Paper Bag Tree

This table top tree stands 3 feet and is made out of inexpensive items sourced from the dollar store. I will show you how I made it in 3 sections: the trunk, the branches and then the final assembly. Please proceed safely, and use safety glasses when working with wire. 

Instead of paper bag paper, you can use most types of paper (crepe paper or paper streamers would be the easiest to use) yarn (eyelash would look the most traditional) wool (felt or boiled wool cut into strips) or even strips of fabric, frayed on one side.

The nice thing about these trees is that, at the end of the season, simply bend the branches up for easy storage.

All Supplies

•  a clean can - mine was from canned fruit, about 9cm in diameter and 9cm high
• air dry clay
• floral tape
• hot glue sticks
• tape (I used masking tape)
• a wooden dowel (30.5cm x 0.9cm)
• 4 bamboo skewers :12" or 30 cm in length
• tape (I used masking tape)
• aluminum foil
• 4-5 paper bags 
• glue gun glue
• safety glasses

Part 1: Tree Trunk Supplies:

• a wooden dowel (mine was 30cm long, you can also use 5-6 bamboo skewers wrapped together with tape)
• 4 bamboo skewers :12" or 30 cm in length
• tape (I used masking tape)
• aluminum foil
• paper bags cut in to 1"/ 3cm strips
• glue gun glue

Tools

• scissors
• glue gun

1) To start making the trunk, gather the wooden dowel, the 4 skewers and tape

2) Lay the dowel down and tape 2 skewers to one end (I had around an inch, or 3cm overlap)

3) Then tape one skewer to the other end of the skewers

 

4) Go back to the mid section and add the last skewer to bulk up the mid section

5) Take a piece of aluminum foil, and "thread" it though the skewers to anchor the foil, wrap the remaining foil around the outside to the trunk

6) Continue wrapping the entire trunk in foil, until you achieve the decided shape. Ideally the shape will taper smoothly down the trunk. You can use floral tape to really compact the foil, but fair warning, hot glue will not stick to floral tape

7) Starting at the tip, wrap the trunk in 1"/ 3cm strips of paper bag paper, securing with hot glue where needed - be mindful of any printing that may be on the paper bag paper. When the paper runs out, grab a new strip, glue into place, slightly overlapping when the last piece left off

8) Wrap the entire truck in paper, except for the bottom 5cm/ 2". The trunk is now finished, set this aside for now.

Part 2: Tree Branch(es) Supplies:

• 3 paper bags, cut in to 1.5"/ 4cm and fringed down one side. crumpled and well used  paper works best
• wire, mine was 13 gauge or 1.8mm thick
• hot glue sticks

Tools:

• scissors for cutting and fringing the strips of paper
• wire cutters
• hot glue gun
• safety googles

1) Cut wire lengths:

• 4x 15cm/6"
• 4x 20cm/8"
• 5x 26cm/10"
• 6x 33cm/12"
• 6x 40cm/15", plus an additional 6x 23cm/9"

1) The general process for wrapping the wire is, first start at one end of the wire and wrap the paper around, stopping 1/2 way down the wire. You want the base of the strips (the non fringed section) to be as snug as possible to the the wire.

I secured with hot glue all the way down. 

2)The easiest way to wrap the wire is to get the paper to wrap down at an angle. So to start each branch, apply glue to one end of a fringed paper strip (the non fringed part) and place one end of the wire in to the glue

3) Once the glue has set, fold over the paper and wire, down at a 45 degree angle

4) Crease and fold over the extra paper and secure with hot glue

5) Now you are ready to wrap the wire. You may need to repeat step 4 as you go along wrapping the wire to keep the paper snug to the wire. Secure with hot glue.

6) If you find the paper hard to work with, consider wrapping the paper down 2- 3", keeping the paper base as snug as possible to the wire, unwrapping the paper, apply glue to the base area and re wrap the wire

7) For the largest, bottom branches, start by folding the 6x 23cm/9" pieces of wire in half

Wrap the paper down 10cm/ 4", leaving some wire exposed in the middle. Take the main branch piece, (6x 40cm/15"), and wrap the paper fringe down 10cm/ 4" as well. lay the smaller "V" shaped piece overtop the main branch piece so all the ends line up, crimp the base of the wires together and wrap around the exposed wire in paper, securing with glue, continue wrapping the main branch with the paper fringe, stopping 1/2 way down the length of the wire

Part 3: Final Assembly Supplies:

•  a clean can - mine was from canned fruit, about 9cm in diameter and 9cm high
• air dry clay
• floral tape
• all completed branches

1) Start be taking one of the 15cm/6" (smallest) branches and attach it to the small/ top end of the trunk with floral tape to create the leader branch. After this you will bend the remaining branches in 1/2 at a right angle. Attach the exposed wires to the trunk by wrapping floral tape around. 

When it's time to attach the next "level" or next largest branches, leave around a 5"/12 cm gap before attaching the next row

2) Clean up the trunk and branches by covering any expose wire and floral taper with paper strips- fringed or non fringed works (I used non fringed). You can leave the bottom base 5cm/ 2"  of the trunk exposed wood.

3) Take your air dry, roll it in to balls around 2.5cm/ 1" in diameter, layer them in the can, try and make it a center ball surrounded by 4 other balls (like a flower pattern)

4) take your tree and push the base of the trunk down the center of the can filled with the clay balls. 

5) It should be sturdy enough to dry on it's own, but place in an area where kids and pets cannot tamper with it. The clay will take about 3 weeks to dry completely, but I was decorating it and man handling it within 24hrs no problem

 

Again, to store the tree, simply compact it, by bending up the branches.