One of the iconic images when one thinks of the Muppets is of Kermit sitting on a log, playing a banjo and singing Rainbow Connection. We wanted to have this be a part of this year’s house, so I set about figuring out how to have a log appear in our front yard. I considered looking for a real one, but soon realized that would be too heavy to move around. I had always wanted to create a fake tree, so I took this as an opportunity to do that.

I found this tutorial, which was really helpful and guided my process.

I started by buying a cylindrical cement form from my local hardware store (can find them at Lowe’s or Home Depot).

I was going to need to sit on this log, so I needed to reinforce the area where I would be sitting. I constructed a wooden frame that fit in the tube and placed it in the middle, where I would be sitting. I then added a piece of wood for a ‘seat’ and another one for a base.

After that, I added cardboard ends to seal off the tube.

The cool part for me in this was this next step—using spray foam (Great Stuff) to create the shapes of lines of bark. This was a great way to get realistic and organic looking bark.

Once it had dried, I used a saw to shave down the rounded outside surfaces of the Great Stuff to more accurately simulate what a tree looks like.

In the aforementioned tutorial, the artist recommends coating that shaved-down layer with some Durham’s Water Putty. I skipped this step, but in hindsight, I think I should have done it as I think it would have helped make the end product look more realistic.

Once I had my bark shape, it was time to paint. I painted everything tan, then did a dark wash (so that dark color gets into the cracks and crevices, and followed up with a drybrush pass of that original tan.