I spent the last couple hours practicing on a scrap piece of wood to get a feel for the tool and to practice different techniques before using it on my project.

I learned that for best results, keep the tool moving as steady as possible. The longer the tool touches the wood, the darker and deeper my markings will be. And I need to move more quickly for lighter lines and shading. The grain of the wood can be tricky too, making it difficult not to swerve off course of the line I am trying to follow.

Ok, enough practice! Time to use the tool on my project. I chose a larger tip to burn the outline of design into the wood. Here’s how it came out:

I think I need to do something to create a distinctive foreground and background to really make it pop. The way I see it, my options are to either:

• “color it in” to make everything in the foreground a solid dark color, OR
• Try to create texture and details within the design itself.

I’m off to bed for now, but let me know your thoughts and I’ll pick it up again tomorrow!