how to make a mosaic christmas tree with broken glass

We’ve all accidentally broken a glass item at some time or another and had to toss out the pieces. What if I told you I intentionally broke a glass bottle just to make a craft…AND I don’t regret it one bit! Y’all will never believe what I did with the broken pieces.

I found an old green glass bottle in the shape of a car at my favorite antique market for little of nothing! The color was just perfection, so I knew I would find something fabulous to do with it. I’m going to share with you how to make a mosaic Christmas tree with a broken glass bottle! I actually did an ENTIRE LIVE VIDEO on this! 

For this project, I used the following items:

• Green glass bottle
• Scrap piece of wood
• Apple Barrel white paint
• Firm paintbrush
• Hot glue gun

The first step in this process is to break the glass. Since I was working with glass, I tried to be very careful with this step. I placed the bottle in a ziplock bag…you may even want to double bag it! Using a hammer, I beat on the glass until it was broken into small to medium sized pieces. I wanted to incorporate a variety of sizes. You definitely don’t want to crush it too much! 

Next, I squeezed a little bit of white paint on my scrap wood piece and painted it on with a firm round paintbrush. I was trying to achieve a nice white washed look, so I didn’t need a lot of paint.

After the paint had dried, it was time to create a Christmas tree with the broken glass pieces. Remember, this is raw broken glass, so the edges are SHARP! You might want to use some gloves for extra protection. I just tried to be super careful!!!

I applied a little hot glue at the top of the wood board, and started laying down the pieces. For the top of the tree, I chose a nice triangular piece. 

I continued adding glue and laying pieces, making the tree wider as I went. This part was fun, just picking and choosing the best pieces to resemble a tree. It was like working a puzzle!

For the final touch, I added a round piece from the bottle opening as my topper! You definitely could add something of a different color as your topper if you prefer, but something about this monochromatic tree just makes me happy! I love the green popping off the white background! With it being solid green, it can be displayed in your home all winter, not just Christmas!

After creating this project, my mind was spinning with all the things I could do with glass! A root beer bottle would make an adorable pumpkin for fall decor! 

Have you ever used broken glass to create something fun? If you haven’t, I hope this inspires you to create something fabulous! I would love to see your creations!

Last Updated on September 13, 2023