Hi friends! We’re excited to share this beach-inspired DIY sea glass Christmas tree craft using your sea glass collection that you’ll want to display every holiday season.
A simple and elegant DIY Sea Glass Christmas Tree
Collecting sea glass with the kids is one of our favorite things to do when we’re at the cottage. Technically, it’s called beach glass since we’re at the lake (and not the sea) but we’ve gotten accustomed to saying sea glass over the years. Each of the kids takes a little baggie with them to hold all their finds until they can sort them by color when they return home. We could undoubtedly walk for hours combing the beach for treasures.
We normally share DIY tutorials for making driftwood crafts such as our driftwood crab wall art, concrete and driftwood sailboat decor, driftwood reindeer ornaments and large driftwood Christmas tree so we were excited to share this simple sea glass craft for a change. If you don’t have enough sea glass in your collection, it can also be purchased at a local nursery or craft store.
We love the way these sea glass Christmas trees turned out. They are cute and fun with the starfish topper but also elegant with all the natural glass. For other ways to use your sea glass collection, consider making a pretty macrame seaglass necklace or seaglass planter or even simply add them loosely in a beach-themed terrarium.
How to make a DIY Sea Glass Christmas Tree:
Preparing the Cones:
Poke a hole through the top of the cone using a sharp-pointed tool such as an awl or a wooden skewer. The toothpick is likely not strong enough to break through the paper mache.
To alter the size of the cones so the trees are at differing heights, simply cut off some of the height at the bottom of one of the cones. Wrap a piece of scotch tape approximately ¾” from the base. Using a utility knife or a good pair of scissors, cut along the taped edge to reduce the height of the cone. Remove the tape before moving on.
Next, paint the cones and toothpicks using acrylic paint in white. Leave the paint to dry fully before moving on to the next step.
Preparing the Star Topper:
Turn the starfish embellishments with the backside facing up.
Apply a dab of glue to the backside of the starfish and place one of the painted toothpicks down on top so one end hangs past the starfish. Hold the toothpick in place until the glue sets. Put aside for the time being.
Applying the Sea Glass:
If you’re using actual sea glass collected at the beach, be sure to thoroughly wash and dry it before gluing.
Preheat the hot glue gun and remember to work quickly as the glue from the glue gun sets quickly but work carefully to avoid injury from the hot glue.
For this first Christmas tree, we used only green glass. Starting at the base of the cone, apply a dab of glue as shown and press one piece of sea glass over the glue. Don’t extend the sea glass past the base of the cone. Continue around the rim of the cone gluing one piece of glass at a time.
For the second row, overlap the bottom edge of the pieces with the top each of the sea glass from the previous row.
Continue working one sea glass at a time and one row at a time.
Work your way up to the top of the cone, using different sizes and colors.
At the top, avoid covering the hole you made earlier with glue or glass.
For our second Christmas tree, we used a mix of white, green and blue glass but you can use any combination of sea glass you like.
Finishing the Sea Glass Christmas Tree:
Once the glue has fully set, clean off any loose glue strands. Lastly, place the star on the top of each tree by inserting the end of the toothpick into the hole at the top of the cone.
How do you like to display your sea glass collection?
Speaking of Christmas trees, we have another adorable tree craft we think you’d love. These Wood Slice Trees are super easy to make using foam cones and rustic wood slices!
Lastly, for those of you with a coastal themed home, this Coastal Branch Tree for Christmas is the perfect addition to your beach themed holiday decor!
Sea Glass Christmas Tree
Supplies
- Sea glass in assorted shapes, sizes and colors and with enough to cover cone fully.
- 1 Paper Mache cone 7" high
- 1 starfish embellishment
- 1 toothpick
- Acrylic paint in white
- paintbrush
- hot glue gun with clear glue sticks
- awl
Instructions
- Poke a hole through the top of the paper mache cone.
- Using a medium sized paint brush, paint the paper mache cone and toothpick in white.
- Glue the painted toothpick to the back side of the starfish.
- Glue the seaglass pieces to the cone starting at the base.
- Continue glueing the seaglass by layering over top of the previous row of seaglass.
- Continue until the cone is covered with seaglass.
- Insert the starfish toothpick into the hole at the top.
Video
This post originally appeared here on Oct 14, 2019.
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Dc says
Do you shine your sea glass with something
Dawn C says
I used foam cover rd and they worked great! This was a bit challenging but I made for my daughter who lives on the water and she’s super excited! Thank you
Carlene Bernadette Nitkowski says
Do you bake it after or use a hairdryer?
Amanda Formaro says
There’s no need to bake or use a dryer as hot glue sets within seconds :)
Rhonda says
Why can’t or can a foam cone be used instead of cardboard?
Rhonda
Amanda Formaro says
Yes you can use foam. However, when using hot glue on foam it can melt the foam and make it more difficult to adhere the glass.
Griselda Dominguez says
I work with first grader and using a glue gun would be dangerous and impossible with 23 kids. Do you think tacky glue would work just as well.
Amanda Formaro says
I don’t think it will. You could try a low temp glue gun, or try one of our kid’s crafts instead! :) https://craftsbyamanda.com/category/craft-tutorials/kids-crafts-2/