Summer is almost here!

The majority of the time I start my crafts with my medium already decided. If I am going to knit something then I look for a craft that has to do with knitting, or with 'mod podge' I try to create a sign of some sort. Today I began my craft with some scraps of wood that I found in my Mom's basement (Thanks Mom!). Alas a wood burning extravaganza began!

Stenciled lettering 

As you can see in a previous blog entry (Burn Baby Burn), I have a fondness for wood burning. I just love the way the wood smells as it is being singed by the ever scalding tool of awesomeness. It is just such a cool art form to work with, with all of the imperfections of wrongly burned areas creating a unique and totally handmade piece of art. Although I have been using my wood burning tool for years now, and know that if you hold it at just the right angle you will create a large unintended burned area, I am still the impatient person I am and tend to rush through everything....therefore I tend to create these flaws, if you will, in my work. Regardless lets get to the craft!

1/2 way done letters

I decided on the piece of wood I wanted to use, got my idea of what I was going to put on the sign, and began sketching. I used just plain white paper to sketch out my words and decide on the size and fonts before ever messing with the wood (Note: Wood is not very forgiving when it comes to trying to erase pencil or buff out divots left by mistaken lines!). Once I had the layout and fonts decided on I tried a new technique for applying the wording. I simply laid the paper on the wood and traced over the letters creating an invisible (OK not invisible or else I wouldn't have been able to see it!) dented outline on the wood. Begin burning bold b(f)onts now!

Complete creation 

Once the outline was complete I started burning in the letters to create a bolder look. Now at this stage I would usually stop my sign and say "Good job Stevie, it looks amazing! He/She will love it!", but not today! After years of sign making, the plain wood burned words just started to look..plain. So another new technique was born! Watered down paints in white and blue were then applied using a foam brush to add character and color!  I just applied them in a random-esque way to create a rustic beachy feel!

Eat, Craft, and Be happy :-)