Crafts from tree bark - ideas and photos. Straw and Pine Bark Crafts Processing Tree Bark for Crafts

Despite the fact that the bark is a waste from sawmilling and woodworking, it is a very valuable resource which can be used for various jobs.

In this article, we will talk about the various ways to use this material, as well as the processing methods used.

If you want to know how the bark is removed and what equipment is needed for this, we recommend that you carefully read this article (Removing the bark).

Here main ways bark applications:

• fuel for boilers and furnaces;
• infusion of alcohol;
• getting humus;
• growing orchids;
• agrotechnical and decorative mulching;
• making crafts.

Fuel for boilers and furnaces

Bark use as a fuel justified only if it is possible to receive free and regular large volumes of this product.

Due to the low density the calorific value of the same volume is 3-5 times less than that of wood, therefore, to release the same amount of heat from the crust, it will take the same amount more.

Due to the high burning rate, it can only be used in those boilers and furnaces that provide auger fuel supply. In this case, the material must be crushed, and the maximum size of the pieces should not exceed the size of the screw pitch, otherwise the fuel supply system may jam.

If, first, from the bark to make pellets or briquettes, then calorific value will greatly increase and will be inferior to the same parameter of pressed fuel from wood by only 10–20%.

Therefore, the use of briquettes or bark pellets much more efficient than burning unpressed material.

After pressing, the density increases sharply, and individual fibers of the bark and wood consist of the same substances, that is:

• cellulose;
• hemicelluloses;
• lignin.

Difference only in ratio and percentage these substances. You will find more detailed information on heating with pellets and briquettes, including from bark, in.

You will also find useful articles in which we talked about the manufacture of compressed fuels:

Infusion of alcohol

wood to change the taste and color of alcohol have been used for many centuries, because even after sawing into chocks or boards, it retains all those juices that circulated in it during flowering.

The same applies to tree bark, which also retains juices, and the closer the layer is to the wood, the stronger it is filled with juices.

However, even in the outer layers, which are dead cells of the bast, that is, the middle part of the cortex, substances are preserved that change the color and taste of alcoholic beverages.

You will find more detailed information on this issue, as well as practical recommendations for preparing the material and infusing drinks.

Obtaining humus and fertilizer

The main components of tree bark are the same as wood, so it can be used to get humus and soil fertilizers. However, for this it is necessary to create the same conditions as in the manufacture of humus from any chopped wood.

After all, humus is a product of the vital activity of many different microorganisms that feed on cellulose and nitrogen.

Very important and fraction size bark, because the larger it is, the more difficult it is for microorganisms to process it.

In addition, microorganisms actively consume nitrogen, pulling it out of the soil, and also secrete acids that change the acid-base balance of the soil.

You can find more information about getting humus from wood waste in these articles:

Growing orchids

Most often, bark is used to grow these plants:

• pines;
• larches;
• oak.

It can be bought at the store or removed from fallen trees. Main condition - thickness bark must exceed 1 cm.

Immediately after removing the bark crushed into pieces size 1.5–2 cm, then boil for an hour. For boiling, the bark is poured into a suitable container and pressed down with a load. Then they put it on the stove, bring it to a boil and start counting the time.

During the boiling process, resin will appear floating on the surface of the water. This resin must be removed immediately, because if it freezes, then it will be much more difficult to do it.

After boiling, the water is drained and the material is dried in a room with good ventilation.

In addition, it is necessary to install filters on ventilation that protect the bark from ingress of fungal spores and larvae of various insects. Drying time 2-5 weeks.

Ready bark mixed with:

• ground;
• peat;
• dry leaves;
• coconut fiber;
• peat;
• charcoal or ash;
• perlite;
• other additives.

The percentage depends on the availability of the components and the properties of the soil, so it is determined individually. The finished mixture is poured into a pot with drainage holes and plant orchids in it.

Agrotechnical and decorative mulching in horticulture

Agricultural mulching protects the soil from:

• excessive loss of moisture caused by exposure to wind and sunlight;
• overheating;
• strong growth of weeds;
• snails and slugs.

