The beauty of interiors and adjacent areas is created not only by construction and finishing materials. They will not look so impressive if you do not complement them with decorative elements, contrasting spots and interesting shapes.
These properties are combined in decorative furniture, for the manufacture of which unusual materials are used. Furniture made from driftwood and branches is worth trying your hand at making unusual tables, chairs, armchairs and small decor.
Working with wood in its natural form requires experience and artistic vision.
Idea #1 – “stump on a spring day”
Of course, the old stump will not bloom on its own, but this does not mean that flowers cannot grow on it. This will actually happen if you plant low annual flowers, herbaceous or even ornamental plants on the stump. Their presence will greatly ennoble and enliven the cut of the tree.
All these modest flowers look very impressive in a single bouquet, which, like a vase, is held by the simplest stump
To bring this idea to life, minimal costs are required. We level the surface of the stump, after which we make indentations in the stump. They should be such that the root system of your chosen plant can develop unhindered. A reference point could be, for example, a flower pot.
You can simply make one depression in the stump by removing the core from it. This is not difficult to do when we are dealing with rotten stump. As for the tools, we will need a saw or a chisel with a hammer. If the stump appeared on your site relatively recently, it is better to use the method of burning the core.
Surely such a stump will become a real decoration of your garden at the very beginning of the last spring month and on the eve of summer
In the center of the stump, you need to drill a hole deep enough so that kerosene can be poured into it. The side surface should not be less than 7 cm, so that after removing the core our structure remains intact. Pour kerosene and plug the hole in the hemp with a stopper.
After about half a day, add kerosene and tightly plug the hole again. Leave the stump alone for one to two weeks. Then remove the plug and set fire to the core of the stump. When it burns out, the resulting flowerpot should be treated with an antiseptic so that the flowerbed lasts longer.
Drill holes inside the recess to prevent water from stagnating. Now we place garden soil mixed with nutrients inside, after which we plant seedlings or bulbs. When a lush head of flowers forms on the stump, it will not look old and unsightly at all.
If you are not sure about the strength of the walls of your new stump flowerpot and are afraid that they may begin to crumble, they can be reinforced with mesh
You can see a variety of options for what you can make with your own hands from a stump in your dacha in this video:
Decorating a craft made from logs
- Apply acrylic putty to a dry blank. To do this, dilute it with water to the consistency of liquid sour cream. We put two or three layers on top to cut through the “annual rings” of the tree;
- From above, on a still damp surface, we randomly draw a wood pattern with a sushi stick;
- We paint the workpiece with acrylic paints in brown and gray tones;
- Finely chop the green threads and sprinkle on the rhizomes coated with Moment.
When the structure is completely dry, it can be coated with hairspray to better fix the paint.
Master class “How to make a tree stump from cardboard”, watch the video at the bottom of the article
Idea #2 – stump as garden furniture
To make something interesting from an old stump, for example, a piece of furniture, you need a good tool and some skills in such work. But tools today are not a problem. And as for skills, we can say this: all great masters were once apprentices. So let's at least try. What are you ultimately risking? Only an old stump.
Option #1 – tree stump as a chair
Let's say you just marked a tree to cut down. It would be nice if it had a thick trunk. We remove branches, moving from the thin upper ones to the stronger lower ones. Now that the trunk is in front of you, you need to mark it.
If we want to make a chair, it is more convenient to place the seat at a height of 40-60 cm from the ground. Let's say it will be 50 cm. We put a chalk mark at this height. But the chair still has a back. We add another 50 cm to it. At a height of 100 cm, we also put a mark with chalk. The cut will follow this mark, which is best done with a chainsaw.
You can learn how to properly cut down a tree with a chainsaw from the material:
It is difficult to say to what extent the chair depicted in this photo is of natural origin, but it is one that well illustrates the result of the work described in this section
Now we will form the back of the chair. To do this we need to make a horizontal cut at the seat level. That is, where our first chalk mark is located. We make a cut to a depth of 2/3 of the trunk. We saw through from the side in which the chair will later be turned.
