My mom bought me a bag of scrap leather, a leather hole punch, wood and cork for Christmas, and this is what I did with some of it. This is a picture burned on cork.  I’m also making a leather bag.

 This is a picture burned onto wood that Frodo did.

It is really quite easy. To make it you need a suitable piece of cork, leather, or wood, a wood burner (we bought ours at a craft store), a piece of carbon paper as large as the picture you want to burn, and a picture. (Any picture, I got mine from a coloring book.) 

Directions:  The transferring stage differs when using wood and/or cork from when using leather.

For wood or cork: Select a picture. Place the carbon paper with the shiny side down on the wood or cork. Make sure the edges of the carbon paper and the wood/cork are lined up with each other.  Place the picture on top of the carbon paper. (Right side up.) Hold it in place with tape or your hand. Carefully trace the picture with a pencil or a ball-point pen. When you are finished tracing, take off the picture and carbon paper and set aside for future use. On your piece of wood/cork there will be a copy of the picture the carbon paper has just transferred.  Then with the pre-heated wood burner, burn into the transferred pencil lines. 

For leather: Follow the above directions but make the following changes:

Dampen the leather all over with a sponge dipped in COLD water, but do not soak it. Make sure the leather is placed on a hard surface smooth side up.

Hints:

The pressure does not matter when burning, only the amount of time the burner is held in one place.

Hold the wood burner as you would a pencil. Do not press very hard.

Do not touch the tip of the pen while burning. It becomes hot.

The slower you go the darker the line, the faster you go the lighter.

Always move the pen towards you.

Adjust the wood, cork or leather to get in a better position for burning.

Hold the pen lightly.

Practice on scrap or on the back of your work.

If you are using wood and you would like to sand or cut it, do it BEFORE you begin.

And MOST importantly . . . HAVE FUN!

Legolas