How to Make a Lucky Tree – A Special Gift Idea

I’ve been making these lucky trees for many years now, almost 20 years, and I still really enjoy making a new one every time. I find it so relaxing to bend all the little pieces of wire and add the individual gemstones. It’s one of those crafts where you can really switch off for a while, and at the end you have something beautiful and completely unique in your hands.

What I especially love about these lucky trees, though, is that every tree can be made completely different by choosing different gemstones. Each stone has its own properties and meaning. So, for example, you can choose a stone that suits a particular person, or pick a gemstone that stands for luck, love, peace, strength or positive energy.

Materials



You don’t need a lot of materials for a lucky tree. Of course, you can also make your tree much smaller or larger than mine, so you will simply need a little more or less wire and fewer or more stones, depending on the size you choose.

- One large stone for the base, which you will attach your lucky tree to later. The stone I used here is approximately 10 × 9 cm.
- Small gemstones with a hole in the middle. I used stones between 0.5 and 1.0 cm in size and needed approximately 90 stones for my tree.
- A measuring tape to measure the length of wire you need.
- A pair of pliers for cutting the wire.
- Wire, approximately 0.5 mm thick, about 12 metres. Depending on the size of your tree, you may need a little more or less.
- A hot glue gun and hot glue for attaching the finished tree to the stone.
- A few hours of time. I needed about 2 hours for my tree. I worked on it nice and relaxed while watching TV at the same time.

Information
I often find old gemstone necklaces at flea markets and buy them when I see them, so I can use the stones to make little trees like these. Over the years, I’ve built up quite a little collection of different gemstones this way.

For this tree, I used a mixture of blue and green jade and Amazonite because I just really liked how the colours looked together. I think these little trees are a lovely way to play around with different colours and try out all sorts of combinations.

I’ve made these trees many times now and have also tried out different types of wire. I wouldn’t use anything thinner than 0.5 mm because the gemstones aren’t held properly, and the branches can quickly start to droop. I’ve also tried thicker wire, of course, but I don’t like it as much because it simply looks a bit too thick and noticeable. For me, 0.5 mm wire is just right.

Let’s get started



Step 1: Making the small branches

For this tree, I cut 18 pieces of wire, each 60 cm long. Each of these pieces will later become a small branch, so my tree will have a total of 18 small branches. Depending on how large you want to make your tree, you can, of course, use more or fewer pieces of wire.

I then attached 5 gemstones to each branch. Again, you can decide according to your own taste whether you want to use more or fewer gemstones on each branch. This will of course also change the total number of stones you need for your tree.

To attach the stones to the branches, I first threaded one stone onto the wire. I then folded the wire in half and secured the stone by twisting the two pieces of wire together directly underneath it.

Next, I threaded the second stone onto the right end of the wire and twisted it in individually a little further down. I threaded the third stone onto the left end of the wire at the same height and twisted this one in individually as well. This way, the two stones sit on the right and left sides of the branch.

I then twisted the two ends of the wire together a little further down, leaving some space between the first three stones.

A little further down, I added another stone to the right-hand wire and one to the left-hand wire, again twisting the wire directly underneath each stone. I then twisted the two wires together a little further down, just as before.

Once all five stones have been attached, I simply twisted the two remaining ends of the wire together all the way to the end.



Step 2: Turning the small branches into larger branches



Here I joined 3 small branches together to make one medium-sized branch. This way, the little branches gradually come together to form slightly larger branches. I made 6 medium-sized branches altogether.

I started by joining 2 small branches together. Again, I left a little space between the gemstones so that everything wasn’t sitting too close together, and then twisted the wires together as before. I then added the third branch a little further down and twisted it together with the other wires as well.

From this point on, I also made sure to always twist the wires in the same direction. I think this makes everything look a little more even in the end and helps the branches fit together nicely.

Step 3: Putting the tree together



Here I first twisted 2 branches together. Again, I made sure to twist the wires in the same direction, as I think this looks much nicer in the end. From this point on, though, I didn’t twist the wires all the way to the end, as I still needed enough wire left for the roots, which we will use later to attach the tree to the stone.

Once the first 2 branches were twisted together, I added the next 2 branches a little further down. I then added the final 2 branches as well, placing them just a little further down and on the opposite sides from the third and fourth branches. This way, there isn’t too much space between the individual branches and the tree gets a little more fullness in this area.

After that, I gave the branches a little bit of a shape and twisted and moved the individual gemstones around until I liked how everything looked. You can just play around with it a little here and bend everything into place until the tree looks nice and even.

Step 4: Attaching the tree to the stone



The tree is now complete and just needs to be attached to the stone, which can be a little fiddly. For temporarily attaching it, I used a little hot glue and then balanced the tree so that it almost held itself in place. The downside of the hot glue, however, is that it looks a little bulky and also doesn’t hold for very long.
That’s why I only use it temporarily. It keeps the tree in the position where it will eventually sit and gives me a little time and support while I properly secure it.

For the actual attachment, I wrapped the roots down and around the stone. I then cut another piece of wire, approximately 60–80 cm long, and used it to pull the roots together underneath the stone. This way, the roots will hold the tree securely in the right position.
To do this, I wrapped the wire around one of the roots a few times and then brought it underneath to the next root and tightened it there again. I repeated this with all 6 roots until the tree was held firmly against the stone.

Afterwards, I was able to easily remove the hot glue using a toothpick. There was still a tiny bit left, but that doesn’t bother me because you can hardly see it later.

And that’s it, the little tree is finished and ready to be given as a gift. 😊 I think it really is a lovely gift as a little one-of-a-kind piece, especially because you can give it a very personal meaning.

If you know what a particular gemstone stands for, you can also add that meaning directly to the stone. You could write it underneath, so it stays a little more hidden, or on top if you want the meaning to be seen straight away.

So, for example, if you use rose quartz, you could write the word “Love” somewhere on it. With amethyst, you could write “Peace” or “Clarity”. Black tourmaline, for example, represents “Protection”, which I also think is a lovely thing to give someone as a gift, a little bit of protection. Aventurine represents “Hope” and/or “Luck”. Just to give you a few ideas.

Of course, these are only a few examples, but this is exactly what I like so much about these little trees. You can think about the person you are making it for and what they might need or appreciate at that particular moment, and then choose the stones to match. This way, a few pieces of wire and some little gemstones turn into a very personal handmade gift that not only looks beautiful, but also has a special meaning behind it.

And honestly, I think I would be really happy to receive a personal, handmade gift like this myself.

I hope you enjoyed this blog entry. You will find many more free patterns on my blog at Crazypatterns. Just click on the “Posts” tab at the top. To make sure you don’t miss any updates, follow me here—you’ll always stay up to date!