Pine cone Christmas tree ornaments you can make
Pine cone Christmas tree ornaments can be made from the cones of pine trees and the cones of other evergreen trees, or conifers, such as balsam or fir. Pine cones, used as a broad term to include these other cones, come in a variety of sizes from quite small, to very large such as the pine cones from giant redwoods.
Materials you’ll need
•You don’t need a lot of materials to make pine cone Christmas tree ornaments:
•Assorted pine cones, or a number of similar pine cones
•White glue
•Paper towels or newspapers
•Spray paints in colors you choose
•Fancy colored beads
•Colored sequins
•Small artist’s size paintbrush
•Colored and metallic glitter
•Tweezers (optional, for applying beads, sequins)
•Metallic Christmas wrapping twine/string (for hanging cones on tree)
You can have more natural-look pine cone Christmas tree ornaments, by applying only minimal decorations on them. Or you can make them more colorful by using metallic or various colors of spray paint and then applying lots of beads and sequins. A dramatic look can be obtained by spray painting with gold, silver, or bronze aerosol paint.
Applying spray paint
Make sure to choose pine cones for your Christmas tree ornaments that are fully open. To spray paint your pine cones, place them one by one on paper towel or newspaper and spray them lightly turning them so the pain will reach inside the cone. It won’t hurt if you miss a few areas, as this will simply add to the natural look of this Christmas tree ornament. Painting the cones white and then applying various colors of glitter or colored beads is a nice decorative combination. Do the spraying outside or in a well ventilated area.
To attach the glitter, sequins and beads to your pine cone Christmas tree ornaments, one technique is to roll each pinecone in white glue in a saucer, which will cover most or all of the tips of the cones. Then roll in a saucer with sequins, glitter or colored beads. You can also apply the sequins or beads individually with tweezers, after dabbing white glue on the insides or ends of the tips.
Allow time for the glue to dry with the beads, sequins, and glitter attached before trying to hang on the tree. For hangers, use thin metallic Christmas twine attached to the stem area, or base of the cone. The cones should be hung with the widest side up to give the appearance of growing on your Christmas tree.