Friday, February 6, 2015

Another Pinterest success

You see things all the time on Pinterest, and you think to yourself, "I could make that". So you pin it. And three months later you go back and look at all your pins, and wonder if you're ever going to actually do any of them, or just keep pinning. Ha!

When I was putting up the Christmas lights, I came across a tree branch that was broken, and needed to be trimmed. Pulled out my saw, and trimmed it, thinking "here is some wood for that stuff I see on Pinterest". 


It sat in my shed for about a month, and then I decided to give it a whirl. Turns out, the hard part was getting a straight cut using my worn-out saw blade.

First I cut it into 4-5 inch sections. I realized pretty quickly that the bark on the cypress wood was just going to continue to flake off, so I sanded the outsides pretty thoroughly. Then used a drill bit to create a hole in the top for the tea lights. 


The 1 1/2 inch bit was the right size. Sawdust just went everywhere! You have to drill down pretty far, and I wish I had some clamps to hold the wood while I drilled. As it was, I wore gloves, because it kept trying to flip out of my hands.

I did try painting the bottom half of some of them, like Pinterest shows, but I did not like the effect.


The part of the branch that had split, and caused me to trim it, to begin with, was pretty interesting looking so I drilled some holes in it also.


After I had them all cut and drilled, I sprayed them thoroughly with some spray sealer. The sealer really helped to pull out the natural beauty of the wood.


Then I put them in bundles of three, and gave them as Christmas gifts... Except for the arch. The arch I kept for my mantle.



Total cost: $7.00 for the 1.5" drill bit.
Total time: 3-4 hours, mostly to allow for sealer drying. 
Verdict: SUCCESS!!