This project is an advent wreath that I constructed and donated for the new multipurpose building at my church.  It was based on the look and rough dimensions of a small photo of a commercially-available piece, but the final dimensions and in particular the construction techniques are my own.

The piece is approximately 50"tall, with 21" arm spans and a 13.5" square base. The major column is 5" square and was joined with beveled edges reinforced with biscuits.  A groove about 1" across and 3/8" deep runs down the center of each side of the column.

This is the rough plainsawn red oak stock ready to be turned into the project.

After milling the stock to 3/4" thickness, I cut and joined several pieces into the panels that you see here.

These pieces are, from top to bottom, the top candle cup, the top column cap that the cup sits on, the lower column cap, the top of the lower base, and the bottom of the lower base.

This shot shows the column glue-up.  Can't ever have too many clamps, eh?  The grooves in the sides were cut after the column was assembled.

The pair of arms with their candle cups is shown on my router table above.  I cut a half-lap into each arm in order to join them to each other and then to the column assembly.  The holes are for 1.5" diameter candles.

In this shot, I am gluing the feet onto the base. The top assembly has been joined to the column, which has already been stained.  The top was stained to match before the final finish was applied.

This close-up shot of the top shows the details pretty well.  The small column is 4" tall and has a smaller groove down each side in order to match the lower column.  The two arms with the half-lap joints make up what now looks like four separate arms.  The top cup is for a 3" diameter candle and has a "spike" in it to assist in securing the candle since the cup is only 1.5" deep.  The other cups don't need any "spikes" because of the smaller diameter candles they will use.

This shot shows the stained advent wreath after final assembly.  I don't know why the top column and the one arm have dark-looking areas on them, but I am assuming it was an odd interaction between the camera flash and the wet finish coat. 

This is a shot of the completed advent wreath, and there is a shot of the wreath with candles in it below: