first wood burning!

woodburning! ac moore is basically my home away from home, and i started eyeing down the woodburning tools some time ago. seemed like a cool thing to try out, so my delightful surprise on christmas eve (i asked for it, but it's more magical if i pretend it was a surprise), i opened up a wonderful woodburning kit. the tree above is my very first attempt. i absolutely love everything about woodburning: it's easy, incredibly fun, it smells amazing, and it could make for some really beautiful artwork. i started off simple, but i am very motivated to really practice this enough to make some awesome (and detailed) work.

here's my first attempt at the outlining and drawing by woodburning pre-shading:

the tool comes with several tips, all can be used for different things. one of them was made for shading, which i attempted on my tree. i found the shading to be tricky and it will definitely need the most amount of practice.  i love the fact that it's even possible. i have never learned or researched anything about woodburning before, but i would have never thought you could shade so nicely by burning. i love new toys.

when i was done with the tree, the piece felt unfinished. i burned all around the edge, thinking that a darker edge would make it look more complete. it still wasn't enough, so i stained it around the edges, attempting to have it fade into the lighter wood color for a nicer finish. the woodburning is beautiful in person, there is more depth to the lines where you can see and feel the lines sunken into the wood.

this tree woodburning is for an upcoming auction with vsa of nj. more soon!