The All Inclusive Tree Wall

Kelly Condie Thompson
by Kelly Condie Thompson
12 Materials
$200
6 Weeks
Advanced
Remember how I asked you to stay tuned while I was showing you all of my other projects? This is the post where I finally put them all together. And I got them done right before we evacuated for Hurricane Irma! I was so afraid of what we would find when we returned, but all was well. On to the post...
I started by wallpapering the wall THREE times to hide the texturing. See previous post on this. This is one view of how beautiful the wallpapering job turned out. I was very tempted to just leave it like this, but my ultimate goal was not met.
This is another view of the same wall with the wallpaper completed.


Now it was time to prepare the mirrors. This was taken from the post about how to make a stencil using etching creme and using a hot knife to make a stencil. Each mirror piece had to be cut from a 12 X 12 mirror square that was purchased from a hardware store. Then all edges had to be sanded with either a palm sander or a dremel with a diamond bit that was purchased especially for this project. Saftey gear was worn because pieces of glass went everywhere. This part of the project SHOULD NOT be done in the house! Safety glasses, Well-fitting safety gloves, and long-sleeved, long pants to cover exposed skin is important. If the pieces of glass did not cut exactly perfect, a tile nipper could also be used to help even out the pieces. A link for the best way to cut and break the mirrors can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uniR7W9U5gM You need to be strong and have a little leverage to do this cutting and so some of my pieces did not come out exactly perfect. That was fine with me because my tree was going to be a little bit abstract anyway.
This is a photo of all the pieces ready to go up on the wall. They are all cut, sanded and etched. It was lots of work. I'm excited to move on to the next part!
This is the beginning of my tree all glued to the wall. I put the main trunk on first using a ruler to measure and get the correct spacing, and a level to make sure it was straight on the wall.
I used a special mirror and glass glue to hold it on the wall and then held it to the wall with blue painter's tape for 2-3 days to let it cure. Then all the other pieces went up as I could count on the main tree being able to be held onto with the painter's tape if parts overlapped.
I had purchased some additional wall mirrors and knew how I wanted to add them to my project. Up they went onto the wall with the blue tape.


The very last thing that I had to do was paint, with alcohol inks, the leaves and the butterflies. I didn't use the birds from the wall mirror packages. I wanted to have the butterflies look like they were all just coming in from somewhere and the forced perspective with the big ones hopefully made it look that way. I left some of the butterflies plain and some I painted. I painted all the leaves three times because the first coat of green was not dark enough. After the 2nd coat (putting the ink on a q-tip and rubbing it on the little wall mirror) I used a bluish green to make the veins in the leaves. But it was too dark, so I had to go over the veins a third time with the green to tame them down. Then, I had to use alcohol to get all of my mistakes off of the wall - where my fingers had slipped and accidentally touched the wall while I was dobbing the ink on the wall mirrors. It was a very technical process, you see. Someone else could have done it better, I'm sure! But, there it is. Finished. I was going for a wall that you wouldn't just walk past, but one that would include itself in the room and make the room feel more whole.
I had the branches of the tree go over both doorways to include them in the room.
Views from both ends of the wall.
I'll end with a close-up of the wallpaper with the butterflies on it. You can also see the green leaves and the abstract branches of the tree. It was a fun project for me. It took lots of hard work, but turned out pretty much like I wanted.


We want to help you DIY, so some of the materials in this post are linked to sellers. Just so you know, Hometalk may collect a small share of sales from the links on this page.
Suggested materials:
See all materials
Frequently asked questions
Have a question about this project?
3 of 8 questions
  • Linda Harp Linda Harp on Sep 26, 2017

    Love this one of a kind look... what was your inspiration?

  • Patricia Redman Patricia Redman on Sep 28, 2017

    What did you do, if anything, to smooth the edges of the glass? Can someone cut themselves if they brush against the glass?

  • Millies_mom47 Millies_mom47 on Oct 02, 2017

    Did you freehand the leaves or did you have a stencil or something to trace to make them and the butterflies too?

Comments
Join the conversation
2 of 116 comments
Next