To form the back, we will make a vertical cut from the top until we reach the previous, horizontal one. We remove the piece of trunk cut out in this way.
The base has been created, you can begin decorative finishing. For this work we will need different devices from a grinding machine to a chisel. It all depends on how exactly you decide to decorate the resulting chair. In any case, this will no longer be a stump sticking out in plain sight, but a comfortable chair, sitting on the seat of which you can have a good rest.
Option #2 – original table
When you made the chair, you preferred not to part with the tree bark. Now we have to make a garden table, the leg of which will be the stump itself. And this time it’s better to get rid of the bark. For this we can use a chisel or chisel. We will work as carefully as possible: we don’t want to damage the wood at all.
This photo clearly shows how exactly you need to nail the holders to which the tabletop will be attached in the future.
We place two perpendicular wooden planks on the side of the stump. We attach four holders perpendicularly fastened to each other on them in pairs. We make the tabletop from boards, and fasten them together with planks.
The tabletop can be made round. To do this, it is enough to draw a circle, using for this purpose an improvised compass from a pencil, rope and nail. We drive a nail into the center of the tabletop, to which is tied a rope with a pencil at the end. We outline a circle and delete everything that goes beyond its boundaries.
A tabletop attached to a leg that was once a stump requires mandatory treatment with special protective compounds, and it is better to cover such a table for the winter
We nail the finished tabletop to the holders with nails or screw it with self-tapping screws. The finished product must be impregnated with a protective solution, which will prolong its life.
Doll stand
The forest throne for Baba Yaga or Little Red Riding Hood is made from corrugated cardboard, PVA glue, toilet paper, rope or old woolen threads.
- Make a mark on the canvas (you can use a cardboard box) 5–7 cm wide and make notches with scissors without cutting the material all the way;
- Leave a hem at the top and bottom of 2 - 4 cm;
- Cut a round tabletop onto the top of the cylinder, and decorate the bottom with a base resembling rhizomes;
Idea #3 – funny compositions
Option #1 – unusual sculpture
Implementing the following idea is not at all difficult. And now the dry frame of your tree is being sawed by little men who look like green grasshoppers. It’s easy to make these babies yourself, using wire, pieces of tin or plastic for this purpose. Similar fairy-tale characters can also be purchased in a store selling souvenirs and toys.
The figures are made very cleverly, and the whole composition leaves an amazingly positive impression: the little men must be secured securely so that they are not damaged by bad weather
These funny figures can be screwed to the trunk using self-tapping screws, wire or clamps. Such a comic composition will decorate your garden and attract the attention of your friends and neighbors.
Option #2 – decorative fly agaric
If you think that making a fly agaric from a stump is easy, then you are absolutely right. All you need for this is an old enamel or iron bowl and an aerosol. The bowl needs to be cleaned and painted with red spray paint. After it dries, we draw white circles on the red background, exactly like the spots on the fly agaric cap.
Next to the handsome fly agaric, you can place numerous other objects that help revive the composition and make it complete
The stump also needs to be painted white. It would be nice to draw a cheerful grinning face on it. But here it’s up to your imagination to tell you. All that remains is to put a smart hat on your leg and boldly declare that the fly agaric is ready! By the way, you don’t have to make a fly agaric. It could also be a white mushroom. The fly agaric just looks more elegant.
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To complete the picture, we suggest that you place pebbles, for example green, at the foot of your mushroom. They, like a picture frame, will create an edge to your work. However, you can do without them.
Using stone painting you can also create an original decorative element. Read about this:
These porcini mushrooms are also made from stumps, only in a completely different way: both the stem and the cap of the mushroom are cut from the wood of the stump itself and painted in the appropriate colors
Option #3 – fairytale tower
If a person is not deprived of imagination, then even from a dry stump he is able to make a whole work of art - a fairy-tale castle or mansion inhabited by the most amazing fairy-tale characters. Such a craft can become a source of pride for the owner of the site if you work on it with all your heart.