After watering, part of the moisture permeates the soil in which the roots of the trees are located, as well as the surface of the soil, from where it evaporates under the action of sunlight and wind.

Because of this, the plant has to be watered frequently, because evaporation of water leads to a decrease in soil moisture around the roots, which negatively affects the growth and fruitfulness of plants.

After all, the roots of plants can absorb only aqueous solutions necessary for the growth or fruiting of substances.

Mulching, that is, backfilling the soil surface with various materials, solves this problem, because it is equally good protects the soil from both moisture loss and overheating.

At the same time, the size of the mulch particles is of great importance, because the larger they are, the worse they rot over time and can cause the appearance of various insects that feed on cellulose, and then ants that eat these insects.

Like any other fine particle mulch, shredded bark reduces the number of snails and slugs, because they have to spend too much mucus to move on such a rough surface.

Compared to sawdust or other wood waste mulch, the bark layer looks more beautiful, although after decay it forms less useful substances.

Therefore, crushed pine bark is more often used in gardening. as a decorative, not agrotechnical mulch. You will find a lot of useful information about mulching and the use of bark for this, as well as various recommendations or tips, in the articles:

• Pine bark for mulching;

DIY crafts

Tree bark is an excellent material for various crafts. Most often, birch bark is used for this, that is, birch bark, but the bark of other species also finds application.

Main rule – do not shoot bark from a living tree, because this will disrupt the sap flow and lead to illness or death of the plant.

From this material can be made as flat figures(outlines), as well as voluminous. From a large piece, you can cut out the figure of a cat or dog, then paint it and varnish it. Despite the fact that the figure will turn out to be contour, you can use it to impress neighbors and acquaintances. After all, not everyone is able to do such a craft with their own hands.

Removed bark before use clean of dust/ dirt, if it is divided into layers, then it is necessary to remove all remnants of adjacent layers.

Then the material is washed in saline solution(sometimes with the addition of insecticides and various antibiotics for wood), then dry.

For drying, you need a well-ventilated, but without drafts, room in which it will not always be too light.

Drying time depends on the required rigidity of the material (the longer, the more rigid the bark will become) and is 1–15 weeks. If the bark has dried out, becoming too hard, then it is soaked in a weak saline aqueous solution.

for carving on the bark is used as knives(a wood carving kit will do), so and various punches used for leather treatment.

Sometimes it becomes necessary to remove the bark from a sawn branch or trunk without a cut. This can only be done on pieces of small length (10–20 cm).

With dried up pruning small length can be removed bark without cut, if you put the wood on a stand, and put a thick wire mandrel on the bark.

Then the mandrel is lightly beaten with a hammer, and the bark slides off the wood like a stocking. If this does not work out, then a piece of the trunk or branch is placed on the table, then the wood is carefully drilled out.

Such an operation requires concentration, because any error will damage bark.

Practical examples

• a picture with a cat family;
• pot for house plants;
• decorative plate.

Painting with cat family

For this work will be required:

• a light piece of bark or plywood for the background;
• pieces of suitable sizes for cat figures.

At first on pieces prepared for creating cats draw outlines future figures. You can cut contour figures, or you can give them volume, but for this you need to know how to carve wood.

Therefore, many stop at contour drawings. The thickness of the material for the base can be any.

For contour figures it is better to use bark 1–2 mm thick, it can be cut with scissors or a manual jigsaw, after which the knife can carefully trim the shape and eliminate minor defects.

For bulk figures it is better to take a material thick 10–15 mm, this will make the figures more embossed.

If the color of the figurines does not meet expectations, then they can be impregnated with various stains or paint with acrylics, but the latter method will deprive the surface of the figurines of that unique texture that is inherent in all bark products.

When all the figures are ready, they glued to the base with PVA or hot glue, then the finished composition is varnished.

plant pot

This the pot plays a decorative role, because the increase in humidity necessary for the plant after watering will negatively affect the bark and can lead to mold.

