Since working on the Maine Lobster Buoy Adirondack chairs for WHRL’s Chair-ity Auction, I’ve been in a buoy frame of mind. I started thinking about a buoy-themed tree for WHRL’s Christmas Tree Festival.

I rummaged through Paul’s scrap wood pile a found some used 1×3 boards. One edge of the board was covered in old paint, the other weathered and raw edge wood. Paul ran the boards through his saw and trimmed them down to 1×1 pieces. From there, I ran them through the chop saw, cutting them into 3″ and 3.5″ pieces.

wooden buoy ornament blanks

With card stock, I created two different templates for the buoy tops.

sanded wooded buoys

I traced these angles onto all of the pieces before using Paul’s bandsaw to cut the edges (left). It’s fun to have a hubby with cool tools. Once I had all of my pieces cut, I smoothed out the edges on the belt sander (right).

base coated wooden buoys

I chose a palette of colors and painted a base coat.  I tried painting some designs onto the wooden buoys free-hand but didn’t like the results.

painters tape on wooden buoys

I resorted to cutting strips of painter’s tape to outline the design.

paint bleeding under the painters tape on wooden buoys

My first attempt allowed the paint to bleed under the tape.

painting wooden buoys

Hannah shared a tip she saw online; paint along the tape’s edge with the base color.

painting wooden buoys

When the base color dried, I painted in the final color. This approach worked much better at leaving me with somewhat clean lines. Before the paint hardened, I peeled the tape off.

rows of hand-painted wooden lobster buoys

And on I went spending the last two weekends on the porch happily painting 90 little wood buoys. I ended up with six sets of 15 designs.

rustic wooden lobster buoys

Once painted, I lightly sanded the painted buoys to distress them and then finished them with a coat of polyurethane.

rustic wooden buoy garland

I threaded fifteen buoys onto a length of jute twine, spacing them 3.5″ apart.

colorful wooden lobster buoy garland diy

Before and after each wooden buoy, I tied a knot on either side of each one to keep it in position.

string of wooden lobster buoy ornaments

These rustic lobster buoys are the first ingredient for my Maine Lobster Buoy-themed Christmas tree. I have three months to figure out other ornaments and elements that will make this tree sparkle.