A nice house made in Japanese style, complemented by a small hut, most likely intended for holding a traditional tea ceremony
The stump itself can serve as the main part of the castle, onto which all additional decor will be attached. In order not to miss anything, we suggest making a sketch of the future structure and subsequently trying to follow it.
Decorating parts can be cut from a piece of fiberboard or plywood. They should be attached to the stump using self-tapping screws. All components must be impregnated to protect them from rotting. In addition, they can be painted in the desired color.
This material on creating crafts from plywood for garden decoration may also be useful:
Such a cute house with figures will really appeal to children, who will undoubtedly immediately adapt it for their fun games
Sometimes in the trunk of a dry tree, very low from the surface of the earth, there are hollows and growths. All these details, despite their natural origin, are easily used in the composition. For example, small toy ladders with funny gnomes on them can hang from a hollow. And on the growth you can place a toy piano with a squirrel-pianist.
Don't forget to pay attention to the roof of the structure. An old leaky bucket will do just fine for her. By the way, artificial or live plants coming out of a hole in the roof of such a structure will look very attractive.
This video is dedicated to a variety of characters made from tree stumps:
Birch grove
- Roll into a small cylinder from the remaining mixture. There is always little white plasticine, so it can only be used to design blanks;
- Roll the white sausage and flatten it. Wrap the base of the hemp, not reaching the bottom and top by 0.5 cm;
- Form a bark from yellow and brown thin strips: attach the strips tightly to the blank, and then roll on a flat surface to obtain a uniform coating.
Next we arrange the cut of the tree. To do this, roll out two strips, white and black. Place a black ribbon on a white background and twist it into a spiral.
Cool the piece in the refrigerator and cut it into 0.2 cm pieces. Flatten it slightly and secure the top.
Make the rhizomes from white pieces. Make small notches on the roots to make the figure more realistic.
Apply small black dots of plasticine to the bark. Connect the roots to the body.
Make figures of mushrooms or gnomes. Place “Trees” and bushes made of branches on a stand, seat fairy-tale characters around a stump made of plasticine.
Idea #4 – decorate the stump with flowers in pots
We have already told you how you can decorate a stump with flowers that are grown in it, but there is another option for this decoration. If there are several branches left on the stump, you can hang the same flowers on them, but grown in pots. They can look very impressive.
Even if there are no branches, a flower pot can be placed on or around the stump itself, creating a special aura of flowering and ongoing life. Stumps look great as a decorative stand for flower pots with plants, if they are thoroughly sanded, allowing the wood to show its texture.
Despite the simplicity of this composition, it looks very impressive and distinctly rustic: it is perfect for country style
But we should not forget that a tree located in an open area needs protection - impregnations that will resist rotting.
Crafts made from natural hemp
Wood is an excellent material for making interior decoration items. Sometimes, looking at old driftwood, you don’t even need to come up with a craft. “Artist – Nature” itself suggests ideas for work.
Look at the interesting ideas for DIY driftwood crafts in the photo.
Idea #5 – garden sculptures
Anyone can create garden figurines from stumps, but real artists end up with wonderful works of art that amaze with their realism. If you are driven by the desire to simply decorate your area, then you can create a simple image that does not require special skills.
Of course, this magnificent deer calling out in the spring forest was skillfully carved from an ordinary stump by a high-level professional
Making a simple figurine from a stump is not at all difficult. Those who made snowmen in childhood can apply their accumulated experience in this case. The role of hands will be played by twigs, instead of the nose and mouth we will attach twigs, Eyes can be made from brown bottoms from plastic bottles. The role of the pupil will be played by the cork from the same bottles.
All this is attached to the stump with self-tapping screws. On the horizontal surface of the cut, you can simply lay out pine cones, which will imitate hair. This garden guard, which we whipped up, is ready.
