Monday, November 14, 2011

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
*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?
Signature

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

10 comments:

  1. The mirror looks wonderful, I also love the snow flake! Wood burning is so fun, my boys got me a kit for Mothers Day this year, one of my favourite crafts!

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  2. I haven't but my father-in-law has a kit and made a shelf for one of my boys --rather than buy bead board he burned his own.

    Cheri

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  3. I love the snow flake!

    ~Mrs. Delightful
    ourdelightfulhome.blogspot.com

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  4. I love the snowflakes. Wood burning is on the long list of things I'd like to try!

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  5. Oh, I'm thinking I need a new toy! This looks like such fun.

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  6. Oh how terribly fun, Holly! I adore the monogram tags. What a great tool!

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  7. Oh these turned out so great. Yikes...one more thing to want to play with!

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  8. These are so fun, I could do the cutest things with furniture. Something about a wood burning kit reminds me of being 9 years old and my teen brother doing all kinds of "Scouting" projects with his "wood burning" kit. Wow, I can even remember what it smelled like!

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  9. I love these projects. I would have never thought to try this but now I want to.

    Ruth

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  10. wow that's really cool! i didn't "know" i needed this tool but i think i just might ( -:

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Thanks for stopping by and joining the conversation! I sure hope you come back for more!