Trees/Tree Wraps

Decorating large outdoor trees can be challenging because of their height, branch structure, and the amount of lighting required. The techniques below have been used successfully by DIYChristmas members to safely decorate trees while minimizing installation time and maximizing the visual impact of the display.

Techniques

• Slingshot Method - what to do when your ladder isn't long enough

And in the example below, twelve strings of multi-colored LED light strings were suspended from the outer branches around the entire perimeter of the tree. The strings were then gathered and secured to the trunk, creating a large illuminated "cup" effect. By assigning each string to its own controller channel, the entire tree could be animated much like an oversized mega tree. Each string was also given its own channel so that the tree could be animated, sort of a mega, mega-tree.

Tree Wraps

Some people wrap lights around the trunk of the tree by winding them around and around and around.... taking hours to do. From normal viewing angles, many of the lights wrapped around the back of the trunk are hidden from view, meaning a significant portion of your installation effort isn't visible to your audience. Then simply bend the fencing and wrap it around the trunk of the tree; tie it in the back of the tree and your tree is done in about five minutes. This tree used two wrap sections totaling 12 strings of 50 lights which allowed for some nice vertical animation.

Today these same techniques can be used with incandescent lights, LED strings, smart pixels, or Seed pixels, depending on the desired appearance and animation effects.