The sculptural form of a backlit tree, with its braches glowing in the late-afternoon sun, is a beautiful sight to behold. Using these curly willow branches to encircle a simple store-bought light base allows you to bring the same effect indoors, casting its magical glow with the flick of a switch.

Materials:

Tools:

Directions:

2. Lightly sand around the edges of the circle.

3. Drill holes all the way around the outer edge of the circle, about 3/8 inch apart and 3/8 inch in from the outer edge of circle.

4. If desired, spray paint the circle and let it dry.

5. Fasten the light fixture to the center of the circle. Fixtures vary, so check the bottom of the fixture and adjust attachment method as needed. Most can be attached with simple screws into the base, but be sure not to allow screws to extend beyond the bottom of the base.

6. Using a mat knife, trim the ends of the twigs so that they are flat on the bottom, and whittle any sides necessary if they are too large to fit snugly in the holes around the circle.

7. Place a dab of wood glue in first hole, set in twig, and hold in place so that twig is curving toward center of circle. Repeat process with remaining holes and twigs, until there are only 4 or 5 unfilled holes adjacent to one another.

8. Do not glue the last few twigs in place; simply set them in holes, making sure they sit in firmly, so they can be removed when light bulb needs replacing. If you like, remaining twigs may be interwoven across the top of branches in a basket weave pattern to strengthen structure, but this is not necessary and will make sculptural quality of the upright twigs less apparent.