Birch tree made of wire and beads

by | Mar 23, 2017 | Art & Crafts, DIY Projects

This is a bit more time-intensive than what I usually show you, but I wanted something special. The tree of the photo is the first one that I have made! I would estimate I have about 10 hours into it, because beading and wire wrapping, while not difficult, can be pretty time-intensive. I did work on it about an hour at a time, so it is something that you can easily put away and come back to later. If you try it, use plenty of wire and do what you like the looks of, and you can’t go wrong. 🙂

Instructions:

Cut a length of wire enough to make the first branch, start from the beginning of the wire with 8 beads and twist down to make a loop.
Make enough loops, the more you make the long the branch will be.
Make benches as much as you want.
Twist them together as seen in the photo.
As you go, just look at your proportions and arrange the beads and branches in a random and natural-looking way.
Twist your wire to create your trunk. Wrap the branches the way you like to get a tree shape. To finish the trunk i wrapped cotton around the stem.
Make 4 roots at the end to be a base for the tree. You can put the tree in a vase and fill it with gypsum or do like this:
You definitely want something flat and stable on the bottom, and after putting this together, I was surprised at how heavy the beads were after adding so many.  So I would say, as a general rule, decide how far you want your branches to reach on all sides, and choose a rock that’s an equal diameter.
Trunk:painted gypsum You may realize that your tree trunk looks too thin, in which case, you can always just add more gypsum. I like to have some movement along the trunk, as shown in the photos.
Once your tree is dried you are ready to start painting – Yay! Color it with black Colorex pigment.
And now for the MAGIC part of the painting!!! To the black mixture on your palette, add some white. Use your other brush this time – dip it into this new paint mixture then wipe off most of the paint on a paper towel. We’re going to dry brush across the vertical lines, which will create the wonderful illusion of bark (no, really!) Continue making the horizontal dry-brush strokes all around the tree. Repeat this process as desired, slightly varying the gray color each time. (I usually do about 3 layers, but I have a painting obsession – you might decide to leave it after the first dry-brush coat).
Decorate it with flowers and you are done with your tree!

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