I am a huge steampunk fan and never miss an opportunity to create something new with a steampunk theme. With Christmas just around the corner, I wanted to create a wooden steampunk Christmas tree using recycled items from my workshop and craft room. The steampunk genre is not one you would usually associate with Christmas because it has a more industrial theme and metallic colours. But with my love of woodwork combined with my love of mixed media art, I will share how to create a stunning wooden steampunk Christmas tree.

It is also time for the next challenge for our International Blogger’s Challenge Club (IBC). Each month we get together to create a project around a common theme. The theme this month was “Door do-overs” The challenge was to create something with a door or door theme which is open to interpretation. I found this challenge a bit challenging until I saw an old kitchen cupboard door in my scrapwood pile.

This was when the idea of a wooden steampunk Christmas tree popped into my head. My idea was to make the tree shape from the door and decorate it using recycled jewellery and steampunk embellishments I would make using resin and moulds. More about (IBC) at the end of this post.

How to make a wooden steampunk Christmas Tree

Materials needed

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• Wood for base
• Broken jewellery
• Hot glue gun
• Black acrylic paint
• Bronze wax
• Silver Wax
• Gold Wax
• Ruby Red Wax
• Pipe silicone moulds
• Polyurethane resin

Cutting the Christmas tree shape

Because this was a door challenge I used a door but you can use any wood. So many people send these doors to landfills when they still have life left in them. Here is a stunning wooden headboard I made using cupboard doors. The size of my wood was 40cm x 40cm. To cut the shape, find the centre point in your piece of wood and mark it with a pen.

Draw a line from the centre point to each corner to get your tree shape.

Next, I used a jig saw to cut out the shape.

If you are using a cupboard door like I did, be aware it could fall apart. It seemed the middle section of this door was not glued in place. This was an easy fix with some wood glue. I also cut a piece of scrap 2 x 4 wood to 14 cm for the base and an off-cut of decking wood for the stand.

Decorating the Christmas tree

For the steampunk Christmas tree decorations, I used mainly recycled jewellery. Our local charity shop is so good to me and is happy to keep all the broken jewellery they receive for my art projects.

The other embellishments were made using silicone moulds and polyurethane resin. This type of resin sets within 2 minutes in our hot weather and can be de-moulded in 15 minutes. I wish I had found the resin years ago so I did not have to wait 8 – 12 hours for it to dry like I did in the past.

This resin is so simple to use, you just mix equal amounts of each in a silicone cup mix it for a minute and then pour it into your moulds.

Before I glued all the items to the wood, I planned it out first, so I could keep moving them around until I was happy with the result. This part of the steampunk Christmas tree is also called mixed media art. You are not limited to what you can use the idea is to find items with interesting shapes and textures.

For more effective results, you can layer your embellishments to get a more 3-dimensional effect. Another tip is to try and look past the colours you see now which is a mess, once painted they will all blend together. I do mixed media art on just about any item I can find using this technique. You can see my mixed media art page on Facebook.

Once you are happy with the layout you can glue everything to the wood. I used hot glue but most tacky glues will work.

Painting the steampunk Christmas tree

I used black acrylic paint and painted everything black, making sure to get into all the nooks and crannies. I got ahead of myself and forgot to take a photo of the plain black surface.

This next step is where the magic happens. I used 4 different metallic waxes to add some colour. The background was silver and the Christmas tree decorations were a mixture of bronze, silver, and gold with a touch of fire ruby red.

To add a light silver colour to the background I used an old makeup brush. These brushes are nice and soft and fan out easily without leaving lines in the colour.

When you use waxes the idea is not to paint with the wax, it is used as a highlighter on all the raised surfaces. Lightly rub the brush over the wax and gently rub it in small circles over the wooden background.

To add colour to the raised embellishments I applied the wax using my finger. This is as simple as touching the surface of the wax just to get the silver colour on your finger and then rubbing the raised surfaces. Try not to scoop or have blobs of wax or you will spoil the effect.

You are not trying to cover the entire surface, you still want the black to show through in places.

Once you have added the wax to all the embellishments you can go back in with a silver or gold and rub a small amount on top of the other colours to highlight the detail.

Making the stand

Start by marking out the position for the stand to fit into the wooden block with a pencil. I used a spade bit and drill to remove most of the wood and removed the rest with a hammer and chisel. I am still working on this doing this better than the job I did on this one. lol

To add some detail to the wooden stand I used some plastic beads from broken blinds. I used some hot glue to hold them in place around the wood.

Next, I painted them black and applied some silver wax using my finger. The stand was screwed into the back of the Christmas tree and glued into the base using wood glue.

Here are some close-up photos of the finished wooden steampunk Christmas tree.

One of the benefits of using metallic waxes is that depending on the light the colours will look different. Below is a photo taken outside in the sun.

The colours are even different in natural light.

Below is another steampunk Christmas tree I made using a cardboard box and recycled bits and bobs found around my home. you can find the tutorial HERE.

More about IBC

If you follow my blog you will know I am part of the IBC (International Bloggers Club) which is a group of talented bloggers from around the world. We have members from Spain, South Africa, Australia, the United States, and Canada. Each month we come together and create a project with a common theme.

To see the “Door Do over ” contributions from my fellow bloggers joining us this month keep scrolling, please feel free to jump over and give them some love.

Michelle from A crafty mix made one of her amazing fairy garden creations.

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