Weddingbee Blog

Remember when I told you about those nifty woodburned guestbooks/mats and mentioned I had custom-burned a cutting board and a tutorial would be coming? Well, don’t worry. I didn’t forget about my promise. Here it is. (Just in time to create a great bridal shower gift during wedding season, or perhaps even a bridal party gift.)

Personalized Cutting Board Tutorial:

Step 1: Find an image/picture that you’d like to burn onto your board. (You could alternatively hand-draw it too.)

Step 2: Print off your image with a laser printer. (Depending on the picture, e.g., if there is wording you may need to print the mirror image.)

Here’s the image I chose (just because it’s oh so pretty)…I trimmed off the excess paper and decided on placement.

Step 3: Transfer image using the transfer iron from the Hot Marks tool set. It’s important to keep the transfer image steady during this process. The best way to transfer is by using circular motions over the image a few times. (You can peel up the paper to check progress if you need.)

Step 4: Admire your work. Make sure your image is placed where you want it because this next step is permanent! (I assume you could easily use a fine sandpaper to sand off the misplaced image if needed.) Now is a good time to let your tool cool down, as you will need to change tips for the next step.

Step 5: Change tip to a fine point tip. (Use your best judgment depending on the design you chose.)

Step 6: Outline all the fine details with the smaller tip. (Warning: This part can be time consuming and can tire a strong hand.)

Here is the initial progress of some of the finer detail:

More progress…

Step 7: If needed change to a bolder tip and fill in the bigger spaces.

And, here it is, my nearly finished product. (Sorry I don’t have a final product picture for you, but I am sure you get the idea.)

There you go! A fancied up board to proudly display in your kitchen.

I can’t guarantee the burned in image will last a lifetime, but what I can assure is that it will last six months of cutting and washing. I burned this into our only cutting board in February, and it’s still holding strong even with my compulsive bleach disinfecting

What do you think? Tres facile, non? (Very easy, no?) Wouldn’t this make a great shower gift?

If you like this tutorial you make want to check out how to make personalized wooden spoons.