My husband and I make an unconventional Christmas tree every December.

This particular year we used an old tire painted white, a bucket, and 40 ft of PVC pipe to create the tree shape. Do you remember our life size paper bag tree from the year before?

In college I took a 3-D art class where we had to create a sculpture from PVC pipe slices. This year while deciding on a concept for the Christmas tree, I remembered really enjoying this on a small scale, so why not try it again, but as a tree!

First we bought 4 different sized PVC pipe (40 ft total) and cut them into slices 1-3 inches thick. In hindsight we should have done this on a tarp…the PVC dust made it look like it snowed!

 We also cut up a bucket from Home Depot for a 5th circle size. We had a few old tires we needed to get rid so I took one and painted it white. This would give the tree some stability and height. Then I began to place the different sized circles in and around the tire with hot glue, slowly building up the structure.

As it got taller, the harder it was to balance the circles. Everything balanced off the tire!

Eventually it got tall enough to give it a point. Then I took white paint to make the rest of the tree match the tire. I also took gold paint and a sponge to add a little bit a metallic texture.

After adding some beads and ornaments, you almost couldn’t tell there was a tire in the living room.

Finished!

 

 

 

 

The best part was adding the lights. We added fairy lights that had different blink settings. The circular structure case some really neat shadows and effects.

 

Watch the building process in this video:

 

If you liked this tree, read about the tree we made the next year from a stack of paint samples and a pair of blinds!