However, the pot can be used for growing plants if lined with plastic sheeting with drainage holes inside.

For its manufacture will be required:

• a piece of birch trunk or even branch with a diameter of 10–12 cm;
• a circular saw;
• steel wire with a diameter of 2–3 mm;
• a hammer;
• round stand with a diameter somewhat smaller than the diameter of the wood blank;
• drill with a set of drills;
• Workbench;
• hacksaw;
• knives for woodcarving;
• sandpaper;
• round punch (can be made from a steel tube).

First you need pick up a piece of trunk or branches suitable diameter. The workpiece must be straight, otherwise it will be difficult to remove the bark from it.

bottom edge future vase cut with a circular saw at an angle of 90 degrees, the top can be cut in the same way or made oblique.

The cut workpiece is placed with its upper part on a stand, and a mandrel (ring) of wire is placed on the upper part in size / shape corresponding to the bark and not touching the wood.

Having installed the mandrel in place, on it lightly hit with a hammer in different places to remove the bark. Usually the bark peels off after a few light blows. Then determine the shape of the future pot (expanding or tapering upwards).

If the bottom is a narrow part, then a piece 2–4 cm thick is cut off from the upper part of the trunk. To do this, the trunk is carefully clamped in the vice of a workbench, then sawn off with a hacksaw.

It is desirable that the top and bottom surfaces of this trim are parallel, this will simplify the work.

Then drilled drainage holes in the pruning with a diameter of 5–8 mm, after which the trim is inserted into the bark from the wide part and positioned so that it stands in its original place. If the vase tapers towards the top, then the bottom is cut out from the lower part of the trunk and inserted from the wide part of the bark.

With a punch in the bark opposite the inserted bottom, make a hole, through which a hole is drilled for the dowel that fastens the bottom to the body. Nagel cut out from a piece of the trunk (it should enter the hole with a barely noticeable effort), then lubricate glue PVA and hammered into place, and it should sink into the crust by half its thickness.

Then a piece of bark is pulled out of the punch, so many layers are separated from it so that it rests on the dowel and is flush with the surface of the bark.

This piece is glued with PVA into place, after the glue dries, such a fastening will be quite strong, and also almost invisible.

Lastly the inside of the pot is lined with polyethylene or cellophane film of any thickness, then a drainage layer is poured (pebbles or small stones 5–10 mm in size), after which soil is poured and a plant is planted in it.

Making a plate or dish

From tree bark make a beautiful plate or dish. For this, either a thin young bark 2-3 mm thick, or the lower layer of the old bark, is suitable. The easiest way to work with birch bark, but you can use pine or any other.

After removing the bark, you need to clean it, straighten it and put it under oppression for a week, thanks to which it will become even.

Then remove outer layers, leaving the required thickness. The thicker the blank for a plate or dish, the stronger the finished product will be, but at the same time its processing will become more complicated.

To you you will need the following tools:

• a set of knives for woodcarving;
• large scissors;
• a set of punches (if you need decorated dishes);
• a press with a punch and a matrix corresponding to the shape of the future dishes;
• capacity for digestion of the bark.

The prepared bark sheet is marked and cut out the workpiece of the required diameter. Thin material is easy to cut with scissors, thicker material is better to cut with a knife.

If there is a desire to decorate future dishes, then with the help of punches you can cover it with various patterns.

Then the workpiece is boiled with a small addition of soda(a teaspoon per liter of water). Sometimes salt is used instead of soda. Boiling time 1-3 hours.

This treatment cleans the channels, removes dirt accumulated over many years, and also softens the fibers. Then the workpiece is pulled out, the water is drained, and then placed between the matrix and the punch.

A matrix and a punch with a and processed material is placed under the press and compress, and the force depends on many factors, but on average it is 2–3 kg / cm 2.

