This woven paper Christmas tree craft is such a winner because the supply list is super minimal, there are lots of great basic skills involved, and the finished product is just so interesting! You’ll love to add this Christmas tree to your holiday mantle!
Supplies for weaving a paper Christmas tree…
This woven paper Christmas tree craft can start with any paper you love; old artwork, posters, magazine pages, etc. The pics below used an oil pastel resist technique on one page and a salt and plastic wrap technique to create amazing textures on the other. You can read more about these watercolor techniques (plus seven others) in this post!
We worked on student grade watercolor paper which has the added bonus of being stiff enough to create a stand up woven Christmas tree, as seen in the last pics. Heavy paper is totally not a requirement. Recycle old artwork of any kind, use magazine pages, or even use plain construction paper! Whatever paper you choose you will need two sheets of paper of similar size.
You’ll also need a pair of scissors and a glue stick. That’s it!
Creating your Christmas tree shape….
Cut a large triangle shape from one piece of paper. Make this super simple and smooth with no added details for the branches. Those will come later.
Fold the triangle in half. Starting on the fold cut vertical lines from the top to the bottom, as close as you can get without cutting through. Lines should be about one half to three quarters of an inch apart.
Because of the nature of the shape you won’t be able to cut uniform lines all the way up and down with the folded paper. Open the triangle shape and use scissors to extend any cut lines that need it.
Beginning weaving…
Cut the second sheet of a paper, the one not cut into a cone shape, into strips about one half of an inch wide. Starting at the bottom, begin to weave strips in an over/ under pattern. Leave ends without trimming them for now.
Even though the shape is different the paper weaving process is pretty basic. If your student has little to no weaving experience this basic introduction to weaving project is a good place to start. It can be completed in around fifteen minutes and will give your student some confidence in the weaving process and eliminate some frustration.
Just keep weaving…
Continue weaving new strips of paper in that under over pattern until you run out of room. Because of the triangle shape the last few pieces may only go under and over a couple of times.
Heavy paper tends to “stay” where you put it in a weaving like this. If you used thinner paper you may need to put a dab of glue under the ends of each strip. Cut the ends of each strip on the diagonal creating an irregular, jagged edge that looks like a traditional Christmas tree silhouette.
Using your paper Christmas tree craft…
These woven Christmas trees are so pretty I just can’t stop looking at ours. Make a tiny version and use them on a holiday card! Incorporate them into a winter collage like this one or they can stand alone!
As I was taking pics of our trees for this post my daughter exclaimed she wanted hers to stand up so it could sit on her shelf. Enter the toilet paper roll base! I think this is just genius and love the look of these standing up. They are really interesting enough to stand alone.
Cut a toilet paper tube in half and cut slits into each side about half way down. Slide the tree into those slits. Trees are made from heavy paper will stand up on their own. If your paper won’t support itself you could always mount your finished tree on a piece of tagboard to give it an extra layer of sturdiness!
