Woodburning Down the House

I never knew I wanted a woodburning tool until I bought one on a whim with a 40% off coupon and since then I've been making my mark everywhere (and having a fabulous time).

I bought a bunch of little wooden boxes, lined them with felt, glued mirrors inside the lids then burned a simple design on the top.

Sometimes I painted the designs, sometimes I didn't (that's the kind of discretionary power I wield around here you know) but it's really an easy way to add a bit of style to things. Trace your picture in pencil--or transfer the image from an embroidery pattern--then lightly go over your design with the woodburning tool.

This is really about the easiest craft in the entire world. If you know how to use a pencil (or rather an electric pencil I suppose) you already know how to use a woodburner--it's that easy. Though here are couple things to keep in mind:

1. Burn first, paint later. Don't drag the woodburner over varnished or painted wood, it dirties the tip and burns unevenly because the paint or varnish is flammable. When I made those mushrooms I painted the colors in after I'd burned the pattern.

2. Practice good landings and takeoffs. The hardest part of woodburning is the point where you first set down the tool on the wood. You tend to linger too long and that creates a big black dot of nastiness where you touched. So be especially vigilant on the landings and takeoffs--kind of gliding onto the surface rather than plopping your pen down to avoid making that black crater.

3. Every wood is different. Some are softer, some burn more easily so test it carefully before jumping in. I bought a bunch of little wooden discs for $.40 and practiced my strokes on those before I did it for real on anything of significance. Your tool tends to cool down the longer it's in contact with the wood so sometimes you have to pause and let it heat back up again.

4. Simple is prettier. I looked at library books on woodburning and most of the masters had these huge elaborate pieces with shading and hatching and they looked so . . . so . . . so . . . not me. Something about woodburning lends itself to simplicity.

Try taking a simple child's drawing (oops! Perhaps I misplaced my modifiers? I meant that the pictures should be simple, not the child) then transfer it to a box--it'll look beautiful, much better than the shaded Elvis head superimposed over an American eagle I saw. Look for embroidery patterns online to give you ideas for designs, you can even buy metal stamping tips to attach to your tool so you can stamp letters in the wood. You can handle stamping right? How easy is that?
5. Be creative. Try burning gourds, popsicle sticks, cork, whatever strikes you. Trivets, baskets, bookmarks, trays, there are plenty of possibilities. If I don't slow down you're going to find designs on the piano legs, entertainment center and front door. Where will it end??

I've stuck all my woodburning craziness in my Etsy store--there just wasn't enough space to post everything here. I'm still working on a few others including a set of blank matryoshka dolls that I'm in love with but more on those later. Lately I've been loitering in Sixth and Elm's Etsy shop where she takes woodburning to new heights--I'm going to work at it until I can make one of those scripted boxes! Oh yes, I will make one . . .

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