Today we are going to talk about how to wood burn a box.
Wood burning has been a favorite past time for me for years.
In fact, I enjoy it so much I used to wood burn furniture and boxes and to sell in local shops but I haven’t burned anything in over a year. However, a few weeks ago I was at Hobby Lobby with Elizabeth and saw these boxes and I remembered…
It really is relaxing. I usually sit on the floor, draw, burn, and paint while watching something on TV.
So if you have ever wanted to try your hand at wood burning this is a great beginner project.
Here’s what you’ll need:
*A wooden box (I got mine at Hobby Lobby)
*A wood burner (also available at Hobby Lobby…I have several…they cost around $15 a piece)
*A pencil
*Acrylic paint and paint brush
*Gloss (optional)
After you gather your supplies use your pencil to draw the design on your box.
*Note: Geometric shapes and straight lines are much easier than curves. So if this is your first attempt at wood burning keep shapes angular! Also avoid small details until you are more confident with the wood burning tool.
Now plug in your wood burner to get it hot….and they do get hot! Like burn your skin and singe your hair hot. (I used to singe my hair ALL THE TIME and it smells BAD.) So I keep my heated burner on an old cookie sheet, pull my hair back, and roll up my sleeves. Then I slowly start tracing my lines with the burner.
My personal preference is to apply pressure as I trace. I like the indentations that creates. But you can still burn into the wood without pressure.
*Note: There are a variety of wood burning tips available to use just as with calligraphy pens so experiment and find the tip you like the best.
After all my lines are traced I paint. Just like I would color in a coloring page…but with acrylic paint and a brush.
Now you can stop right here and call your project done if you would like.
But I am a sloppy painter and get paint inside the burned lines:
So I like to take the burner again and trace one more time over all my lines.
And then because the burner melts the acrylic paint sometimes I get carried away with myself and doodle over the top of my paint.
When I am done I wipe everything down. (You will get ash and flecks of paint.)
After it is wiped down I cover everything with a coat of gloss.
All that is left to do is let it dry and fill it with supplies!
I really did forget how much I like to wood burn…so there will be more burned projects coming soon!
-liZ
