I've tried my hand at woodburning a few times. I'm not very good at it or carving, but with some help from the Internet & carbon paper, even I can make some very cool stuff.
I searched for free, simple patterns. Most of the sites don't seem to last all that long, unfortunately. All the ones in my favorites from 5 or 10 years ago are gone. Sometimes I got creative with my searches looking for 'line art' or 'coloring book' pages. Whenever I see something I like, I copy it & put it in a special directory so I can look through & print them out out when I want. I print full pages of each to keep out in the shop, but depending on what projects or scraps I use, sometimes I have to make them smaller.
I've found that fine grained pine & poplar are the best woods for me to burn. Both are pretty soft & work well. I rarely just wood burn anything. I've done it a few times, but the wood darkens over time & the contrast fades, so I prefer to carve a bit & woodburn, too.
I find a good scrap & sand it well. Then I get a pattern that suits my fancy, put a piece of carbon paper under it & staple it to the scrap. I trace out all the lines & then pull one staple at a time as I look under it carefully. (I've usually missed something.) Once the pattern is on, I use an Exacto knife & carving tools to make a relief carving. Then I take the woodburning tool around it to really make it pop.
Once it's done, I usually have to figure out what to do with it. Right now I have 2 or 3 sitting in the shop without a home. Sometimes I'll turn them into a box top, other times just into a wall hanging or even a clock. The lathe can be used to make a nice frame, like I did for this one.
I searched for free, simple patterns. Most of the sites don't seem to last all that long, unfortunately. All the ones in my favorites from 5 or 10 years ago are gone. Sometimes I got creative with my searches looking for 'line art' or 'coloring book' pages. Whenever I see something I like, I copy it & put it in a special directory so I can look through & print them out out when I want. I print full pages of each to keep out in the shop, but depending on what projects or scraps I use, sometimes I have to make them smaller.
I've found that fine grained pine & poplar are the best woods for me to burn. Both are pretty soft & work well. I rarely just wood burn anything. I've done it a few times, but the wood darkens over time & the contrast fades, so I prefer to carve a bit & woodburn, too.
I find a good scrap & sand it well. Then I get a pattern that suits my fancy, put a piece of carbon paper under it & staple it to the scrap. I trace out all the lines & then pull one staple at a time as I look under it carefully. (I've usually missed something.) Once the pattern is on, I use an Exacto knife & carving tools to make a relief carving. Then I take the woodburning tool around it to really make it pop.
Once it's done, I usually have to figure out what to do with it. Right now I have 2 or 3 sitting in the shop without a home. Sometimes I'll turn them into a box top, other times just into a wall hanging or even a clock. The lathe can be used to make a nice frame, like I did for this one.