Folk Art Walking Stick and Tip of the Day

I have begun wood burning the Wild Rose design on the folk art walking stick.  I estimate that it will take twelve hours of actual wood burning time to get the design on the stick if I keep it to a single spiral, and twenty-four hours if I decide to make a double spiral.  Once the wood-burning portion is complete, I'll give the stick a good sanding before I start painting. 

Each section of the design takes approximately an hour and a half to wood burn onto the walking stick. The design is about nine inches long.  To keep the pattern from being too repetitive, I use the pattern up, and then turn it upside down for the next section.
At first glance, it would not seem that changing up to
 make much difference,but it makes a big difference
when it is spiraling around the walking stick.  Walkingsticks aren't completely straight, so the crooks in the stick take the design in unexpected directions.  The unpredictable pattern actually helps mimic the chaotic growth of a wild rose plant.

Tip of the Day:  How to transfer the pattern from the sketch book to the walking stick.   There are a number of methods you can use to transfer the pattern.  Which one you choose may depend on what equipment or supplies you have on hand.

My Method-Using an Ink Jet Printer  For this design, it is worthwhile to tape your first copy onto the original sketch so that you have two strips per page.  Make sure that you make a very dark copy so that the design can easily be seen through the back of the page.  Then make all your copies from that sheet.  It saves paper.

At this point, you could cut out your design and use transfer paper to transfer the design to the stick.  Use the method of attaching the pattern I describe below.  I don't use this method for this type of project because the transferred design rubs off too easily.  While handling the stick during the wood burning, some of the design may be worn away.  Also the transfer paper leaves a lot of carbon smears all over the stick.  The method I describe in the next paragraph is a more satisfactory method of transferring the pattern.

Turn the paper over.  Use a colored pencil to trace over the design on the back side of the paper.  Cut out your design leaving a margin of 1/8 to 1/4 inch margin around the design. Wrap the strip of paper with the colored pencil side facing the walking stick and secure with small strips of  low tack artist's tape in the margins.  Trace over the design with a stylus.  The waxy colored pencil will transfer your design and stay in place with out wearing off as easily.  Each design strip can be used twice before having to change or re-cover the strip with colored pencil.  I usually change to a new strip after the second use because the strip starts to break down after being scratched by the stylus. Carefully remove each strip after the design transfer, checking to make sure that the design transferred adequately.  It is much easier to tape down and re-trace that section if you still have the rest of the strip in place.  If you have removed the entire strip before checking the design, it is much harder to make the pattern match up.  At that point you have to decide whether you want to free hand that part of the pattern or take on the tedious task of getting the points of the pattern to match before re-tracing the design.  After wood burning is complete, sand the stick to remove any transfer lines (and scorch marks!) that may be visible.

Using a laser printer:   Copy the design using a laser printer.  It must be an actual laser printer.  These two methods will not work with an ink jet printer.  (Trust me on this. I've tried.)  Copy the design as described above.  At this point, there are two methods for transfer.  If you have a pattern transfer head for your wood burning tool, you can tape the design face down and run the heated head lightly over the paper.  The heat will transfer the design onto the wood.  Make sure that you do not hit any of the tape with the heated transfer head. 

A second option for laser print patterns is to follow the above directions for copying and taping the pattern, then dab alcohol onto the back of the paper strip with a cotton ball.  The alcohol will transfer the lines.  Be careful not to use too much alcohol, it can cause the lines to run.  This option is probably not your best choice for using on a walking stick.  It works best on a flat surface.

If you have a burning desire (pardon the pun) to try a laser print transfer for a wood burning project, you can take your design to a copy place and have them run off your copies on their laser printer.