But any schoolchild can make such a funny guard for a dacha, and this is precisely why such a garden sculpture is valued
If it happened that you had to cut down a whole row of country trees, do not be sad. This situation also has its positive side. But you now have a large number of stumps located close to each other. And this is not bad at all. Make them into a fairyland for your children, putting into practice all the information that you have already received in this article.
It will be just a wonderful place to play. First you have to clear each stump of bark. For this you will need a chisel and a hammer. The chisel must be inserted between the bark and the tree trunk, then gently tap it with a hammer. The bark will move away from the trunk and soon the stump will completely lose it. Now it can be thoroughly sanded using medium-grit sandpaper for this purpose.
Such an owl could easily become the companion of Baba Yaga herself and settle in her hut, flying out from time to time to hunt
Be sure to remove wood dust formed during work with a damp cloth. The wood prepared in this way should be treated with an antiseptic, which will protect it from rotting.
Now you can start decorating the stump. Let's choose a large stump to turn it into Baba Yaga's real house. Let's take chalk and outline the location of the future windows and doors of the grandmother's hut. Recesses in wood for doors and windows can be made using a chisel and hammer.
We will need pieces of boards from which we will make doors and window shutters. These parts of the future structure can be painted right now, while they are not yet nailed into place. Doors and shutters should be nailed to the places marked on the stump using nails whose heads have been bitten off. When finishing decorating the hut, you can collect branches and driftwood of unusual shapes from the area to stick them around Baba Yaga’s house. Let them portray dense years.
On smaller stumps you can depict heroes of a variety of folk tales or funny cartoon characters. You can decorate these stumps and draw your intended characters on them using paints for outdoor work. The images outside will wonderfully complement the flowers planted directly inside the stumps. How to do this was described in detail at the beginning of the article. You can limit yourself to pots with plants.
Another wonderful composition, made by a professional artist and sculptor, creates a great mood inherent in a small fairy-tale corner of your garden
We'll turn a couple more stumps into children's chairs. To do this, we won’t even cut out the massive back. If you have old chairs, use their backs for this job. They should be carefully freed from varnish, and then, using ordinary nails, nailed to the stump seats. All that remains is to paint the finished chairs in bright colors that children will definitely like.
Simply turn the small remaining stumps into a flock of fly agarics, using bowls or basins of the appropriate size as their caps. Now you know exactly how such fly agarics can be made. That's it, the improvisation on the theme of the fairy tale is ready.
Cooking cold porcelain
You will need: corn starch, sodium bicarbonate (or baking soda), water, measuring container for bulk products (150g), Teflon-coated frying pan, cutting board.
Step 1
Pour starch and soda in equal proportions into a heated frying pan and pour 200 ml of clean water into the dry mixture.
Step 2
Stir the solution with a wooden spatula until the thickening mixture lags behind the walls of the dish, gradually turning into a dense mass.
Note!
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Don't be alarmed by the fizzing soda, this is a normal process of extinguishing it.
Step 3
Transfer the lump to a cutting board, let it cool slightly, and then knead like dough for 5 to 7 minutes.
Step 4
Wrap the finished ball in plastic wrap and leave in a cool place.
Important! To calculate the density and amount of sculpture material, experiment with a small piece.
Model the figures, and when they are dry, paint them with acrylic paints and varnish them.
Pots for flowers
Crafts made from small stumps are in demand among handmade craftsmen. Small flowerpots of different sizes will fit perfectly into an “eco-friendly” interior.
They can be placed on window sills, shelves, or hung on thick ropes or chains.
See the photo for the master class step by step.
Stump - teremok
You will need: a stump, a log, a hammer, a saw, a chainsaw, a chisel, a hacksaw, tall grass for a broom, an elastic band or rope, for the path - pieces of roofing felt, fine gravel, a watering can with water, a regular broom, a fence, a brush, paint, toys.
Master Class
- Remove the core from the stump for doors and windows.
- Mow the tall grass and make a broom.
- Place a grass broom as a roof.
- Line the path to the tower with pieces of roofing felt.
- Cut the log into circles using a chainsaw, then lay them out on the roofing felt.
