I was remarking on my personal blog that I would likely be a Scrooge this year and not put up a Christmas tree. I received a challenge, shortly thereafter, to build my own tree using recycled materials or scraps from the job site. Not being one to turn away from a creative challenge, I started scrounging around the shop and found a piece of wall paneling that was cut up. It even had the wall plug cut out in it, and had obviously been torn out of a recent remodel. Right away, you could hear the wheels turning in my head, so here’s what I did.

I started by finding a picture of a Christmas tree to use as my design and traced it out onto the paneling. Once I had the design on one piece, I used a table saw to cut a slot halfway through the sketched out tree from the bottom up.

Then, using a jigsaw, I cut out the pattern. Once I had the first piece, I traced its shape onto a second piece of paneling and cut another slot, only this time, from the top down. With both pieces cut out, I spray painted them a nice shade of evergreen, but not an even coat. That way, I had varying shades of green. Once the two pieces were dry, I lined them up in a cross pattern and joined the two pieces together.

What this accomplished was to create a tree in three dimensions! Of course, I realized I needed to cut off the trunk so it could stand on its own.

As far as decorating….it’s all in the imagination. I’m thinking about using aluminum cans, crushed flat to look like ornaments. The best part was seeing Danny walk out into the shop with that all-too-familiar look on his face and say, “Now what are you doing?!?”

Tags: , Christmas