My maiden name is Lyon, and after getting my dad a Christmas gift that I then had to return because he bought himself what I’d already bought him, I had to come up with a new last minute idea. Since I’ve only recently begun using a wood burner, I decided I would use my new fun skill and make him something that I knew he didn’t have and no one else would get for him.
I decided to put a lion on the clock. Not only is his last name Lyon, he has a small obsession with the king of beasts.
I wasn’t sure what color he wanted to stain the clock, so I left it unfinished. I also didn’t want the hands to bend, so I kept the clock mechanism separate. He loved it when he opened it, and doesn’t want to stain it at all. He likes the raw look, and only wants to put a clear coat on it. I will add some bars to make the hours around the edge first, and then try to coat it this weekend. I love how this turned out.
This is so pretty. The few times that I’ve woodburned, it’s definitely tired out my hands. The fact that you made so many lines and filled in so many areas is so impressive to me.
To make this specific project? First I found the clock kit at Target. Then I searched for a pattern I liked and found a free svg files to download. I sized it to what I wanted, printed it, and then used carbon paper to trace it onto the clock. The tracing took me 1-2 hours.
After I got the image traced onto the clock, I started burning the outlines. I started in the top left corner. The face area took me about an three hours to burn. The mane area took me another 4 hours or so. I worked over several days. I’d say it took roughly 12 hours from start to finish.
I suggest getting a few small wood blanks to practice on. I got a package of, um, I think 10 from Michaels. Try out all of the nibs and see what each does.
The hardest part is getting the design onto what you want to burn. I print and then use carbon paper to trace onto the wood.
Oh, and different woods burn differently. On this clock, the darker pieces took FOREVER to finally burn. So just have fun! I look forward to seeing what you make!
