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DIY Rustic Scrap Wood Chicken Tutorial

Take some scrap wood and a little time and follow this DIY Rustic Scrap Wood Chicken Tutorial to make super cute DIY Easter décor and gifts.

Make this the best holiday yet with the rest of our Easter posts.

Four pieces of wood painted to look like chicken faces with the words "DIY Rustic Scrap Wood Chicken Tutorial" digitally written on top.

Easter is on Sunday, and we made these DIY Rustic Scrap Wood Chicken as Easter gifts. But, if you’re reading this after Easter, you can still make these cute wooden chickens.

If you’re having a farm-themed party, this could be a craft you make. If you’re having an at-home paint night with your friends, this would be a fun craft. And if you just have some scrap wood you want to use, even though it’s the middle of summer, chickens could still work into your farmhouse décor.

An egg carton piece painted to look like a bunny with the words "Easy Easter Crafts" digitally written above it.

This isn’t our only Easter craft on Drugstore Divas. For more, check out our list of Easy Easter Crafts.

DIY Rustic Scrap Wood Chicken Tutorial

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DIY Rustic Scrap Wood Chicken Supplies:

How To Make A Rustic Scrap Wood Chicken:

Wood being cut on a miter saw.

Use the miter saw to cut 1-inch thick scrap wood into 4- x 4-inch squares. You’ll need one for each chicken.

Then, cut two 1- x .5-inch pieces of wood per square. These will be the ears.

A wooden block being sanded with sand paper.

Sand all the edges and remove any splinters left behind by cutting the wood.

Scrap wood being painted.

Paint a thin layer of paint on all the blocks of wood, leaving one edge (where the chicken will stand) blank.

Painted block drying.

Paint a thin layer of paint on all the blocks for the ears, leaving one edge (where the ear will glue against the face). Set them aside to dry.

You can paint these all the same color or different colors. Whatever appeals to you. I would just advice that you stick to lighter colors (yellow, tan, white, etc.) rather than darker colors because the faces won’t show up well on darker colors.

A yellow block being sanded.

When the paint has dried, sand all the pieces to give them a shabby chic look.

A small yellow block being glued to a larger yellow block.

Add a bit of wood glue to the non-painted side of the ear and glue it onto the face. You want to place it about 1/3 of the way up from the bottom. But, it’s your creation. Put it where you think is best. Glue the other ear on the other side of the face and make sure they align.

A cartoon chicken face drawn on a yellow block of wood.

Use the pencil to draw a chicken face onto the wood. You can draw either the same face for all of them or you can change the expressions on them. Again, it’s up to you.

If you add a couple pieces of hair to the top, it helps the non-yellow chickens look more like chickens. Without it, the white one, for example, sort of looks like a ghost. Which would be great if you were making Halloween crafts … but you’re not.

A cartoon chicken face painted on a yellow block of wood.

Paint the face on using a toothpick.

You can use a paint brush to paint the face on, if you have a really thin paint brush, but I find that painting small, fine lines with a toothpick works best.

Let the chicken faces dry completely.

If you wanted, you could add some embellishments to these now that they’re dry. You can cut a ribbon bow for a female chicken or a bow tie for a male chicken.

If you’re going to use these indoors, you can display them as soon as they’re dry. If you’re going to use them outdoors, you’ll want to spray them with spur urethane (according to the package). This will protect them from the sun and rain.

Four scrap wood chickens.

DIY Rustic Scrap Wood Chicken: Frequently Asked Questions

What type of wood should I use?

You should use whatever wood you have leftover from other projects. The type of wood doesn’t really matter. What matters is that it’s about 1-inch thick because you want these to be able to stand on their own. They won’t be able to if the wood’s not thick enough.

So something like a torn down pallet wouldn’t work because the pallet wood is too thin to stand on its own. And then you would need to build a base of some sort to make it stand, and this project becomes way more involved than you intended.

Can you use a Cricut for the face?

If you have a Cricut, or any similar type of vinyl cutting machine, you can definitely use it to cut out the face. That might save you a bit of time, depending on how long it takes you to cut vinyl versus painting a face.

What if I mess up the face?

Here’s a trick I learned the hard way. If you mess up with the face, and the paint is still wet, you can actually dip your brush in clean water, brush it across the paint, and the paint will actually wash away. As long as you do this quickly after you laid the paint, this technique will work.

It’s best if you’re painting something like eyelashes and they don’t come out even the first time. It works less well on the large, round eyes, but it’s possible to erase it if try right away.

If not, you could always run a random orbit sander over the top to remove the layers of paint and start over.

The face of a snowman painted on scrap wood.

More Scrap Wood Projects:

If you have more scrap wood that you want to use in projects, you’re in luck. We have a bunch of other scrap wood crafts (because almost every wood project we make is from scrap wood). Check those out below:

Yield: 4 Chickens

DIY Rustic Scrap Wood Chicken

Take some scrap wood and a little time and follow this DIY Rustic Scrap Wood Chicken Tutorial to make super cute DIY Easter décor and gifts.

Active Time 1 hour 30 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 30 minutes
Difficulty Medium

Materials

  • Scrap wood
  • Sand paper
  • Acrylic paint
  • Wood glue

Tools

  • Miter saw
  • Paint brush
  • Pencil
  • Toothpick

Instructions

  1. Wood being cut on a miter saw.Use the miter saw to cut 1-inch thick scrap wood into 4- x 4-inch squares. You’ll need one for each chicken. Then, cut two 1- x .5-inch pieces of wood per square. These will be the ears.
  2. A wooden block being sanded with sand paper.Sand all the edges and remove any splinters left behind by cutting the wood.
  3. Scrap wood being painted.Paint a thin layer of paint on all the blocks of wood, leaving one edge (where the chicken will stand) blank.
  4. Painted block drying.Paint a thin layer of paint on all the blocks for the ears, leaving one edge (where the ear will glue against the face). Set them aside to dry.
  5. A yellow block being sanded.When the paint has dried, sand all the pieces to give them a shabby chic look.
  6. A small yellow block being glued to a larger yellow block.Add a bit of wood glue to the non-painted side of the ear and glue it onto the face. You want to place it about 1/3 of the way up from the bottom. 
  7. A cartoon chicken face drawn on a yellow block of wood.Use the pencil to draw a chicken face onto the wood. You can draw either the same face for all of them or you can change the expressions on them. Again, it’s up to you.
  8. A cartoon chicken face painted on a yellow block of wood.Paint the face on using a toothpick. Let the chicken faces dry completely.

Notes

You can use a paint brush to paint the face on, if you have a really thin paint brush, but I find that painting small, fine lines with a toothpick works best.

Did you make this project?

Please leave a comment on the blog or share a photo on Instagram

Did you make these DIY Rustic Scrap Wood Chickens? Let us know how it went in the comments.

Stephanie 139a

Thursday 5th of May 2022

They look fab - good use of a toothpick too!

Maureen

Monday 2nd of May 2022

These look so cute! My son would love this. I can’t wait to make some for Halloween - our favorite holiday!

Maureen | www.littlemisscasual.com

Donna @ Modern on Monticello

Monday 2nd of May 2022

These are all so cute. I have a pile of leftover scrap wood to use up so thanks for sharing some inspiration!

Linda @ Linda's Lunacy

Tuesday 26th of April 2022

These little chicks are so cute!

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