DIY alternative Christmas tree

07 Dec 2017

While having a traditional Christmas tree in the home has its obvious appeal, not everyone loves the idea. These mini painted trees are a great alternative, painted in a festive palette using Resene testpots. 

You will need

• 2.4m of pine wood (3.9cm wide by 0.9mm thick)
• Pencil and ruler
• Saw
• 3 small eyelets
• Wood glue
• Resene Quick Dry
• Resene testpots in Resene Half Forest Green, Resene Surf Crest, Resene Paper Doll, Resene Apache, Resene FX Metallic Gold Dust, Resene Met Magma
• Paintbrush
• Fine and medium sandpaper
• Masking tape
• 3 clear glass bauble decorations
• Old medicine syringe
• Cotton thread or thin string

1. Cut the wood into lengths to form 3 triangles.

2. Using a ruler and pencil, make a mark on the inside at the top of each of the two upright pieces of wood, for each of the triangles.  Use a saw to notch this out so that a small eyelet will fit into the notch. Check that the eyelet will fit and then put the eyelet aside for later.

3. Prime the front and backs of the wood, but not the edges, with Resene Quick Dry.  Once this is dry, lightly sand the primed wood with fine grit sandpaper. 

4. Apply Resene Half Forest Green to the outside surface of the wood for one of the triangles.  Paint the next triangle in Resene Surf Crest and the remaining triangle in Resene Paper Doll.  Take care not to put too much paint on the edges of the wood. 

5. Once the paint is dry, flip the wood over and paint on one coat of Resene Apache onto the inside surface of all three triangles. This is the base colour for the metallic gold and helps to intensify the gold colour. Apply Resene FX Metallic Gold Dust.

6. Once the paint is dry, use medium grit sandpaper to carefully sand off any paint that has gotten on to the edges of the wood and so that the transition from wood to paint on the corner edges is nice and crisp. 

7. Using wood glue, glue each of the triangles together, remembering to glue in the eyelet at the top (this is easier than trying to screw it in later).  Use masking tape to hold the triangles together while they dry.

8. Remove the tops off 3 clear glass Christmas baubles and with an old medicine syringe, squirt some Resene FX Metallic Magma paint into each of the baubles and rotate the baubles from side to side to that the paint runs up the sides.

9. Reinsert the tops of the baubles and either hang them up or sit them in an egg cup while the paint dries.

10. When the glue on the wooden triangles has dried, use cotton thread or thin string to hang a bauble from the eyelet of each of the triangles. Display your beautiful mini Christmas trees!

These mini Christmas trees are painted in Resene Half Forest Green, Resene Surf Crest and Resene Paper Doll. The festive baubles are painted in Resene FX Metallic Gold Dust and Resene FX Metallic Magma. On the wall is Anaglypta wallpaper (code RD0151) from the Resene Wallpaper Collection, available from Resene ColorShops, painted in Resene Cararra.

Project and photographs by Fleur Thorpe.

Published: 07 Dec 2017