Crafting For Christmas with Leftover Wood

Processing Leftover Wood Pieces

Do you also have that feeling, that these dark days before Christmas sometimes give you a depressed feeling? Just discouraged and listless? Unfortunately, I know it all too well. However, I have found a way to deal with it this year. Make sure I stay busy. I don't spend much time online, because let's be honest ... most things online could still make me depressed. There is misery everywhere, death and destruction wherever you look. If I keep following the news websites, I would almost believe that the whole world is going to collapse into the abyss in the foreseeable future. That thought does not motivate you to think ahead. And that thought is also not so suitable to carry with you in these already dark days before Christmas. So keeping busy is the advice I gave myself. Earlier this week I already received photos from my sister who has already taken her Christmas decorations down from the attic, and I was thinking about putting up the Christmas tree myself. Why not? The lights always give a certain coziness. I haven't done it yet, because another idea came to mind. Of course, I have a partner who is always busy with wood. And yes, if you have a partner who always works with wood, then a collection of leftover wood soon starts to pile up. Although people usually think that you can't do anything with those leftovers, that's a very wrong idea. Never just throw them away!

Wood is a material that you can do a lot with. You can make large and robust things with it, but you can also do smaller and finer work with wood. And therefore also make Christmas decorations! So I dived into the box of leftover wood that my partner dutifully keeps in his small workshop.

No Fear of Missing Fingers

I didn't have to use the table saw for those small leftovers. I know that it is an indispensable device for anyone who goes into woodworking. And yes, I also use it sometimes. But I can honestly say that I find it a really scary device. I always have my fingers crossed. As I said, the thing is indispensable and super handy. It can saw large pieces of wood fast and straight which is incredibly handy. You can never achieve that with a handsaw. But when using that thing, you are only a fraction of a second away from a serious accident. And although I sometimes can't avoid using the table saw, I'm definitely not a fan of using it. I'm a bit too attached to my hands and fingers. Using the table saw is therefore something I only do when I really can't avoid it, and then with a lot of respect, and a bit of healthy fear for the device.

Luckily I can also do woodworking without fear of my fingers. Fortunately, we also have another machine in our small workshop that is perfect for me, and for some finer work. I'm talking about the electric scroll saw. It is a lot safer to use and friendlier to your fingers, although of course you always have to be careful with it. It still is a machine with more power than I have in my hands, but it is at least not a power tool. Of course, this thing also can saw into my finger, but this thing won't saw my finger off in a fraction of a second. Ideal for me, and for smaller and creative projects. And yes, at this time of year, I got the idea to make a small Christmas decoration for us. Yup, you get it ... Crafting for Christmas! (Thank you @thisismylife for the title inspiration, I hope to see your Christmas crafting soon too).

Christmas Intarsia

I found the pieces of leftover wood easily. I had already found the idea I wanted to make and the jigsaw is always ready to use. All I had to do was connect the power. The idea became to make a Christmas gnome, a snowman, and a Christmas tree. And since I was working with leftover wood, it became an Intarsia project anyway.

For those who don't know it yet: with intarsia, you saw out all kinds of separate, small pieces that you then put together like puzzle pieces. Instead of one large piece, you saw out different shapes, usually from different types of wood, to create an image or shape. With different types of wood, you give the project colour through the natural wood colour. I didn't have that luxury now, I only used leftovers of one type of wood. Not that this was really bad for my plan. I just wanted to saw all the pieces I needed, to paint them after sawing. Hey, painting is of course also a hobby of mine. Lol!

A Creative With Wood Week

Although our small workshop is usually out of order during the week on my partner's workdays, it was now time for me to make good use of the workshop. The electric scroll saw, the dremel, the electric sanding disc, manually sanding ... I almost felt like a woodworker. After all my hard work I had all kinds of small pieces of wood in front of me that eventually would become our gnome, snowman, and Christmas tree. The nice thing about this project is that I was really busy, and could forget almost everything around me. Now I emphasize, almost everything because during all the time I spent there and was busy, there was a faithful companion near me that I really cannot or do not want to forget. Skipper faithfully kept me company. Just outside our workshop, a large pile of autumn leaves had blown together, and my big friend thought that was a great place to keep watch. And every time I had sawn a piece, I went outside for a while to give him some attention, to play together for a while, or to drink coffee or tea outside together. When I had to get something inside, he faithfully walked with me and then happily ran outside again. We were both having a great time.

After the sawing, it was time to paint. And yes, Christmas is Christmas, so I used the classic Christmas colors. A little red here, a little green there, and of course a pinch of white for the snow. I hesitated for a moment to add a bit of glitter as a finishing touch but ultimately decided not to. My partner is not really into glitter.

After painting, it is of course time to glue all the pieces together. Et voila, after the glue has dried, you have a nice homemade Christmas decoration to put up.

The scroll saw has kept me busy this week, and I already got enough new ideas for other Christmas decorations while I was working. Maybe a small, wooden Christmas wreath or even more gnomes? Who knows, with all those leftover pieces of wood I can get by for a while.

Weekend Is For Working

That will have to wait until another day. First I need to get new inspiration, and even if I had that inspiration right away, I still couldn't do anything in the workshop today, tomorrow, and Sunday. The weekend has started here. Only weekends are not for resting from a working week, weekends always mean that my partner is busy with wood projects in our small workshop. Today it means that he is installing a new power tool. A wood milling machine will be placed next to the wood lathe, and electric scroll saw. Every time we make a bit of progress and get a bit more professional. For me it means that I can do little to nothing there today, and therefore time for other things that also need to be done.