Foil Relief Christmas Tree

Soon it is Christmas again, and I am in the holiday mood already!!! This year I made a small decorative foil relief Christmas tree to decorate my Christmas corner. It is so beautiful as the centerpiece on a Christmas dining table or on the mantle of your fireplace.

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 mediums. This foil relief Christmas tree is the 5th tree I have made for Christmas decoration.

In previous years there are Christmas trees made 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). Click the link for more Christmas-themed DIY crafts.

Foil Relief Christmas Tree

scroll ⬇️ to get the How-To DIY Tutorial

This is an easy-than-you-think DIY craft to make if you are a serious crafter, the materials needed to make this foil relief art 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 a foil relief art 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 a 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.

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.

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

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

Happy DIY your Christmas Tree with foil relief method and hope you enjoy your DIY time!

Foil Relief Christmas Tree

Yield: 7" Christmas Tree

Active Time: 1 hour

Additional Time: 1 day

Total Time: 1 day 1 hour

Difficulty: Beginner

Estimated Cost: $6 - $10

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

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

Enjoy making them!

Materials

Cone shaped Paper Mache
Dimensional paint
Burlap
Household heavy duty aluminum foil
Shoes polish (I used black and tan color)
Scrap fabrics
A small stand to elevate the Christmas tree for display (optional)

Tools

Craft glue (I used mod podge fabric and gloss, but any white craft glue can do the job)
Glue applicator sponge
Cotton bud or Q-tip
Scissors
Black marker (optional, use it if you need to draft the pattern before draw with dimensional paint)

Instructions

Gather all the materials and tools as listed above (not all items are shown in the picture, please follow the list above).
1. Brush a layer of craft glue to your cone-shaped paper mache.
(I used Fabric Mod Podge but you can use any white craft glue.)
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 area 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.
While setting it aside to dry, you can draw another few Christmas trees. Set them aside to let the dimension paint dry and set. Best to leave them overnight.
After the puffy paint is hardened and dry, measure and cut a piece of aluminum foil slightly larger than the cone. I used heavy-duty aluminum foil.
1. Brush the craft glue onto the matte side of the aluminum foil. (you can use any white craft glue instead of Mod Podge.)
2. Wrap it on the cone. Overlap slightly on the straight edge so that it sealed the cone properly.
3. Fold in the foil at the bottom edge.
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 colors 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.