If there is no certainty that the bark can be correctly installed between the matrix and the punch, then the workpiece is made larger, and the excess is cut off after giving it the required shape.

holding time also depends on many factors, so may be several hours or several days. Then the workpiece is dried and cut off the excess. Finished dishes can be coated with food varnish.

It is impossible to make a deep bowl in this way, but a plate or dish with a small indentation will turn out very beautiful.

In contact with

Coconut bark is a natural material. There is no artificial replacement for it, as it is simply not needed. The bark of the palm tree looks beautiful and lasts a long time if properly processed. You can buy palm bark at any flower shop. You can buy cheap coconut bark here ...

What can be made from coconut bark:

• Crafts from the bark of a palm tree. Any base (for example, a foam ring or a figurine, or a cone) can be pasted over with palm bark and get an original craft for your interior.
• Pictures from palm bark. Stretch the bark of a coconut tree over a wooden or metal frame, fix it and create your masterpieces!
• Gift wrapping with palm bark. You can line the bottom of the package with bark or wrap the whole gift completely - it's up to you. Use a stapler and jute cord.
• The basis for the photo shoot. Just spread the bark on the table and take pictures. A very beautiful and contrasting background for photos of various items, especially handmade ones.
• Topiary from palm bark. Wrap the foam ball in the bark and secure it with a stapler. For reliable fastening, you can wrap the ball with a jute cord. Any decor elements can be attached to the bark - flowers, berries, buttons, small cones and beads. Coffee topiary looks beautiful on this basis. The "hairy" part of the bark can also be used as an element of a decorative tree - you can glue it on a leg or decorate a pot with it.
• Flower pots made from palm bark. You just need to wrap the pot and fix the bark on it. Plants look very beautiful in such flowerpots. Both live and artificial.
• Hanging pots made of palm bark. You must have seen hanging planters made of palm bark in the store. But you can also make them yourself. To do this, you will need a metal frame - the base for pots, wire and palm bark. Read more in our articles.
• Artificial palm trees made from natural palm bark. Palm bark is widely used in the production of artificial palm trees. At the same time, artificial plants look very natural. You can make a palm tree with your own hands, or you can buy a ready-made one in the Sosedka online store.
• Stand for hot from the bark of a coconut tree. You may even do nothing. Just a sheet of bark will serve as a stand for you. But if you want, you can cut a stand of a certain shape from the bark.
• Palm bark rug. Having cut strips of a certain size from the bark, you need to twist them together and fasten them. Such rugs can be placed on the threshold of the house or on the floor in the summer gazebo.

These, of course, are not all ways to use coconut palm bark. There are many more. If you have any ideas, write to us in the comments or send your work to the competition. Interesting workshops on making something from the bark of a coconut palm, send us for evaluation. We buy master classes and pay with money, not with coupons or goods!

In mock-up work, straw can be pasted over cardboard houses when it is required to depict a log house. It is pasted over various cardboard products.

This work is performed as follows: the straw is soaked, cut along the length and smoothed out with a not particularly hot iron to form even straw ribbons.
Straw is usually used to decorate things with a flat surface: frames, folders, pencil cases, etc. Drawings are made up of straight and broken lines (folk cross-stitch, ornaments from geometric shapes, stars, etc.) (Fig. 11 a-d).

Having chosen a drawing, transfer it with the help of transfer paper to a thing intended for finishing with straw.
According to the drawing, the straw is cut into pieces with scissors, then the thing is smeared with glue and the prepared pieces of straw are laid according to the drawing. The finished product is pressed with a piece of board and dried.

Hats, handbags and other things are sewn from straw woven into pigtails. They do it this way: they soak the straw and weave braids into 4 and 5 straws from raw straw (Fig. 11, A). The pigtail should be long, therefore, in the process of work, it is necessary to instruct the straws by folding the end with the end in half. The finished pigtail is straightened and ironed while still wet.

From the ribbons of such a pigtail, you can make a basket in the same way as they make from birch bark ribbons. You can also make a hat.
It is sewn together with threads, starting from the center of the bottom (Fig. 11, B). The finished hat is moistened and smoothed - the fields are on the table, and the head is on a round log wrapped in some clean rag or on a 3-liter jar.