- Fill with fine gravel and sweep the gravel from the wooden circles with a broom.
- Fill with water and leave to dry.
- Put up a fence, paint the tower and place toys as residents.
The tree stump is ready!
Tables and chairs
Untreated wood is an almost ready-made form for creating creative furniture. At the beginning of work, it is advisable to thoroughly dry the wood and carefully process it. Then the products will last you much longer
The simplest option for such fittings is stumps and decks of different sizes. Cut down the stump with an even cut - and the table and chairs are completely ready to perform their direct functions!
The excessive asceticism of hemp stools and benches can be smoothed out by backrests, comfortable seats or soft pillows
In the following photos we will admire the designer handmade collection
Attach the tabletop to a piece of large driftwood and your rustic design will be flawless
For stability, make neat, even cuts on the original stand
If you manage to get a wide log - make a tabletop for a summer kitchen or a surface for a bar counter. Small branches are perfect as components for chairs. Use larger ones for the legs, connecting them into one
Pots made of rotten stumps
Nature itself will give you interesting ideas. Moss and vegetation on the stumps refresh the old tree. Its rotten center inside is an excellent option for a flowerpot. All that remains is to plant your favorite plants, but only in a pot to avoid destruction of the wood
Massive branches with graceful curves give us an idea for fencing
Strength and reliability, together with natural beauty, make wood an ideal environmentally friendly base for paving. The cuts should be smooth, and it is not at all necessary to process them, then the rough surface will not be slippery during rain
Non-standard spruce
Impressive arch
Design selection
The design of the entire table can be divided into two components: the choice of tabletop and legs.
When choosing a countertop design, it is important to consider some features of your room and your imagination:
- If you want a round or oval shape, then you should have enough space, because... it has impressive dimensions. Ideal for a large living room or hall, and also harmonizes with the gazebo;
- A small tabletop is a beautiful addition to a small living room;
- The rectangle shape is suitable for all occasions.
When choosing legs, rely solely on your taste. You can make a table with one, two, three or traditionally four legs.
What do you want the final version to look like? This is a purely personal question and depends on your taste and preferences. If you want something unusual, but nothing comes to mind, you can look at photographs of tables made from cut wood and make everything according to the sample.
Preparation of material
To prepare high-quality parts, you will need to know how to use a hacksaw or circular saw to get a neat cut of wood.
Material procurement procedure:
- selection of wood (knots, branches, logs),
- removal of bark and sawing in the transverse direction,
- grinding the cut, drying, polishing,
- treatment with compounds to reveal the texture of the pattern,
- treatment with anti-rot compounds, varnishing.
Working on blanks will require time and skill. The result will be beautiful parts for making a wide variety of products. There are many options for products made from end-cut wood, ranging from crafts for children to home or garden interior items.
For further work you need a jigsaw and glue, and additional decorative elements if necessary.
Rules for working with wood
To make various crafts, wood cuts, logs, and thick branches can be used. However, all materials used must be subjected to optimal pre-treatment:
- The selected cut is carefully inspected for damage, sharp edges, traces of pests or signs of rot. If any defects are found, it is better to choose a different base for independent work.
- When making crafts for the dacha and summer terrace, the bark does not need to be removed. Making crafts for the home will require first removing the bark from the consumable material.
- If a recess or niche is to be made in the chock, the wood is removed even before the surfaces are pre-impregnated.
- To protect finished products from moisture (for example, furniture for a garden or bathroom), ready-made moisture-resistant oil is used. As an alternative, a mixture of melted wax, turpentine and drying oil can be used. Be sure to maintain the recommended time for complete impregnation of all wooden surfaces.
- If the future craft will be located next to a fire source, all surfaces should be soaked with an antipyrine solution. In this case, it is better to give preference to non-coniferous wood, which releases caustic resins when heated.
Crafts that will be used in everyday life must be sustainable. To do this, one of the surfaces must be leveled using a plane and sandpaper.
