Driftwood Christmas Trees

Recently I was creating jewelry displays for a craft fair. I made them out of drift wood, dowels, and rectangular drift wood bases. I had extra supplies left, and being that I was (still am!) in the spirit this holiday season, I decided to fashion a few Christmas tree decorations that are inspired by the sea and made from the left overs.

I know it is a little late, but I figured that I would share the process and some images of the final product. The supplies are pretty simple:

• A power drill
• A 3/8" wood drill bit
• 3/8" Dowel
• Wood Glue
• Sand paper
• Drift wood in a variety of sizes
• A drift wood rectangular base (or a 2x4)
• A decorative star or snowflake

When selecting pieces of drift wood for the body of the tree, select a variety of sizes. The trees that I made were approximately 16" to 18", and for a tree this large it required 12-14 pieces. It is good to select additional pieces in case they split when drilling them.

Place a solid piece of scrap wood under the drift wood pieces while drilling them. Drill through each drift wood piece. Using sand paper clean up the edges of where the drill broke through.

Drill a hole about 1/2" deep on the base wood. Using a small amount of wood glue, fasten the dowel vertically in the base. Allow the glue to dry.

Arrange the drift wood pieces in the order from the bottom of the tree to the top. Start sliding the drift wood pieces on the vertical dowel. I would not suggest using glue at this time, so that you can decide and adjust the branches of the tree. There are two ways of putting these drift wood trees together; first with the branches in a line and evenly spaced on the dowel or as shown in the image below....

...stacked directly on top of each other and all at different angles. This is another reason why you should hold off on using glue on the drift wood pieces - I actually opted to not use glue at all so that I can adjust the trees as I need.

Finish off the top of the tree with a star or snowflake ornament. I purchased these laser cut snowflakes from Crate & Barrel. Add your own color or decoration to the top of the tree.

All in all a pretty easy, reclaimed, rustic, decoration inspired by the sea! Enjoy!