Napkin Embellishment: Playing with Fire and Wood.

As a crafter you can say I am allover the board - I pretty much like and want to try, well, everything. Wood burning has long been near the top of that list!

I was fortunate enough to get a wood burning kit from Rockler through The DIY Club and have been playing around with it....I have a couple of bigger projects in mind too. However, going against my usual "jump into it" and "don't read the directions" attitude I took a slow approach this time and worked with the kit and the various nibs trying to get a good feel for it.

Actually it is pretty easy.
It took a little time to get holding the pen down,
but now I am already ready to move on to the next project.

I do want to share with you a few of the things I have made. I am loving what I can do with this Wood Burning Kit and very excited to test my creativity.

When I created by Harvest Table, I wanted some unique crafty touches and this initial placecard decor was what I came up with (and yes, I realize these are not technically place cards they do not have full names...but you get where I am going, right?)

You can visit my post about this table

Initial Place card/Napkin Decor

SUPPLIES

* Wood Burning Kit from Rockler

*1.5" flat, round, wood disks (sold in packages 4 or 8 and sometimes separately) or cut rounds from a branch

*Distress Ink or stain. I used linen, burlap, and walnut (because I had them)

*Faux leaves or if you are lucky enough to have gorgeous real Fall leaves, real leaves.

*Paper or canvas tags would also be very cute

*Drill and 1/8" drill bit

*Printed copies of the initials you would like to use...OR I used clear stamps and lightly dabbed them in the distress ink and then onto the wood.

DIY IT!

Sorry I cannot find my original photos – I think I deleted them in the midst of computer chaos right now!

So I snapped a few more to show the process using a different stamp and wood piece.

• This tool gets hot – you need to work on a surface that can withstand heat and be careful not to burn yourself.
• Select the thickness of nib you want to use for the wood burning tool and screw it in.

• Plug in wood burning tool and let it heat up – it does get hot – you must take caution.
• Using the clear initial stamp, lightly dab the stamp in a light color stamp pad (I used distress ink in linen because that was already out) and then stamp onto the center of your disk. It will be a very light outline – that is what you want. You can also use a print out of the letter; rub pencil on the back of it; place the letter; trace on top of the letter/print out; and you should have an outline of your letter/design.

OK - don't let these photos confuse you - the original photos are missing,

so I retook some to show what I did.

• In as fluid of movements as possible trace the lines with the wood burning tool.
• Begin to burn your design.

• See the difference in the ink vs. the burn.
• (I used a darker ink for this tutorial…for this project use a lighter ink so that it does not show)

 

All done!

 

• Drill a hole in the top center of the disk
• Use the distress ink to color the disk (or a wood stain). First rub linen (or lightest color) all over and then go back and rub the burlap (medium color) around edges and onto disk a bit and then add walnut (darkest color) on the outside edge of the disk. You can also use the wood burning tool to burn the wood for a cool effect.
• Insert leaf or tag or ribbon into hole and tie off.

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Here's a few other ideas!
I grabbed my Canvas Corp clothespins and quickly wrote our names on the clothespins.

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I also made this mirror - my very first wood burning attempt. It was simple, quick, and easy and gave a a very good idea of what to expect.

I traced a design using a Cutting Edge Stencil. Once done, I used a glazed the frame using DecoArt Glazing Medium and Americana White acrylic paint.

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Ta-Da!
Have you ever tried wood burning?

Disclosure: Products have been supplied to me via The DIY Club. Please see my full disclosure in the top navigation bar.