By: Chelsea Gray | @kevrosehome
When I settled on a dark fairy tale/Brothers Grimm theme for my baby shower this January, I knew right away what my big statement décor piece would be – a giant DIY beanstalk draping over the fireplace mantle at our venue a la the twisted story of “Jack and the Beanstalk".
I wasn’t exactly sure how I’d build it, but I did know for certain from the start that I’d be browsing the hardware store aisles for the best OOK wire for the job….but we’ll get to that later.
Constructing the Base
Eventually, I landed on constructing the overall base shape using a carboard 48-in concrete forming tube, tin foil, pool noodles I had left over from an older project, foam pipe insulation tubes (which you could use in place of the pool noodles as well), duct tape, masking tape, chicken wire, support poles, and a combination of OOK 12-Gauge Galvanized Wire and OOK Green Vinyl Multi-Purpose Wire.
I started by forming the legs/roots of the beanstalk by cutting a pool noodle into thirds. Again, you could use foam pipe insulation from the hardware store for this step instead; I just happened to have pool noodles already at my disposal from a previous craft and decided to use up what I had. I then took each piece and started wrapping thick layers of tin foil around the noodle to build up my desired thickness, leaving roughly the top 1/3rd uncovered. You want to build up the thickness of the tin foil around the noodle while also extending tin foil beyond the noodle to create the additional length and the curvy, narrowing shape of a tree (or in our case, beanstalk) root.
In order to easily attach the legs to the concrete forming tube acting as our beanstalk, I sliced the unexposed portion of the noodle in half with a knife to get rid of the bulky, rounded edge. This made securing the noodles to the concrete tube with duct tape much easier and helped the legs visually blend and transition better onto the stalk form. At this point, I also added some flared, brown painter’s masking paper between the legs and the beanstalk using duct tape to create a more realistic tree stump shape at the bottom of the beanstalk.
All of the above can be done rather sloppily, as the sturdiness of what you’ve built so far will come from covering everything in a layer of masking tape, including covering all of your duct tape. Once the overall shape of the beanstalk is complete, we’ll be using a strengthening agent over everything, so having the tin foil and duct tape covered in masking tape is an important step, as many of those options (e.g. paper mache, gesso, joint compound, etc.) will not adhere as well to slick, non-porous surfaces.
DO Get It Twisted!
Now that the base of your beanstalk is complete and reinforced with masking tape, it’s time for the fun part! To create that twisty, fairytale beanstalk look, I braided ½-inch diameter foam pipe insulation tubes together and secured these braids to the concrete tube in an upward spiral using duct tape. I used OOK Green Vinyl Multi-Purpose Wire in the same way you’d use a twist tie for a loaf of bread in order to keep the braids from unraveling as I worked. You can use a lot of creative freedom here, bending the tubes however you like to get the look you’re after, weaving single tubes around your doubled-up braids, etc. This is an art project, not a science. Just have fun playing around with it until it starts to feel like a whimsical plant growing through the clouds.
Constructing The Top with OOK
Once I reached the top of the concrete tube, I had to put a pause on the braided pieces and begin constructing the top half of my beanstalk. The concrete tube is open on each end, so to close off the top to give me a proper base to build more height off of, I cut a small piece of chicken wire and formed a bowl-like cover in the opening, securing it in place by bending the edges tightly around the opening and duct taping everything to the outside of the tube. Again, don’t worry about how everything looks at this point. It will all get covered up later!
To create more height and the arched, curvy branch look I was going for, I stuck metal curtain rods through the chicken wire and secured them in place with zip ties. These will also serve as an additional support system for our beanstalk branches.
I needed the branches sturdy enough to stand tall on their own while also having the flexibility to bend into the shape I want. To make that happen, I twisted two long strands (approximately 6-feet each) of OOK 12-Gauge Galvanized Metal Wire together to double up on the thickness and strength of the wire, then fed this wire through my pipe insulation tubes. These tubes have a slit down the middle that you can open easily with your hand to fit around plumbing pipes, so I was able to use this method to fit the foam tubes around the structural curtain rod poles I put in place, and duct tape it all together.
At this point, I was able to create the height I wanted and begin bending the “branches” into the final desired shape thanks to the sturdiness of the wire inside. I used 4 tubes total for this portion of the beanstalk and morphed them into one larger branch using more of OOK’s Green Vinyl Multi-Purpose Wire and duct tape for that continuous beanstalk look from the roots to the tippy top. To add a bit more horizontal length to the “arm” of the beanstalk, I fed single strands of that 12-gauge wire through 4 shorter sections of foam tubes and attached them to the ends of the ones already in place.
With the top half of the structure now built, I continued the braided vine look from the bottom half all the way up to the ends of the beanstalk, and added a few large thorns for more visual interest using very short sections of foam noodles, which I shaped using duct tape, tin foil, and masking tape (the same method I had used for shaping the beanstalk roots).
From Bare Bones to Beanstalk
This is going to look like a terrifying mess at this stage but trust in these final steps! First, you need to cover the entire piece from top to bottom in masking tape (by far the most time-consuming portion of this project) and then, a thin layer of joint compound. My original plan was to use paper mache to finish this piece – typically, a great option for sculpture-building like this – but the time needed for paper mache to dry properly and to build up enough layers to create the sturdy exterior you’re aiming for just wasn’t going to work with my deadline for this particular project (nor with my patience level/energy at this point in the build).
I had never used joint compound in this way before, so I was very worried about the potential for issues with too much weight, poor adhesion, cracking, and beyond, but desperate for a (hopefully) faster and easier way than paper mache to strengthen the structure and cover up all the imperfections, I decided to give it a try anyways. AND IT WORKED PERFECTLY! I simply applied gobs of the stuff by hand over the entire surface (don’t forget to wear rubber gloves!), smoothing it out into a thin layer while also creating texture and swirl marks that helped to both mimic the look of a natural vine and hide the hundreds of tape lines. The entire piece was dry to the touch within the hour and it was far easier, quicker, and in my opinion, more fun to apply than paper mache would have been!
With the overall shape now complete and structurally sound, it’s time for the finishing touches!
Once the joint compound had fully dried, I used the perfect plant green spray paint to color the beanstalk (Rustoleum Satin General Purpose Spray Paint in the color Eden). I allowed the single layer of paint to dry for about 45 minutes before mixing in some faux leaf stems from the craft store with the foam vines to really help sell that unruly, overgrown look you’d expect of a fairytale beanstalk.
While I’m not all that excited to transport this beast of a decoration to our venue, I am cow-jumped-over-the-moon excited to see how it looks in the space and ties all the elements of our dark fairy tale baby shower together! I feel like it may have even earned a permanent place in baby’s nursery after this…don’t ya think?!
