How to Make Your Own Wooden Pedestal Bases

Urns and statues have a beauty all their own, but when you set them atop handmade wooden bases, the look is even more striking. Bases are so easy to make that a child can do it but the real challenge is choosing the wood pieces. There are several things to consider when choosing the wood: size, shape, color, heaviness, and other points.

When it comes to buying wood for pedestals you can shop at your local craft store for pre-cut shapes and sizes that will make the job much quicker, but if you're making large pedestal bases, you want to save money, or you just enjoy woodworking, you may consider a home improvement store instead.

Craft stores have wooden shapes that were designed with crafting in mind. They offer selections of wood in small pieces, thin pieces, thick pieces, and large pieces. You can get pre-painted woods, all-natural slabs, or even beveled wood. The trick to this craft is learning which pieces combine well to make the most attractive design for the base.

The first thing to consider when purchasing the wooden pieces is proportionality. You don't want a huge urn on a tiny base, nor a small statue on a tremendous base. A general rule of thumb is that the base should be a couple inches, to a few inches, wider than the widest part of the statue or urn. For small statues, the base only needs to be a couple of inches wider. For a giant urn the base may need to be several inches wider to present the right balance.

Stack small wood pieces together to see how they look before purchasing. Most of the wood at a craft store is in one section making it easy to mix and match them until you have just the right design. Consider a large square piece for the bottom, a beveled piece for the center, and another thick square piece for the top of the pedestal base. Or, consider stacking one thick circular piece atop a thick square piece for a unique look. Wooden craft pieces, depending upon their sizes, can range in price from a quarter to twenty bucks - or more. Type of wood, design, and thickness play a large part in the price.

The final design is your own and each pedestal base you make can be completely different than previous ones. After selecting the wood, decide on stain or paint colors, or just leave all natural. Screw the wood pieces together or - even easier - use wood glue to attach the separate pieces of the pedestal base.

Pedestal bases can be as tall as you wish, but if you use small pieces of wood, stacking will begin to look more like a tower than a base. Two to four wood pieces, depending upon how thick they are, is usually sufficient, but you can make interesting pieces with very thin wood pieces as well. Using thin pieces, you may want to stack eight or more pieces of wood. Choose the design that's right for you, make pedestals for everything from bookends to bobbleheads, and have fun with this pedestal craft.