I know it has been such a long time since I posted last; is anyone still out there? But I have finally finished my schooling and will graduate with a Diploma in Music Performance in June. It has been a loooonnnggg 6 years going to school part time, but I finally did it! I finished all my music classes and am looking forward to have evenings and weekends free of reading, studying, homework, projects and practicing. I will finally have my life back. With more time on my hands, of course I am on to my next creative project: does my list ever get shorter?
Since it is Mother's Day tomorrow, I wanted to give my Mom something special. A few months back, my husband and son cut down our dead Magnolia tree. It was a very sad day, as it was a very beautiful tree when it was alive. It had lovely white blossoms and smelled heavenly; a little like Noxzema skin cream - if anyone remembers that! Well, not being one to throw anything away, I implored my husband to keep the branches and trunk. I have seen many coasters, candle holders and trivets made from wood, so I thought I could fashion some myself. I had my husband cut some small wood slices which I could then make into coasters. This has been percolating in my mind for some time, so for Christmas, I asked for a wood burning kit (from Canadian Tire) so I could decorate the wood slices and I have now just gotten down to making my first coasters for Mother's Day. My mom's name starts with E, so I set about looking for fancy examples of that letter.
Here are some examples of what I found:
I then drew various "E's" onto the wood with pencil and used the wood burning tool to burn in the design. The kit comes with various tips, but I used the large slanted one for everything, and it worked fine.
I also worked on a cookie sheet, to save my table from accidentally being burned. It worked well.
Here are the letters I used. My first attempt is the E on the left and they progress to the final E on the right. Note that I added a small ladybug to the one on the right as good luck. I am not sure that you can tell what it is though.
Now, to lightly sand and shellac the coasters and they will be done. It really didn't take very long to make these. It was fun and is surprisingly easy. Just make sure to watch (and not touch) the hot tip of the tool and be very careful when setting it down. Mine came with a stand to hold the tool when not in use.
Have fun and Happy Mother's Day.
Rosie
