I LOVE these little things – even if I do say so myself! I first got the idea for making my own coasters when I stumbled across a how-to guide on this American lifestyle blog over a year ago. At the time I didn't really know much about pyrography (the art of wood-burning) but I did know I wanted to make some personalised coasters for when me and my boyfriend Matt move into our new home (saying M & M, of course!). That bit is yet to come (in April, woohoo!) so when Matt bought me a pyrography kit for Christmas, I decided to make these rustic beauties for my friend Dana's 30th birthday instead. 

She and her boyfriend are in the process of renovating a barn out in the countryside. They love all things wooden and Dana loves owls – so you can see where I got my inspiration from!

This project was my first go with the pyrography tool and it did take a bit of getting used to. In fact, I practised first on a piece of scrap wood because I didn't want to mess anything up. Now I've got the hang of it it's my new obsession and I'll have a few more items coming up on the blog soon. 

You will need

4 wooden discs (mine were around 11cm wide and I ordered them from eBay)

4 pictures you want to burn onto your coasters

A pyrography tool (you can buy these for as little as £15 online)

1 piece of carbon paper 

Pen or pencil

A heat resistant mat

I started by finding some pictures online that I wanted to print on the coasters, then resized each one to 8cm wide on the computer (well, my dad did because I can't seem to work these things out myself) to make sure they would fit inside my 11cm coasters. I didn't end up using the '30' you can see in the pics here. Instead, I added a little 30 into the bird box on one of the other designs.

Working on a heat resistant mat, I centred each design over a coaster then carefully slid the carbon paper behind it. Using a pen, I traced around the image so the carbon paper would imprint it onto the wood.

I started using the calligraphy tip (the standard one that comes fitted to your pyrography tool) to go along the edges.

And here's me working on the last one!

Useful tips 

It's quite a slow process. Rather than drawing smoothly with the tool, you have to press and hold it down in one place in order for it to burn a mark. There are more expensive tool available which have wire loop tips and are hooked up to a mains transformer. These seem to let you draw easily, but I think the cheaper versions are a great place to start. Perhaps one of those can be my next birthday present… (hint hint). 

When changing tips on your pyrography tool, always unplug it and use a pair of pliers to remove the hot tip. 

My tool started to get VERY hot where my fingers were holding the plastic, so on designs that took a bit longer – like the Home Sweet Home one – I wore a heat resistant glove for protection.