504 Main by Holly Lefevre: rockler

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.