3 Decorative Wood Spindles Finials Holiday Craft Ideas

Repurposing decorative wood spindles, finials, and cobbler shoe molds can bring rustic charm and vintage flair into your holiday decor. Transform these timeless treasures into festive ornaments, elegant bookshelf displays, or unique mantel decorations, breathing new life into each piece for unforgettable, easy holiday craft projects.

Wood Spindles

Wood spindles, often used in staircases, furniture, and decorative porch railings, are beautifully turned pieces of wood that add timeless charm to any space.

Vintage wood spindles can be found in antique shops, flea markets, salvage yards, and online, making them an excellent choice for adding character to holiday crafts and home decor. Learn more in this How to Shop For Vintage Decor Online post.

Their versatile designs bring warmth, history, and a touch of elegance to any project.

I’ll use this bundle of decorative wood spindles, which I found at an antique shop this time last year, for today’s projects.

Decorative Finials

Finial accents, typically crafted from wood, metal, or ceramic, add a sophisticated finishing touch to the decor. Vintage finials can be found at flea markets, antique stores, architectural salvage yards, and online, making them perfect for creative holiday transformations.

Decorative Wood Spindles Holiday Craft

Today, I want to share how I have started decorating for the holiday season, using decorative wood spindles for a charming vintage flair and festive setting.

With this first idea, you can craft unique ornaments, garlands, or elegant displays, evoking a sense of history and nostalgic warmth by repurposing these timeless pieces for the holidays and beyond.

This is such an easy holiday craft; you will love it!

Simply screw in the screw eye to the top of one of your decorative wood spindles or finial, thread your favorite colored ribbon, and tie in a bow to the desired hanging length.

For my purposes, I am using three decorative wood spindles of different sizes and colors. You could certainly use more or less.

Then, hang your gathered decorative wood spindles in your favorite spot.

I am hanging mine from our vintage cobbler rack decorated with vintage collectibles.

Next, I added a few pinecones to cover up the screw eyes, which added a little more texture and contrast. Then I layered the decorative wood spindles even more with this beautiful navy blue star snowflake I bought from my friend Kari over at The Collected for a rustic layered living room focal point.

Vintage Cobbler Shoe Molds Holiday Craft Idea

I loved how the decorative wood spindles turned out so much; my ideas only grew from here.

Next, using the same screw eyes and brown velvet ribbon, I created two more bunches of three vintage cobbler shoe molds to hang from our built-in shelving in the living room.

What are vintage cobbler shoe molds?

A vintage cobbler shoe mold is a fascinating piece often pursued by collectors and enthusiasts of vintage home decor. These molds, also known as “lasts,” were traditionally used by cobblers to form and shape shoes. Typically made from wood, each shoe mold represents the unique footprint for which a shoe was crafted, sometimes with metal reinforcements or details marking sizes or the brand of the shoemaker.

Each hanging bundle is also layered with two smaller navy blue star snowflakes.

Finials would also be a great choice. Attach a screw eye into your selected finial, add your favorite ribbon, and how gorgeous they would look displayed this way during the holidays, too.

DIY Decorative Wood Spindle Ornaments

After creating the above arrangements, I still had four decorative wood spindles left.

By cutting decorative wood spindles into smaller segments, you can craft unique, rustic ornaments that bring a touch of vintage flair and handmade warmth to your Christmas tree or other holiday decor. This simple woodworking project perfectly adds character and creativity to your seasonal celebrations.

Measure and Cut Decorative Wood Spindles

We first measured each wood spindle into fourths, marking each with a pen, then cut each spindle into fourths using a table saw. We could have even gone smaller by cutting them into fifths.

This now gave me 16 smaller decorative wooden spindles to create into Christmas ornaments.

My cut wood spindle ornaments are of various lengths and sizes, with an overall length of 4″- 4.5″ each. This may be too heavy and oversized for you. Consider your Christmas tree size and scale according to your custom sizes.

Restor-A-Finish

Once cut, I polished my unfinished wood spindles using my trusty Restor-A-Finish in the Maple-Pine finish.

Don’t skip this step! It’s such a great product.

Just look at the rich contrast between the before and after of the spindles in the basket.

You will also want to polish the decorative wood spindles after cutting, not before, so you can polish the open cuts.

Add Your Favorite Ribbon

Lastly, I simply tied a small bow around each cut decorative wood spindle using the vintage blue ribbon that I received from The Collected.

It is a vintage-style blue-gray with all the charms of an old-fashioned holiday.

Decorative Wood Spindles Tree Ornament Hook

Once you’ve tied all your bows onto your new Christmas spindle ornaments, add a tree ornament wire hanger to hang them on your tree. I ordered these tree ornament hooks from Amazon.

Easily slip the wire under the bow and hang it on your tree.

These Christmas spindle ornaments will look so sweet paired with the above-hanging bundles of spindles or the bundles of vintage cobbler shoe molds.

You could also easily paint decorative wood spindles or finials and add different-colored ribbons or bows. I’m keeping my spindles their natural wood color, but maybe next year, I’ll paint them white, blue, green, or red.

Paperwhites for the Holidays

Another thing I have started to add for this holiday season are paperwhite bulbs.

I’ve started planting paperwhite bulbs in many of my vintage kitchen servingware scattered around our home, and they are lovely as gifts for the season, too.

Paperwhite bulbs take about 4-6 weeks to bloom, so now is the ideal time to start them. Learn more about how to grow paperwhites in this Grow Paperwhites for Saint Patrick’s Day post.

Thrifted tea cups with a few stones and a paperwhite bulb make easy hostess gifts. Once gifted, they can be filled with water.

In Conclusion

To wrap up, incorporating decorative wood spindles, finials, and cobbler shoe molds into your holiday crafts offers both a timeless look and endless creative potential.

These charming accents, from decorative porch spindles to sturdy stair spindles, bring a rustic warmth and aesthetic appeal to any festive display.

By transforming wooden balusters or simple classic shaker pegs with velvet and blue ribbons, you create elegant ornaments that not only celebrate the holiday season but also stand the test of time.

Whether adorning a tree or adding flair to decorative bookcases, these heavy spindles offer a stylish solution for those who cherish tradition and love adding a touch of handmade beauty to the perfect design.

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