How to Dry Natural Pine Cones for Christmas Craft Projects

It is really simple to gather and dry natural pine cones to make Christmas and Craft Projects or to make money!

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• A basket or container for gathering
• A pair of gloves
• Tin Foil
• A pan
• An Oven

1. 
   Gather them up!

   It is really simple to gather up pine cones and dry them for your next craft project.
   
   Pine cones when in their natural state will be covered with pitch. They will dry naturally out of doors but take some time to do so.
   
   Here is a simple way to expedite the drying process and leave your kitchen smelling like a pine forest in the mean time!

2. If you are lucky enough to have pine trees on your property, you simply need to grab a pair of old gloves, a basket or container for gathering, and hit the woods.
   
   If you don't have pine trees on your property, then hit the nearest State Park or roadside that has pine trees growing on it.

3. 
   Clean them of debris.

   Pine cones will usually be closed up after they fall from the trees and will need a light cleaning to remove debris that sticks to the pine pitch.
   
   You definitely want to wear old clothes and gloves for this project or you will have pitch all over your hands which is sticky and hard to remove.

4. 

   After picking off the pine needles and other debris it is time to bring them inside to heat them in the oven to dry them.

5. 
   Cleaned pine cones.

   Get an old pan (a flat cookie pan is best) and cover it with tin foil.

6. 

   Using gloves, place the pine cones on the tin foil lined tray and leave enough space for them to open without touching each other.
   
   If they do touch each other while drying in the oven, they will easily separate as long as you do it as soon as they come out of the oven.
   
   However, If you allow them to cool first, you may break off pieces as the pine pitch will harden and stick them together like glue.

7. 

   If you leave them in your home for a few days to a couple of weeks before drying in the oven, they will begin to open and you can easily place them on the baking rack evenly. However, they will still be sticky with pitch so wear gloves.

8. 

   After you have placed them on the tray, place them in the middle rack of your oven.
   
   Make sure they are completely on the tray because the pitch will melt and drip and you don't want pitch on the bottom of your oven or on your oven racks.

9. Set your oven to 200 degrees and set the timer for 1 hour.

10. After 1 hour, you should see that they pitch has dripped onto the tin foil and remove from the oven and cool them on the rack, separating any that may have touched each other while opening in the oven. Let cool.

11. Once they are cool, which doesn't take long at all, you can then handle them without gloves as any remaining pitch will have hardened.
    
    The pitch will have left shiny, hardened deposits on the cones for a nice effect.

12. You can cover the tips with Elmers glue and add sparkles or spray them with a lacquer to make them shiny, spray paint with gold, silver, red or green paint or simply use them in their natural state for all kinds of wonderful craft projects.

Tips & Warnings

• Be sure to use an old pair of garden or work gloves as they will become stained with pitch.
• Clean them of debris before baking.
• Use tin foil on your pan or you will end up ruining the pan with hardened pine pitch.
• Separate them before they cool completely so they wont stick together when the pitch cools and hardens.
• Package them up by the dozens and sell them at craft fairs, stores or a fall vegetable stand to make a few extra dollars.
• Use them to decorate your Christmas wreaths or other Christmas centerpiece or craft projects.
• Be sure to use an oil based product to remove pitch from your hands.
• Pine pitch is sticky and will not come out of your clothing or off your skin easily so be sure to wear old clothes and gloves.

[Haunted]

on 11/18/2008 Doesn't get any simpler than that! You can also use these as trees in a diarama project, just paint them green.