Crafts from pine bark.

Pine bark has a variety of uses in handicrafts. It is easy to process, and with the help of a knife they make models, toys and games from it. On fig. 12 shows a boat and a horse chess piece.

To make a boat, a piece of bark is taken, its outer part is processed, then an oval is outlined on top, along which a recess is cut out with the tip of a penknife.

The bench can be made from a separate piece of bark and glued inside the boat.
Chess pieces are drawn on a prepared bark plate. Then, according to the drawing, the bark is cut, first giving it a general, rough shape, and only after that the details of the figure are cut out.

These crafts are far from exhausting the possible works from natural material, there can be an unlimited number of them. A variety of material will give impetus to your creative thought.

Good day) For those who like to decorate the interior of their home in a very popular eco-style, I want to offer a few ideas using snags. I already collected these snags on the beach last summer, after the storm. There was laughter))) My husband did not get tired of repeating: do not disgrace me! I walk along the beach, collect firewood and people observe with such surprise and curiosity that it’s embarrassing))) Leaving the beach, I often heard from my beloved - bring it yourself, I won’t carry this garbage) What kind of garbage is this? Look, what beauty can be made from these very sticks. By the way, I glued the jar with my snags, varnished them, it turned out to be a very pretty vase, stylish and environmentally friendly), then I’ll show

A stylish frame for eco-style in the interior using pieces of tree bark, by the way, the bark can be replaced with the same snags

Christmas tree from snags

Vintage wreath of snags. An unexpectedly beautiful combination with butterflies and roses from musical pages

So, let's look at ideas and get inspired for creativity in decorating the interior in an ecological style. By the way, about the environment and its safety. I want to introduce you to the training center NP MAEB, is the International Association for Environmental Safety in St. Petersburg. The training center specializes in labor protection, industrial safety and training of professionals in this field. On the site http://www.maeb.ru/ you can get acquainted with the provision of services of the center, one of which is the system of labor protection and industrial safety in Russia. If you want to acquire the specialty of a work cradle, slinger, elevator operator, lift operator, you can take a course in this center. Read the details on the website.

To create a Christmas tree, you will need snags and a hot glue gun, you can also use Moment - Crystal glue, as well as cones and jute. If you have burlap, then it can also be used in this option)

The base for the Christmas tree can be made from cardboard, or you can use a small plastic bottle.

Now let's see how to decorate a mirror frame with pieces of tree bark.

The bark is also glued with hot glue.

Looks stylish, right?

Today we want to talk about how, using the bark from our trees, you can create (wall still lifes and panels, first of all, we want you to remember well - you should never use the bark of living, growing trees.

You can work only with the bark of fallen, dried or cut down trees. There are species of trees and shrubs that from time to time shed the outer part of their bark. For example, birch in winter or hawthorn linoleus.

Bark from a fallen perennial birch is also a good material. Both sides are used - both the front and the morning. Such a bark can be a landscape for a still life or a panel, it can be used to make a cloudy sky in a mosaic, and by combining both sides in one panel - and the whole landscape, thickened parts of the bark make excellent mountains with snow-covered peaks. In a pine forest, it is not difficult to find dead wood, near which there is fallen bark eaten by bark beetles on the ground. such pieces can easily be turned into cliffs, mountains, rocks or the ruins of an old castle.

How is a landscape made of bark!

First of all, you need to choose a base. It can be a board, plywood or sewn cardboard. The wooden base itself can serve as a background, and veneer (veneer) needs to be glued onto the cardboard. Each type of wood veneer has its own color and its own unique pattern. Therefore, veneer of lighter tones is selected for the sky, for land - darker tones, for the sea it can be with stripes resembling waves. If you want to depict winter, then make snow from white, for example, birch veneer, and the sky from veneer of darker tones.

