"Removing snow from miniature Xmas trees?" Topic

I have several surprisingly nice miniature Christmas trees from Dollar Tree. The only problem is most of them are coated with artificial snow. Any tips for how to remove the snow without damaging the rest of the tree? Someone once suggested using soapy water and a toothbrush. I tried that and it didn't do anything other than splatter water everywhere. I though about using nail polish remover or something stronger, but wanted to see if anyone had a better solution.

I also thought about painting over the snow, but I don't think that will look good.

Someone mentioned soaking them in water overnight to me, when I inquired about this.

Worth a try.

I will soak one overnight to see if it works. If it does, I'll try the rest. Thanks.

It is a bit tedious but a needle nosed or narrow nosed pliers and pulverizing the snow clumps works without damaging the trees.

Why not just spray it green?

Go for overkill. I soak, rinse off and dry, spray-paint dark green, then hit with spray adhesive, dark green flock and (when that dries) finish with Woodland Scenics terrain cement. This takes parts of four evenings but not really many man-hours.

You can skip the soaking if you must, but you really need the flock to build up the volume. And any flocking should be followed by a sealant.

Ive just painted over it and then flock using hairspray as a fixative.Easy peasy.

I rub them together until nothing falls off. Use a newspaper to catch the fake snow. 90% will fall right off.

Quick blast of green spray paint to cover the survivors. Add flock while the paint is wet. Use mixed flock, not just one color. Go darker toward the trunk and lighter on the outer branches.

Let it dry.
Seal with Dulcote.

Optional step.
I do this because I want the best looking trees possible. If you just want quick and easy, skip this step.

Spray adhesive all over the outside and add a second lighter colored flock. This will represent new growth. Mix some different colors here. Light greens and yellows for summer. Red, gold and darker greens for fall.

Seal with Dulcote.

I use a slicker brush (brush used to groom dogs and cats – typically rectangluar head with many fine wire bristles). Just brush it through to remove most of the snow. You may have to crunch up a few of the biggest clumps first.

Once the majority of the white is gone your can spray/drybrush/airbrush/flock as desired.

I've tried soaking these but found that the dye come off as well.