Artsy Living Tree Man

Made by Victoria Hollingsworth

This is a papermache floor lamp of a living tree man that was inspired by watching a movie I believe was called “The Hobbits.” It looks nothing like the bearded tree in the movie. That’s because, I wanted to create an original of my own using that idea. It’s 72 inches tall. The largest area of width is 15 inches with a depth of 14 inches.

The reason for wanting to make this was to make a wedding/housewarming gift for my oldest son and his new wife. As you can see, it added a nice artistic touch to there living room.

I love following Jonni and have bought a few of her patterns that I have not had time to play with yet. I especially, can’t wait to try out her baby elephant to gift to my youngest daughter. And the giraffe for my oldest.

I usually create smaller projects (mostly dolls or Christmas crafts) using polymer clay. I wanted to try a different medium
and since Jonni creates some really huge art that I adore, this seemed like a perfect idea to try myself . I wanted to make something huge that conveyed to them they are loved and important. Im so glad that I did. I’m totally hooked. It’s great fun!

The most challenging part of this project was trying to estimate the amount of clay that I would need. I worried that if I made to much and wasn’t able to get back to it for a few days that the clay would loose it’s freshness and crumble when drying if I could not use it all right away. But, the recipe worked out great. I double bagged the clay in zip lock baggies and stored that in a plastic food container with a closed lid. That kept it very moist. Which was nice. On the clay that became sticky from sweating in the baggies, I added baby powder and mixed as needed.

Jonni, thanks for the paper clay recipe using joint compound. It worked out great!