The home-decorating projects section of Martha Stewart’s website describes two simple craft projects using tree bark. The first wraps a strong ceramic or glass container with tree bark, trimming the excess away with scissors and securing the bark with waxed string. Her second item requires a hot glue gun to attach overlapping 3- to 4-inch sections of bark to cover the sides of a terracotta flowerpot. She recommends using birch bark, because it’s a very flexible kind that easily molds to the pot’s shape.
Bark casting and rubbing make educational craft projects for children at home, out in the woods or in the classroom. Requirements for casting include different types of barks, modeling clay and a rolling pin. Flattened, rolled-out sections of clay are pressed firmly against each kind of bark, then carefully removed to keep the texture the tree bark leaves on the clay intact. For a permanent bark “sculpture,” children take a thick, flat section of self-hardening clay and press it into the modeling clay “mold.” For bark rubbing projects, children press sheets of thin, strong white paper against tree bark and use a crayon to color over the whole sheet. As they fill in the paper, the raised pattern of the bark appears on it.
Country Living crafting experts describe how to make a set of four sturdy candle holders from a 16-inch-long white birch or red beech. These decorative barks are cut into four sections and a hole is drilled in the middle to provide a place to securely hold a molded votive candle. Project requirements are a saw for cutting the branch, a drill with a 1 1/2-inch wood bit to make the holes, a clamp to hold it steady and a file to level the bases.
Native Americans traditionally used tree bark to make a wide variety of items from canoes to food containers, drinking cups and baskets. Simple projects include toy rattles and fans. A rattle is constructed from a single section of bark that’s folded into a pouch, filled with small stones or dried seeds and tied with string. Fans for fanning fires and keeping cool can be constructed from one or more flat sections of bark held in place by a split stick, bound with string. Fans for special occasions like dances and rituals are decorated with beads and feathers.