It is very important that the joint of the pieces of veneer in the picture is not noticeable. Therefore, two pieces are folded so that one is on top of the other (see Fig. 1), and they are both cut at the same time.

When you have prepared the entire background and all the pieces are carefully fitted to each other, proceed to stick them on the base. Pick up glue: carpentry PVA or No. 83, grease the background and base with it, connect them together, cover with a flat board and put a load of 15-20 kg on it. If there is a clamp, then clamp it with a clamp and leave for a day to dry. Glue the details onto the finished background. Start with the details of the distant plan and gradually move on to the front, close-ups.

Look at the drawing (see fig. 2). In the distance you see mountains, in front of them there is a lake and in the foreground a pine tree. To get such a picture, draw a weak outline of the drawing with a pencil. Weak because the shape of the pieces of your bark itself will tell you the contours of the mountains and, perhaps, they will not look much like your drawing. For distant mountains, use the bark of trees with a light color (for example, birch or aspen), for closer ones - darker, and the darkest - for the foreground. In our example, in the very foreground you see a pine trunk. Make it from thinner teat bark, such as thin scales that the tree sheds periodically. For the image of the crown of trees, you can stick pieces of finely chopped bark without highlighting the details.

In the picture below, on the left, you see a sea with waves. This impression is created by veneer with pronounced stripes. The sailboat is made from birch bark, and the rock in the foreground is made from a piece of bark. If you want to depict birches, then first be sure to draw a birch trunk on a piece of paper (by placing a carbon paper so that the drawing is visible on the reverse side and gradually stick pieces of birch bark.

To prevent the joints from being visible, stick a thin skin of the bark on them. Then cut out the outline of the trunk with scissors and stick on the dark spots characteristic of the birch trunk: at the butt (base) almost completely, and the higher to the top, the less often. Try to keep the spots as natural as possible. To do this, try to draw a birch from nature and remember the location of these spots.

The material for them can be a dark dried leaf or a dark part of the bark. For birch branches, you can take small branches of a dried shrub. The Christmas tree is easy to cut from a dry dark sheet. So that it is not fragile, grease it in advance on the reverse side with glue. From well-cleaned, even-surfaced birch bark, you can also make flowers for a dry winter decorative bouquet or for a panel on a wooden or linen background.

For the core of such a flower, a pine cone, poppy head or any dry thorn is taken. Petals of any shape are cut out of birch bark and inserted with glue between the scales of the cone, thorns or into slots made in the dome. It is good if you leave a cone, thorn or dome on a natural stem, but there will be no big trouble if you stick a dry branch to them.

The figure (see Fig. 2) below shows a panel of scraps of veneer and bark. On a wooden board previously tinted with potassium permanganate or stain (darker below), stick flowers and leaves cut from bark scraps, for stems - dried stems of climbing plants (vines and grape leaves). In a pine forest on the ground, you can find thin scales of light brown pine bark in the most bizarre shapes. Look closely at them, and you will see the silhouettes of people, animals and fantastic animals. Picking up and sticking these pieces, it is not difficult to make interesting genre scenes out of them. The basis for these figures can be a tree or a harsh canvas.

The bark goes well with a wooden base and does not go well with paper and cardboard, so when working with bark, you should always take wood as a basis, not paper. If you want to glaze the finished work, then be sure to glue thin strips of cardboard or sticks along the edges of the picture, then the glass, resting against the protruding parts of the picture made of thick bark, will not crush.

Glue two loops on the reverse side so that the picture can be hung on them. From above, these loops should be sealed with a strip of cardboard almost as long as the width of the picture and 3-4 cm wide (Fig. 1. (2)). I would like to say a few words about the processing of the bark.

When you bring the bark from the forest, be sure to boil it in water for 15-20 minutes so that the larvae, which are always numerous in a dried tree, die. If this is not done, they will ruin your work and damage household items. Spread the boiled bark on a newspaper, and so that, when drying, the eye does not warp, cover it with a smooth board, and put a load of 18-13 kg on top.