Tutorial: Greenman Spoons

I spent today working on Green  Man spoons, and thought it was a perfect opportunity to walk you through How to Make a Green Man. So, here we go.

But first, please read this disclaimer. Thanks!

Begin by drawing a green man face. I start off by tracing the object I'll be burning on (this time around, it's a spoon) and drawing the eyes, nose, and mouth more or less in the center of that object, like so: 

You might not be able to tell from the pic, but that's tracing paper and a No. 2 pencil. Drawing right on the tracing paper saves me a step later on.

Next, I add a leaf-like beard, two leaves for a mustache, and a leaf at the forehead. I like to put a spiral where the Third Eye would be, but you can omit this if you like.

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If you want, you can add additional leaves at this time. Be warned, though, that complex transfers can be confusing to work with.

Also, let me take a moment to apologize for the poor pic quality. I don't have any editing software right now. (>.<)

Even though there's a lot of detail on the example to the left, if you look closely you'll notice something: only the face and a few key leaves are dark. They are the only parts of the design that will transfer over to the wood.

Cut out the design and transfer it to the object you're working on (again, in this case, it's a spoon.)

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I've gone over the transfer process before, but here's a quick recap: place the paper where you want it, pencil side down, and rub.

The pencil marks that transferred onto your wood are going to be faint (see the pic on the left.) You can use your pencil to darken the marks, and fill in any gaps in the design.

DON'T PRESS TOO HARD. The harder you press, the more difficult it will be to erase the pencil lines later on.

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As you can see, I took some of my pictures outside. Outside pictures don't need as much editing. Unfortunately, I can't do the "action shots" outside--the power cord doesn't stretch that far--so we'll have some decent pics and some very bad ones.

Again, my apologies.  :-(

Start burning. For my spoons, I use the smallest "knife" tip available through my manufacturer (Nibsburner). It cuts deeply, and burns hot, but gives me a reasonably fine line. 

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The tip you use will depend on how large your piece is and what type of burner you use. Use the tip that works best for you.

Burn the design the same way you created it on the paper:

Start with the eyes, nose, and mouth.

Then burn the beard, mustache, and forehead.

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Before you add any more leaves, take a moment to add detail to what's already burned in. Add veins to the leaves and lines around the eyes.

I've learned from experience that, if I don't add the details as I go, I'll forget to add them later.

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Now it's time to add more leaves. Put leaves above the eyes, leaves below the mustache, leaves on the cheeks... you know what, just go crazy. The more lush your Green Man design is, the better he'll look.

Just keep two things in mind:

1. Keep the design symmetrical.
2. Keep the leaves proportional. A mixture of tiny leaves and large leaves looks odd unless you are very, very careful.

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TIP:
If you're using a "chisel" or a "knife" nib, and you're having a hard time burning the details--especially the curves--try this:

Flip your pen the "wrong" way.

Doing this will force you to use only the very tippy-tip of the knife. It's hard to manage, and it takes a lot longer to burn, and you may have to use a higher heat setting (if you're fortunate and have a multi-temp adjustment on your pen). But, it will give you a nice, tiny tip to work with, and that may make those curves easier for you to manage.

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...Oh yes, the details. This is where you add more veining to your leaves. You don't need a lot of detail; a little goes a long way. Still, it's the veining that's going to make this design look super-complex.

Finally, add the shading.

Unfortunately, the details of how to shade are beyond the scope of this tutorial. To be honest, I don't know if I could explain "how to shade" if I make a series of tutorials on it. It's just one of those things you have to practice.

I will say this, though: shading around the edges of your leaves makes them "pop" very nicely. It isn't the most realistic technique, but it's easy, and it looks great.

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And, voile, you have a Green Man! Breaking it down into steps, it's really not that complicated. And it's one of those designs that looks so impressive once it's done.