How to...Make a Beautiful Mosaic Christmas Tree

For Crafters and Artists, Christmas projects have already begun! This project is fun, quick and fairly simple. What you need is:

Cardboard or styrofoam cone (mine was cardboard, 11" tall)

Fiberglass Mesh

Thinset mortar

A whole bunch of different small things to put on the tree (I used rocks, shells, beads, marbles, buttons, small ceramic figurines, jewelry, tiny Christmas ornaments)

large piece of paper

Q-tips

Water spray bottle

The first step is to cover your cardboard or styrofoam cone with a layer of thinset mortar on the fiberglass mesh. I simply cut out the fiberglass mesh to fit around the cone. Then I held onto the mesh around the cone with one hand while spreading on the thinset with the other hand. It "grabs" onto the mesh, which is on the cone, quite easily. Use your gloved fingers to smooth the thinset as best you can. Once the thinset is completely dry (24 hours), take a file and file all over the cone to smooth the surface. (The above photo shows the prepped cone). This gives you a solid base that will not only keep your tesserae on firmly, but strengthen the structure itself for a longer life.

   Take the large piece of paper and wrap it around the cone to get a fit. Trim off excess paper. Lay the cone "pattern" on your work table and use it to set up your tesserae, if you want to sort of plan out your design ahead of time. You could just stick stuff on to the tree without planning it out first, but I found I liked to move stuff around and try different things before I settled on what final design I wanted. Even with doing that, I still changed things a little when I was sticking things on.

   When you are ready, mix up a batch of white thinset mortar- mix a large batch- and generously smooth it on all over the cone. Try to get it between 1/8 and 1/4 inch thick. As you are placing things onto the cone, push them into the mortar. If you get excess mortar squishing out, gently scoop it off using a q-tip. For larger items, "butter" them on the back with  your extra thinset you made and then stick them on. It is important to keep your thinset moist as you are placing things onto the tree! Generously spritz your tree with water every few minutes.

   Another helpful tip: Place the cone up onto something while you are sticking things on. I put mine onto a shoe box just to elevate it enough so I could stick things on along the bottom easier, but also so I could spin the tree around without having to touch the tree itself.

The above photo is the finished product! If something happens to pop off after your thinset has dried you can simply glue it back on with either hot glue gun or Weldbond glue. This project is really two phases: 1) prep the cone with the 1st layer of thinset and mesh; 2) stick the tesserae on the cone with another layer of thinset. The first phase took about 30 minutes and then one day to dry, with another 10 minutes to file it smooth. The second phase took me about an hour and a half. So, all in all, this project is fairly quick and the results are stunning! I plan on making three more mosaic Christmas trees: a gold one, a red one, and a green one. Check out my Flickr link to see the finished products next month!