For As You Like It, we wanted the audience to be fully immersed in the Forest of Arden. We wanted the woods to feel like a vast expanse that you could get lost in. We decided we wanted to have a collection of small trees, but amongst them some larger, more structural trunks that a character could gravitate towards for shelter or directions.

I got to work framing out the internal skeletons of the trees out of rings and strips of plywood. With the bones down, I was able to skin them with chicken wire so that I could begin giving them some natural bumps and curves. I also used this to shape an internal cavity on one of the trees, which was to become a fire pit. With that structural groundwork, I laid canvas dipped in Mod Podge over top of them and then spread it with wrinkles and knots. Once it cured, it had the texture of tree bark and all that was left was to paint. I then mounted wheels onto the trunks, and they became the mobile units we needed for the show.