Lit Spare Mitten Tree

Amanda C, Hometalk Team
by Amanda C, Hometalk Team
5 Materials
$30
3 Hours
Medium
This project is very much in the same vein as the yarn ball tree I did a couple weeks ago, but this one is MUCH less time consuming and I think it is a bit cuter too hehe... This mitten / glove tree can be created with your bag of misfits that many households have or you can order some gloves in bulk for crazy cheap as I did! Simply make a chicken wire base and hot glue the gloves on for this Dr. Suess looking mitten tree!
SUPPLIES: -Chicken Wire -Scissors -50+ pairs of gloves / mittens ... I used loofa gloves I found in bulk for $0.59/pair -Hot Glue -Spray Paint (optional) -Battery Powered Lights
STEP 1: (Optional: Spray paint gloves) This step is optional! If you want your tree to be a certain color and have mismatch gloves you can paint them all the same color or in the colors of your choice. These gloves I ordered were supposed to be mint green, (even were in the pic online) but arrived crazy blue so I decided to make them mint green with some spray paint. The picture on the right shows the before and after. I did a coat of robin's egg blue and a coat of apple green spray paint to get the color I wanted.
STEP 2: Prep the chicken wire core Cut a large square out of your chicken wire. Mine was about 46"x46.
STEP 3: Measure the tree's dimensions Use a ruler as a compass and measure an even distance from one corner in an arc shape on the bottom. You can see that each straight side from the corner is even as well as the distance the entire way around the arc. The image says 24, but I cut mine to 46" all the way around and then cut off excess when I ran out of gloves.
STEP 4: Roll the chicken wire into a standing core Roll your cut out chicken wire into a cone shape and connect the open ends together by twisting the raw cut wire around one another. You are closing the cone shape by matching both straight edges to one another. The arc shape cutout will rest as the base on the bottom.
STEP 5: Start gluing the mittens Now that you have your tree core it is time to add the "branches". Take your painted mittens / gloves (which should be dry now) and start gluing them to the chicken wire form from the top down.
STEP 6: Continue gluing mittens (lift the fingertips) Continue gluing gloves all the way down and around the chicken wire form. Lift up the fingertips from the top gloves and hide the wrist section underneath making sure to cover up all the wire beneath them.
STEP 7: Cut off excess chicken wire Once you run out of gloves cut off most of the excess of the chicken wire from the bottom and fold under any sharp edges.
STEP 8: Wrap lights around the tree and decorate Now simply wrap the tree in a string of battery powered lights and decorate as you please. I chose to keep mine simple, but you could add ornaments or whatever you want!
STEP 9: Turn on those lights and enjoy!
I love this thing... I know it is really silly and whimsical, but it kinda makes me laugh.
I wanted to make this thing much larger, but ran out of gloves... I kinda like it this size though!
Suggested materials:
  • Chicken Wire   (Home Depot)
  • Loofa Gloves   (DHGate http://www.dhgate.com/product/exfoliating-spa-green-bath-gloves-body-scrubbing/257807470.html)
  • Battery Powered Lights   (Amazon)
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Frequently asked questions
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3 of 18 questions
  • Donado1017 Donado1017 on Dec 24, 2020

    Why didn’t you start from the bottom like a roofer would do, less difficult to make sure cuffs are hidden without having to glue and hold up mitten?

  • Marilyn Zaruba Marilyn Zaruba on Dec 25, 2020

    Aren't 50 pairs of gloves very expensive?


    I think this is a darling idea, but believe it might be cheaper to watch for some dark green felt on sale.



  • Jaye Jaye on Dec 25, 2020

    Is there a way to make the trip look fuller? Maybe it is visual but the lights wire could hidden. The wire looks like it binding the leaves

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