Little something I've been working on this week.

A few months ago my mother found this wooden box full of oil paints, ink, calligraphy pens and other art supplies, so she gave it to me. Most of the stuff inside wasn't good anymore, but I kinda liked the box. I took it apart, sanded it, and did my best to clean the hardware, but it was kinda cheap stuff, so I intend to replace it.

I wasn't sure what to do with the box at that point, though. I thought it might be cool to just wood burn random designs on it, and re-stain it. But, I didn't have a wood burner. So, it sat around.

A few weeks ago I got a wood burner. Then earlier this week while doing other things, I came across the box again and just kind of stared at it for a bit. I absently picked up a charcoal pencil and ended up drawing a leopard. How original of me. Then I wasn't sure any more if I wanted to wood burn, or paint, or what, so I slept on it. The next day I just kind of winged it.

I used my little rotary tool and carved everything out, then went in with the burner and burned the inlay nice and dark. Then, even though I'd never used a wood burner in my life and wasn't totally sure what I was doing, I just kinda went nuts and ended up here in the end, after going back in with the rotary tool and pulling highlights and whites back up.

I likes it! Now I just need to decide how to stain the rest of the box. Maybe red again? Or a dark brown? Not sure yet. Either way, the leopard will stay as it is, and once the rest of the surface is stained I'll put a clear varnish over everything to protect it all.