am not that great with a sewing machine. Perfect enough is usually my moto. I flipped the tree right side out, stuffed it pretty firm with fiber fill, then I had to hand sew the tube in place and sew the whole thing shut. I think I am lucky that the fur was so forgiving and you can't see how bad my sewing skills are.

Next, I used a heat gun to slowly heat up a 1/2" PVC pipe that I had left over from making a Harley Quinn Mallet (video here). It took 2-3 minutes before it started to bend. Add some gentle pressure to get it to the shape you like. You can always heat it back up if you need to bend it some more. 

I rough sanded it with a used piece of 80 grit sand paper. It left some grooves in it, but I liked that. It gave it some texture. Not totally tree like, but better than a smooth piece of PVC.

Painted it solid black. I know the tree trucks are mostly white. But I didn't want the white to be just bright white, so I started with black, so when I add the white in the next step, it will have some streaks in it. But either way, give it a full coat of paint so that it covers up the red lettering and will protect it a bit too.

After the paint dried, I gave it a coat of matte mod podge. The are better ways to seal it, but it was sitting right there on my work bench, and I am lazy. Again, it is perfect enough.

Test fit. Holy crap! I love it so much.

I built a really crappy little stand out of 1.4" plywood, 10.5" square. Connected at the corners with 7.5" 2x4's. And drilled a bunch of holes in the top so I can either add more trees later, or just to give me options on how to arrange the trees.

Once I put the tree trunks into the base, they immediately fell over. And I haven't even put the fuzzy bit on the top yet. If there were another board with the holes in it maybe half way down the base, you could just slot them in. But I didn't do that. I did was any self respecting crafter would do.... I hot glued the hell out of them where the trunk meets the bottom of the base. Was this a wise decision? Probably not. I haven't decided if I am going to take these down after christmas, so I don't know if I need to store them yet. Time will tell. I will keep you posted. Although, if I make another one for the other planter box I have, I may go with the extra piece of plywood with the holes so I don't have the potential headache of removing all of the hot glue later. And it is A LOT.

It slots into my planter perfectly. Here is the video on how I built the planter. (Outdoor Planter Video) Or the written plans (Outdoor Planter Plans)

I tucked in some of the left over green fur to act like grass. I really love how it came out. Let me know what you think in the comments below. 

And if you make any of my projects, send me photos, I love to see my designs out in the wild.

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Outdoor Planter Box

Cut List:

4 - 4x4's - 17" long (legs)

8 - 1x4's - 11.5" long (side rails)

4 - 1x4's - 18" on the long edge, 11" on the shorter edge (top rails, mitered at 45 degrees)

2 - 1x2's - approx 11.5" long. (bottom rails. You can use scrap if you don't have 1x2's)

4 - 11.5x14x.25" panels (1/4" plywood, or anything similar.)

Other stuff:

1.25" Kreg Exterior Screws, the blues ones

Wood Glue - Exterior

Kreg Jig

Circular Saw

Jig Saw (Only if you want the top to be wonky like mine.)

Furniture Feet - 4

Paint

Clear Sealer

Step 1:

I started with the side rails, and added the pocked holes. 4 of them have 4 pocket holes (2 on each end), and the other 4 have 6 pocket holes. (2 on each end, and 2 more along the top edge. 

Step 2:

Attach the legs to the side rails, as shown in the image below. Make sure the side rail with the 6 pocket holes is on top and pointed up (this will be to attached the top on later). Make two of these, exactly the same.

Step 3:

Add 4 more of the side rails following the same layout as the last one, making sure the rails with the 6 pocket holes are pointed up.

Step 4:

Attach the other side.

Step 5:

For the rails on the bottom, I measured first before cutting these. I didn't use clamps when I attached the side rails, so I know they were going to shift a little when I screwed everything together. But since everything but the legs, so far, are going to be covered up later, I wasn't too worried about the side rails being perfect. If you don't have 1x2's, just use scrap. On one of mine, I sliced left over 1x4 length wise. Put two pocket holes on each end of these and attach like shown in the image below. 

Step 6:

Assemble the top from the 4 mitered 1x4's with pocket holes. 2 on each corner. For mine, I know I was going to trim the top to be more cartoony, so I made sure to put my pocket holes closer to the center of the planter box so that I wouldn't risk hitting the screws with the jigsaw. Then attach the top to the base.

Step 7:

I wanted my panels to be removable, so I only used a couple of screws at the top of each panel under the overhang to be less noticable. Time will tell if I need to add a couple more screws on the panel into the bottom rail.

You don't need to use plywood on this part. You can use fence boards, pallet wood, whatever you feel like. These panels are just to hide the pot anyway, nothing structural. 

I've also thought of layering up shapes of thin plywood to create a different effect, but I will save that for a different day.

Step 8:

(Optional)

Using a jigsaw I cut the top to be more cartoony and fun. Also, I have a small front porch and that top corner looked painful if you caught your leg on it.

Step 9:

Paint and seal it. I painted the main part in black, knowing the panels would be in just about every color eventually, and I wanted the base to show off those colors. Also, I already had black, so that narrowed it down too. Don't tell anyone, but I just used cheap acrylic black craft paint. But I put a coat of clear water based sealer on it. I haven't had a problem with my method, but I am not an expert. If you've got a tried and true method for outdoor painted projects, add it to the comments below.

Step 10:

Add the furniture feet.

And send my photos of your planters! I love seeing these things out in the wild.

I made some truffula trees to fit inside these planters. Check it out! (Truffula Trees)