February Craft - Wood Burning in Brookfield

I have no idea what got in my head in early February, but I found myself at the local Rockler store with a wood burning kit in my hands. I had never done this before, and I thought I would give it a try.

I had found an unfinished cheese board at a local resale shop a few weeks prior, so I thought maybe I would burn some image onto it, finish it and see how it looked. That was the plan. I figured I probably should practice a little bit on some other items first, so I went in the garage and pulled out the wood discs that my brother had cut for me years ago.

The first one I did was a bird – of course. It worked ok. Then I did some trees. Then, I decided that I would burn an image on a bunch of these discs, put them together in the shape of an “A”, and give them to my daughter for her birthday.

It turned out like a 4th grade cub scout project.

But, I gave it to her anyway, and its hanging in a place of honor in her home. Of course, I was standing there and asked her where she was going to put it, so she had no choice but to hang it.

A few of the key take away from this:

1. I think some of the burning wasn’t deep enough, if I do more of this, I will have to make thicker lines.

2. I think using a stamp or some other item to print the pattern on the wood first would be better than any drawing I could do… I’m not an artist.

3. After finishing, a light sanding will make the lines a bit sharper.