Wood burning is a relaxing way to create attractive craft pieces for your home or handmade gifts for your friends. It speaks of a simpler time, when families created their own crafts using tools easily at hand and subjects from the surrounding countryside. Woodburning relies on patience and a steady hand more than artistic skill, but you can be as creative as you want with it. The kit contains 2 different wood slabs and multiple design templates.  Find one that fits your fancy and let’s get started!  

A few pro tips before you dive into your first design...

1. Safety: The Woodburner pen is a very hot tool. Never touch the top or metal parts.  Always unplug the Woodburner pen and let cool before replacing points. Tape the holder on table to hold the Woodburner pen when not in use.

2. Transferring Patterns: Place pattern on wood. Slip transfer paper (shiny side down) between pattern and wood surface.  Then use astylus or pencil to transfer pattern.

3. Using the Pen: 

• Always turn the word as needed so that your hand and arm are comfortable while wood-burning.
• It’s easier to draw by pulling the pen towards your body.
• Let the heat from the pen do the work. Don’t use pressure.
• The slower and more the points on the wood, the darker the woodburning will be.
• Use the back or bottom of your wood to practice. 

4. Making Different Types of Lines: All woodburning starts with lines...to form a design, sketch a picture, or write words. Your woodburning pen is very versatile in creating lines. By moving or holding it differently, a variety of effects appear. You’ll increase the range of effects even more by using the interchangeable points available for your pen. The more you master the pen’s points, the more visual interest you’ll bring to your work. 

• Fine Lines - Your woodburning pen can create exceptionally delicate detail, adding an extra dimension to your woodcrafts. Draw the pen slowly toward you at an even pace, making a narrow line with the sharpest part of the point. Don’t press down, or your find line will wiggle and vary in width. 

• Bold Lines - Produce thick, graphic lines for the boldest parts of your design. For a stronger or darker line, lay the tip of the point on the wood and press down on the blade edge. To vary boldness, hold the pen to the wood at slightly different angles. Move it slowly and carefully and you’ll get a dark, bolf line. More pressure yields a deeper and darker line. 

• Soft Lines - Woodburners most commonly create soft lines to produce curves, backgrounds, and quick sketches. Lean the tip on its side and “float” it on the wood surface. Let the tip barely glide over the wood surface without pressing down. You’ll get a soft line with a delicate, feathery edge.

Making the Horse Wood Slab (Pictured):

1. Tape your pen stand to a flat, sturdy surface. Plug in and turn on your Woodburner pen, placing it on the stand so that it heats up while you’re tracing your design. 

2. Tape the transfer paper (shiny side down) to the wood slab, securing it in place. Then, tape the template on top of your wood slab so that it’s centered in the middle.

3. Using a stylus or pencil, trace over the template. Once completed, untape the template and the transfer paper and place it to the side. Your horse design should be on the wood slab now. 

4. Use the fine line method to trace the outline that you transferred on to your wood slab with the Woodburner pen point.  Retrace if needed to make the lines more solid.

5. To add more details, use soft lines to make hair-like strokes to make the horse’s mane. 

7. Add additional details for the ears, eye and nose to give the artwork more texture. 

8. Erase any visible pencil marks softly with an eraser.

9. Hang your artwork using velcro command strips to attach it to the wall.