From Trash to CHRISTMAS TREE

by Wonderiris

5 Materials

I like to take things that most people would throw away and make something beautiful or useful out of them. When we bought our new house there were a lot of old broken chairs up in the eaves of the out building/barn. Not really knowing what I was going to do with what I found I simply grabbed all these old (but sturdy) chair parts and brought them to my workshop. I used some of them to make an American Flag...but the rest just sat there and I would see them occasionally and think, "One day, I'll make something with some of those."

I gathered a bunch of chair/table parts. I like ones that have some interesting character to them. I scrubbed them all and then laid them out by size.

Usually I only have to sand some to get left over varnish/stain off, but this particular set were quite varnished. And so I had to actually use some stripper to get them clean enough to use. I used a soy based stripper which is AWESOME!! It doesn't stink, does an incredible job, and it was kind to my hands!!

I then decided which ones I would use and I painted them using Unicorn SPiT. I made my own version of a darker green using Unicorn SPiT's Dragonsbelly, Midnight Blackness, and a touch of Blue Thunder.

Next I dry brushed a lighter green over to give it some definition.

The chair piece I planned to use for the hanger I decided I would stencil something on it...after painting it with Molly RedPepper. I couldn't decide...so one side got "silver bells'...

and the other side got 'Merry Christmas'. I deliberately used gold because even though it says 'silver' I like things to be interesting. I then gave all the pieces a couple good coats of semi-gloss Spar Urethane...I wanted to make sure it could handle some weather because I wasn't sure where I would be hanging it.

Assembly involved hook eyes, chain, and patience. I started at the top and worked my way down. Some pieces are deliberately crooked and off because no tree is perfectly triangular!! I hung some bells (yes, most are silver) and it's done. Just in time for the Christmas season and I'm sure I'll be enjoying this piece for many years to come!!