Foil Relief Christmas Tree

Soon it is Christmas again and I am in the holiday mood already!!! It is the 7th Christmas since I created Craft Passion to share out craft tutorials & patterns that I have designed and made. As you might already know, I love to craft with different materials and medium, this year I made a small decorative Christmas tree with foil relief method. It is beautiful as the centerpiece on a Christmas dining table or on the mantle of your fireplace.

This foil relief Christmas tree is the 5th tree I have made for Christmas decoration, in previous years there are Christmas trees from fabric (Kanzashi Christmas Tree), crochet yarn (Amigurumi Christmas Tree), wrapping yarn (Christmas Tree Ornaments), pom-pom (Pom-pom Christmas Tree), wooden twigs (Twiggy Christmas Tree) and paper (Origami Christmas Tree, guest-posted by Jenny).

This is an easy-than-you-think craft to make if you are a serious crafter like me, the materials needed to make this foil relief project can be found in your craft room, otherwise, they are easily obtained from your nearest craft shop and kitchen department.

The basic materials to make foil relief project are household heavy-duty aluminum foil and shoe polish. You need a solid base to design the foil relief on, for this instance, I used a cone-shaped paper mache bought from Spotlight to make a foil relief Christmas Tree, you can use canvas frame, cardboard, picture frame, etc…. Add artwork to the base, either by drawing with dimensional paint to get puffy lines or by gluing a texture object on it, e.g. lace, burlap, pressed flowers, leaf, and skeleton leaf, etc…. After you have designed and gotten the relief artwork done, lay and glue a sheet of household heavy-duty aluminum foil. Rub around the surface to reveal the artwork underneath. Apply shoe polish to the foil relief and wipe off the excess after a few hours to give a stained look on the project.

The creativity is endless with this foil relief method, simply adapt the method to do other design. Get the detailed step by step instructions and pictures on how to make this foil relief Christmas tree below.

This burlap Christmas tree is the relief artwork before attaching the aluminum foil. It gives a rustic look of the Christmas tree if you like it this way you may stop at this step and eliminate the aluminum foil part.

You may adapt this method to make other foil relief projects with other designs.

Foil Relief Christmas Tree

Difficulty: Easy
Time needed: 2 days (including drying time of the dimensional paint)

Materials and Tools:
1. Cone shaped Paper Mache (I bought it from Spotlight Ampang Point)
2. Dimensional paint
3. Burlap
4. Household heavy duty aluminum foil
5. Craft glue (I used mod podge fabric and gloss, but any white craft glue can do the job)
6. Glue applicator sponge
7. Cotton bud or Q-tip
8. Scissors
9. Black marker (optional, use it if you need to draft the pattern before draw with dimensional paint)
10. Shoes polish (I used black and tan color)
11. Scrap fabrics
12. A small stand to elevate the Christmas tree for display (optional)

Gather all the materials and tools as listed above (not all items are shown in the picture, please follow the list above).

I used Fabric Mod Podge but you can use any white craft glue.
1. Brush a layer of craft glue to your cone-shaped paper mache.
2. Wrap the burlap onto the cone.
3. Trim off the excess burlap and seam nicely next to the edge.
4. Trim off the bottom too.

Draft an artwork on the burlap with a marker. You can skip this if you can draw it instantly with freehand.
I drew some vines with dots and paisley. Fill up the space evenly but don’t draw the design too near to each other.
It is ok if you make a mistake on your draft, no one will see it later after the cone is covered up by the aluminum foil.

Draw the artwork with dimensional paint to create the puffy pattern on the cone.
Set aside to let it dry. I waited a day before continue with the next step.

While setting it aside to dry, I drew another cone. The front cone is meant for the foil relief Christmas Tree and the one behind is for the rustic burlap Christmas tree (without covering with aluminum foil). I drew the second one with freehand so that there is no messy marker marking underneath.

Cut a piece of aluminum foil slightly larger than the cone.
Again, you can use any white craft glue instead of Mod Podge.

1. Brush the craft glue onto the matte side of the aluminum foil.
2. Wrap it on the cone. Overlap a little on the straight edge so that it sealed properly.
3. Fold in the foil at the bottom.
4. Rub the foil with your finger gently to get it attached. Don’t worry too much about the little wrinkles of the excessive foil, press it down to smooth it out. The foil is soft when the glue is still wet, press the foil gently to prevent it from ripping apart.

After a few minutes, the glue becomes tacky and it is safe to rub with a cotton bud to get a more defined relief pattern. Even the burlap texture will be shown on the foil relief.

Apply shoe polish to the tree. I used both black and tan color to obtain the desired stained color.
Leave it to dry for a few hours, wipe off the excess shoe polish with a piece of clean scrap fabric. Set it aside to dry for another 24 hours.
Optional: Insert a mini tree stand to the completed foil relief Christmas tree. I used a candlestick tower stand I made last year. It fitted nicely into the cone.

Hope you enjoy making this beautiful foil relief Christmas tree.
Merry Christmas!