DIY: wooden stump vase

Here is a little DIY project for a quiet Thursday!

My project weekend was quite effective. I managed to get a fair bit done but there is still a lot to do. The one project I managed to start and finish entirely (and also the one that makes the least difference around the house. oops!) is this one: a tree-stump vase. Steve’s parents have a pile of tree stumps at their place (I’m not sure why) so I stole a couple. This little one was turned into a vase. It’s pretty simple if you have the right tools and are brave enough to drill into something that small without a clamp or vice thingymebob to hold it in place. Or, you could rope your husband into risking drilling into his hand and/or foot like I did. Thanks babe!

Toolkit
1. Small treestump or large branch.
2. Saw
3. Electric drill
4. Wood spade bit
5. Hole saw bit
6. Candle

This post is thanks to The Happy Home Blog. 

How-to1. Work out how long you want your vase to be and mark where to cut. If your piece of wood is not flat at on end, you might need to cut both ends.
2. Cut piece of stump/branch at desired length so the line is as parallel to the bottom as possible. Mine isn’t quite even but it doesn’t lean too crazily when it’s standing up so is fine.
3. Using a wood spade bit in your electric drill, drill into one end about half way. BE CAREFUL! Chock it somehow if you can.
Alternative (like mine): I also wanted mine to fit tealights and thickish candles so Steve did another couple of steps: he used a wood saw to drill a larger hole about two centimetres into the wood. Because it didn’t go all the way through the wood, it just created a border for the circumfrence and he then used the wood spade several times to cut away the rest of the “hole”.
4. Drip melted wax from a candle into the hole gradually and swirl around the sides slowly so the wax coats the entire inside of the hole. It’s now watertight and ready for flowers!

{images by Belinda Graham for The Happy Home}