High winds and a recent cold snap have ruffled up the bark on my neighborhood birch trees. It’s gorgeous. I can’t get enough of it.
The bark is every bit as beautiful as the foliage, and best of all, it peels off like paper! Honestly, you can grab yourself a hunk of birch bark and write your grocery list on it. Try it! The clerk at the check out line will look at you like you are crazy, but let’s face it, the holidays are here and you probably are kinda crazy. So let’s have fun with it 🙂
In addition to grocery lists, birch bark can be a great material for making art projects or dressing up your table. Here, I just hot glued to an empty ice cream bucket and Ta Da it’s a rustic vase for a Thanksgiving centerpiece! Or glue on to cardboard paper towel tubes and you have some nifty new napkin rings. What about pictures frames? Or candle sticks? Or Christmas ornaments? The possibilities are endless!
Remember: Only grab the loose bark off the birch trees. Don’t damage the tree by leaving big bald patches all over the trunk. That’s not nice!
Tip: Birch bark carry dust and teensy weensy bugs. Generally nothing to worry about, but if you are going to use it on something used near food service, I suggest you dunk your loose bark pieces in a big bowl of water with a cap full of bleach, then let it dry out before gluing to your surface container. I used this all over a table service a few years ago and never noticed a problem, but you can never be too safe with it comes to tree critters.
Tip: Birch bark will eventually dry out and crack. To enfuse durability, soak your part pieces in a mixture of 3 parts water to 1 part Mod Podge (matt finish) or Acrylic Matt Medium for 1 hour, then use regular white glue to adhere to your your base. It’s messy but that sucker will last for years!
Ooh, so cool, the epitome of late autumn. Gorgeous derangement, my dear! Happy gobbling.
I love the birch bark with the black & white stripes…it’s stunning! Thanks for the hints-makes me wish that there were more birch trees near me!
Great site. A lot of useful information here. I’m sending it to some friends!
Wicked! I never thought of that. Thanks again for inspiring me 🙂
I love your birch bark projects, I love birch bark. For some of my projects I made copies of the birch bark on regular copying paper and Mod Podged the paper. I even made simple baskets that have lasted several years.
Thanks for the inspirations, I’m going to create with birch bark again.