Primitive Tobacco Stick Grapevine Tree

I recently posted about how to make a Tobacco Stick Tree out of old tobacco sticks. Well, today I'm going to share with you the process of how I take this a step further by adding grapevine. And turning those old, unwanted tobacco sticks into a cute Tobacco Stick Grapevine Tree.

A row of old tobacco sticks after I had washed them. I try to pick close sizes when working with them.

Since making this very first tobacco stick grapevine tree, like this, I've made many more with a few different options now. I prefer the skinnier ones like this:

And here it is when I was just toying with some grapevine on it:

And I started to like it. So I added a few more strands to fill it in. And it started to look like this:

Then I had to add even more grapevine to hid the legs, which I was planning on leaving showing, but it looked weird. And I also started to tie in some sprigs of pip berry garland to add more interest, like this:

 The grapevine garland comes in rolls and looks like this when unrolled:

I didn't want to overload it with the grapevine garland so much that it would hide the tobacco sticks. I think they look kinda cute showing through. Here it is all done with everything except the lights.

And my latest one is now a tabletop version for those spots where we just don't have enough room for the full size. Here is the beginning of my very first ever, tabletop tobacco stick tree without any decorations so you can see the basic frame:

And here is the same one, tabletop version with a bit of grapevine garland just strung on. So you start to get the picture:

I'm still working on this one, :-) 

here's an update pic now:

But here's a few below that I have recently finished and sold:

This one with yellow pip berries was a trial and error. I took sprigs of pip berries and put them on one by one instead of stringing the strands of garland.

I didn't want to hide all the tobacco sticks. 

And here's another shorter, tabletop kind with grapevine, star lights and pip berries:

Small, skinny and plain. Love this one.

I made these to sell in my Peddlers Mall Booth #555,

Here's some other things I've been making too, if you are interested.

Primitive Crafts:

Tobacco Stick Chair

Americana Tobacco Stick Flag

 

 

 

 

 

 

Primitive Barnwood Tool Box

 

Happy Crafting Ya'll! 
-Lisa 

TOBACCO Stick Flag

I love using tobacco sticks in my crafts. I've made tobacco stick chairs, trees and stars. Today I thought I'd give a shot at making an Americana flag.

First, I asked my husband to nail each one together, one by one. Then cut off one end kinda straight. Then here's what it looked like when I got a hold of it:

 

Next, I took some white acrylic paint and mixed it 5% to 95% all purpose sealer (found in the craft section.) It kinda forms a gel stain typa thing. 

Then I began to paint every other tobacco stick with the gel stain mixture, like so:

Then, after every other one had their first coat. I went back in and did a second coat. Why? Well because tobacco sticks are very dry wood. And they really soak up the first coat.

I really love how the paint mixed with the all purpose sealer looks. It's not too bright, not too dim. It kinda ads a white wash look to it.

Then I thought about how to add some stars. So sticking with the Americana theme, I choose to do one large barn red star surrounded by four navy blue ones. So I got out some star stencils and my Delta brand oil based paints that I use for stenciling.

And here's a pic of the tobacco stick American flag, after the stars are stenciled on:

After the stencil paint dried completely, I gave it a light sanding with some pieces of medium grade sandpaper. Nothing major, just some here and there roughness to make the stars look a bit worn.

And here it is. The final pic of my try at making an Americana flag out of tobacco sticks:

Note: I was inspired to paint every other one white, from a post I saw on Pinterest here. Where she'd made a flag out of boards. It was super cute!





You may also like these Primitive Crafts:

Primitive Tobacco Stick Grapevine Tree

Tobacco Stick Chair

Americana Tobacco Stick Flag

 

 

 

 

 

 

Primitive Barnwood Tool Box

PRIMITIVE TOBACCO STICK TREE

My First Tobacco Tree try

The top photo is my first try at a tobacco stick tree and the bottom photo is my second attempt.

My Second attempt at making a tobacco tree.

Finding a use for old tobacco sticks is pretty challenging. Yet I love the look of them indoors.
They add a perfect country touch in a primitive style. And they are a great piece to add a stash of light to a dark corner. So I don't mind the challenge.

To make these the first time, (the top pic, wide style,) I drew out a sketch.  

A basic triangular shape with braces.
I tried to keep the 4 legs of the tobacco stick tree all original sizes and not to cut them.

And after about 20 minutes of sawing a bit in the garage and nail gun, this is my first attempt.

I grabbed a 15' piece of grapevine garland.  It looks like this.

And it's already got the twirly affect when you unwind it a bit.

 I just start to run it up and around the Tobacco stick tree like this.

And then continue until you get to the top.

 I am thinking about going back and adding a few more strings of the grapevine garland to fill it in more.

But, don't worry if you don't have any grapevine garland because it is also super cute with with homemade rag ropes , a bit of pip-berry garland and lights of the season.

And I also like them with a small strand of lights.

I call it my tobacco stick tree.

Since making this very first one, I've made many more with a few different options now. I prefer the skinnier ones that are wrapped in grapevine. To see them, click here.

This is my second try at making a tobacco stick tree. I prefer it like this. The slim version.

I also figured out these make great uses in the garden also. Like this pic below where I have a cucumber plant underneath and allowing it to grow up a tobacco stick tree.

And anyways, 

I even made one of these tobacco stick trees to go over my tomato plant also.

That's a cute mini tobacco stick chair holding the flower pot of peppers beside it and here's a larger version I made also:

I made these to sell in my Peddlers Mall Booth #555, and have recently been making other items such as:

You may also like these Primitive Crafts:

Primitive Tobacco Stick Grapevine Tree

Tobacco Stick Chair

Americana Tobacco Stick Flag

 

 

 

 

 

 

Primitive Barnwood Tool Box