Part one. The string.

OK, when you think about the cypress tree, you immediately bring to mind a tall lanky thing, a bit like a fir tree with all the branches pushed up to near vertical, so it makes sense to start out with the old bottle brush effort, easy to make, but just the start of the cypress making process.
My preferred material is sisal rope and florist wire, but there are a few things to do before these come together to make a tree.
Firstly, the rope needs to be unwound (as if I need to tell you that) into it`s separate strands (1 and 2 from the top in my photo) but as you can see, it looks like hanks of hair from a spiroperm. To straighten it out, and this is the clever bit, chuck all your strands into the kitchen sink and pour boiling water over them, and watch them uncurl (3 from the top).
While they are still wet, tie a knot in the middle, which makes it easier to grip the strands (4 from the top) a requiremant for the next stage, combing out all the tangled bits which only cause grief at later stages.I then put all my knotted bunches to one side to dry.
Now my brain is hurting so I think I`ll carry on in part two.