Wood Slice Ornaments from Tree Branches

Making wood slice ornaments for family, friends and neighbors is an excellent way to use those tree branches that fall in your yard.

There are several ways to go about this. Did you know you don't have to have a chain saw to make this project?

How to Make Wood Slice Ornaments

When is it Time to Cut Down a Tree?

In early November I lost an old friend. This water maple tree which is older than me has given me shade for the last 37 years. It had seen better days. Every time a storm rolled through, I expected it to fall on the house. Part of it did fall on the patio cover causing me to get it replaced. Within a few weeks of having the new patio cover, another piece fell on it, without causing an damage, but I knew it was time to say goodbye.

 

I watched from across the street as the workmen took it down. Each limb they brought down, looked big enough to be it’s own tree.

 

The workers did a good job. It took 2 days to get it down. The second day was much colder and I watched from the house.

 

Goodbye old friend! I’m going to miss you.

Large Tree Yields Large Logs

 

How much of the wood did I keep? Not as much as I wish I had. The tree guys did use their chainsaws to cut me these two larger pieces for future projects.

Smaller Branches to use for Wood Slice Ornaments

These are a couple of the smaller limbs I used for these ornaments. Do you have to have a chainsaw to do these projects? No, you do not! Check out my How To Make a Tea Light Log Candle Holder post.

Carefully Cut Branch on Miter Saw

I carefully cut the wood slices from the small branches on my compound miter saw.

The wood was green…which I think added to how smooth they sliced. I didn’t have to sand these wood slices at all.

Dry Wood Slices in Oven

Because the wood wasn’t aged/cured, I decided to dry the pieces in my oven. I put them in a warm oven (200°) for one hour. The key was to get them off the cookie sheets as soon as they were a little cool so they didn’t “sweat” and become damp again.

I put the discs in a gift bag and took them to Jamie when we did the show Making Merry in Berry Hill.

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Jamie painted the ornaments with DIY chalk paint and then wrote on them with a gold paint pen. Aren’t they beautiful? This is such a special ornament because it was made from a tree Jamie had played around all her younger years.

 

The JOY chalkboard wood slice ornament was made by me. My handwriting isn't very neat, so I'll show you below how you can get around that!

Did you know you can buy your own Wood Slices on Amazon?

Yes, you can buy these, and I know a lot of people have made them, but knowing these wood slice ornaments came from MY tree makes them all that more special.

UPDATED TO ADD:

Chalk Couture Transfer on Wood Slice Ornaments

Using my miter saw, I cut another wood slice and proceeded to embellish it with a Chalk Couture Transfer from The Junky Chalker Shop. I chose three colors of chalk paste.

 

Applying the chalk paste is easy, but a little challenging when you use three colors in such a small space. I did HOPE first, and it dried a little too fast.

 

If the chalk paste dries before you remove the transfer, this happens.

 

Not a problem! I simply washed the transfer and reapplied it so I could fill in the missing parts of the word HOPE.

 

See? So much better!

 

Next, I drilled a small hole to add baker's twin for hanging my new wood slice ornament!

 

The red and white baker’s twine will be perfect for this handmade ornament, don't you think?

 

This wood slice ornament is a little larger, perfect for an over sized Christmas tree! Speaking of Christmas trees, have you seen my Collapsible Christmas Tree Stand Box?

So, there you have it, three easy ways to decorate wood slice ornaments. Which will you do?

gail