Now I Understand Why Men Love Power Tools

I've been away from crafting and my blog for far too long. Maybe life got more busy than usual. Maybe I was travelling too much. Maybe my focus was on other ways of filling my "spare" time (what precious little of it exists). Maybe I just wasn't feeling inspired. But I still love the process of bookbinding and I renewed my interest in it recently when I stumbled upon a new material to use for covers.

My newest journal was inspired by a find in the trading zone in my building. Many of you will know that all sorts of gems can be found there if you visit it regularly and are quick to pounce on the good stuff. Lucky for me, I pass it everyday on my way out of the building and, since I often leave before 7am, I'm one of the first to pass it in the morning (which seems to be prime picking time). Now, I don't often take items from there (though I love decluttering and leaving stuff there), but once in a while something catches my eye and is worthy of being brought upstairs. I've happily claimed office supplies, labels, a few 1L Mason jars, some Christmas ornaments, and two juicers (I kept one and gave one to a friend who has been wanting one for a long time). On rare occasions, I've also found craft supplies there.

The craft supplies I found recently were thin, pre-cut pieces of wood from Michaels. Ok. Confession time. When I say "recently," I actually mean that I found them sometime in the past two years. I rediscovered them in February of this year while doing some organizing in my office. Among the pieces were two small plaques and three door hangers. I took them initially thinking that I would use them to practice wood burning. That never happened. And when I did see them again in February, I thought that the two plaques would make a nice set of covers for a notebook -- something a little more rustic, perhaps for a cottage. Instead of burning an image on one of them, I decided to pick up a wooden cutout from Michaels to give the cover some dimension. The anchor, purchased back in March or April, sat on my sideboard for a few months before I was so motivated to finish the intended project.

Now, back when I first got into wood burning (during the mono period), I decided that I needed a dremel-type tool for drilling small holes in the pieces of wood I was using. My parents gave me one for Christmas that year and I put it with my craft supplies, but a project for which it was needed never really materialized -- until about three weeks ago. I decided it was time to finish the anchor notebook and, of course, I would need to drill holes in the wooden covers to be able to stitch them onto the notebook. I unboxed the dremel-style tool and was thrilled to find that it had held its charge after more than a year (amazing, no?). I quickly marked off where the holes would go, clipped the two pieces together using binder clips, and drilled the holes.

What. A. Feeling. I now understand why men love power tools. The sound. The rpm. The power. This was far more satisfying than punching a hole through a piece of heavy cardboard using an awl and brute force. The bit passed through the two pieces of wood like they were butter. In the blink of an eye, I had perfect little holes through which to pass my binding needle. I felt triumphant as I lightly sanded the cover.

Next, I glued the anchor to the centre of one of the covers. I pressed it under heavy books for several hours before proceeding to be sure of a solid bond. Then, out on my balcony, I sprayed both covers with a matte clear coat. While that was drying, I prepared my paper.

I had seen a tutorial recently (again, a relative term -- sometime in the past six months) where the individual making a notebook put a different colour of paper on the outside of each signature and I decided this would work for the anchor notebook. I chose a seafoam green and prepared my folios and signatures. And then I sat down to stitch it together.

I have to say that it was much easier to stitch this notebook because the cover was so rigid. And I'm incredibly happy with the way that it turned out. I think there may be more in my future! Especially since it means using my dremel tool again!

Culinary Arts

After showing a friend a few pictures of the spoons I've been making, she asked if I could make a few for her to give as a present to a friend who was a chef. I had no idea what exactly I would burn into the spoons, but I was game to give it a try. After some thought, here's what I came up with:

I then tied them up with a ribbon and added a tag.

I'm very happy with how they turned out.

What would you put on a wooden spoon?

Wood Burning Ornaments

When I was sick earlier this year, I took up wood burning. I started thinking that making ornaments might be fun and found inspiration on Pinterest. I went out and purchased a few wooden rounds to test, but didn't find time to get back to the project until last week.

I started out with two basic ideas, just to get back into the groove. What I've discovered is that the wood that these rounds are made out of is really soft and leads to an uneven burn if you're not careful. Still, I like the way they turned out. I'm thinking I may stain them more of a golden colour, since the wood is so very, very pale. Hanging from a red ribbon, I think these will make a nice gift.

I saw a few cute designs on Pinterest that featured foxes, so I may try something like that next month when I have more time.

What would you like to see on a wood burned ornament?

Wood Burning: Totally 80s Wish Book

Recently, I've spent a lot of time on Pinterest. I like to click on the Hobbies & Crafts category and just scroll through the images. Sometimes I re-pin what I see, but mostly I just scroll, curious about what other people are up to and what's trending. About two weeks ago, I noticed several pins in which individuals had used a wood burning tool to embellish wooden spoons. It intrigued me and so today I headed out to Michaels.

When I got home, I received a BBM from my sister wondering what I was up to. I told her I had bought a wood burner. She replied, "That's totally 80s Wish Book." She was right. In fact, I remember one Christmas that I picked out a wood burning craft kit from the Sears Wish Book and asked Santa for it. It was a basic set -- I'm not even sure if the burner had more than one tip -- and it included several pieces of wood that had been stamped with designs to burn. That was probably the 80s. And the kit was probably a lot like this one. I remember how excited I was to set up at the kitchen counter with it and let my crafty juices flow. Alas, it never really worked the way it should and I remember the handle feeling very hot when I held it. Like so many craft kits for kids, it was a disappointment. I think my parents packed it back up and returned it to Sears. (I can't recall how they explained returning defective gifts to Santa, but I sure wish I could, because I'm sure it was priceless. Likely as good as the time an Easy Bake Oven refill kit arrived from Sears a week after Christmas and they told me that Santa had found it under the seat of his sleigh and made a special trip back to bring it to me...)

Not surprisingly, then, I was skeptical of the tool I had purchased, especially since I thought I had "cheaped out" on it. I was very reluctant to invest a great deal of money into something that I knew would be a passing fancy. But as I opened it, I noticed it was of a reasonable quality. I plugged it in (side note: it definitely could use a longer cord) and waited for it to heat up. I was almost afraid to pick it up, remembering the sensation of holding one as a kid, but, to my surprise, it wasn't hot at all. Let the burning begin!

I tried the general purpose tip on my first spoon, but really didn't like the results. Then I switched to a pointed tip and was happier with the line it produced. There's no question that wood burning is an easy craft that requires practice to master. Still, I had fun trying it out and the more burning I did, the more ideas I had for future craftiness. I could imagine burning designs on wooden ornaments for a Christmas tree or on inexpensive cutting boards to snazzy them up.

Of course, when I decided that I needed a wood burner two weeks ago, I hadn't thought about the fact that a wood burner would actually burn wood and cause some smoke and a burning smell. (I know, Duh!) As soon as I started and smelled it, I started to worry that it would somehow set off the smoke detector in my apartment. I realize that probably was a ridiculous thought. It didn't produce that much smoke, but I have an irrational concern about this sort of thing after living in Burton's Pond Apartments, where the smoke detectors were extremely sensitive and would alarm if you even thought about making toast. Instead of doing what many did back in the day to disable those hyper-sensitive devices, I closed the doors between the kitchen and hallway, and turned on my kitchen fan. Sure, it was probably overkill, but I'm happy to say that I didn't set off the alarm. (When spring finally arrives, I'll open the balcony door instead.)

So, what can I say? It looks like I've got a new hobby (at least for now). I've got a few spoons left to practice on and I'm looking forward to pinning some new inspiration for future wood burning projects. If you've got ideas, please share them!