Framed Wooden Christmas Trees 

Not for sale; these were gifts. Dimensions: Height, 15 inches; Width, 11.25 inches; Depth, 1.5 inches; Weight, 3 pounds. I made these relatively simple, rustic items as Christmas gifts for my brothers and parents.

The Story

I first made a pattern for the tree. I traced it onto a big piece of oriented strand board leftover from another project (Reclaimed Wood Rooster Head Wall Art). It seemed to me the rough texture and random pattern of the OSB might somewhat evoke the leaves of a pine or fir tree. I cut the trees out using my jigsaw. I used a carving tool on my Dremel to cut the scalloped grooves distinguishing various layers of the trees, and a sanding disk tool to roughly round off the edges. I cut the rectangular backing pieces out of some exterior-grade beadboard plywood that I found in an alley across from my house in the Glover Park neighborhood of D.C. Strictly speaking, that is the only upcycled component of the project. I made the frame out of some new 1x2 pine lumber that I had on hand; I almost have some, because I use it in a variety of projects, especially as frames for wall art. I used my router to cut out the groove along one edge that would seat the frame pieces on the backing board. Then I cut the 16 pieces with 45-degree corners. I rough sanded them by hand to make them a little rougher, more rustic-looking. With all the components ready, I used three different stains (Minwax Water Based Express Color Wiping Stain and Finish—which is very paint-like—in emerald and crimson, and a regular Minwax wood stain called Provincial) to color various pieces. After staining, I assembled them in combinations such that no two final products would be the same. The tree is glued to the backing piece; the frame is glued and nailed through the back. To enable the frames to stand on a table, shelf or mantel, but not stand out from the wall if hung, I created removable triangular pieces from some leftover MDF. Dowels are glued into these pieces and fit snugly into holes in the backing board. I finished these vertical supporting pieces with the same green stain as used on two of the trees.

Related Pieces: Reclaimed Wood Wreaths.