Once you have selected the wood and laid out your pyrography work area, you need to decide which side of the board to use for your subject. Now, if you are using a prepared "plaque" the wood itself may dictate which side to use. You may also have purchased or built a wooden box you want to decorate. Then the choice has already been made.

However, if you have piece of a tree that has been cut into an oval (cross-section) or a rectangle (lengthwise cut), then you may work with either side. You want to select the smoothest side - although either side could be used for pyrography, one side is usually best.

When you have selected the side you want to use, then you need to sand it lightly with the 100 and then 200 grit sandpaper. Sand back and forth in one direction. Sand with the grain on a straight grained piece, or sand in the long direction on a cross-cut piece of wood. Do not press hard - you just need to remove the spots that are a little rough. Mounting the sandpaper on a flat block of wood will ensure that your burning surface is flat.

After the sanding, dust the board. Ideally, you could use a can of compressed air. I prefer to use a soft bristle, 2 to 3 inch paint brush. The ends are soft so as not to scratch the wood, but the bristles are stiff enough to get into the fine grain. Once the board is dusted, you are ready to place a subject onto the board.

You may use a NO. 2 or 3 pencil to draw the subject onto the wood if you can draw. I prefer to draw the subject onto a piece of paper and use the following procedure to place it onto the board. By doing that I can use the drawing as a pattern again, if I wanted to do so. Any picture from any source can be used as a pattern, but keep it SIMPLE!

First, place the pattern on top of the wood - situate the subject where you want to see it on the wood. Now tape the pattern to the wood along one side. Tape the pattern securely - you do not want it to move once you start tracing. You may want to put a small piece of tape on the opposite side as the first piece, but this piece will be moved more often. Do not use a tape with a tacky adhesive, as it may come off onto the wood. I find that masking tape works well.

Now cut a piece of transfer paper to fit, and slide it under the pattern, 'inked' side down. I use graphite paper when burning on lighter wood. Never use carbon paper to transfer the pattern. The ink on carbon paper will not erase easily. You do not need to tape the transfer paper to the wood, only the pattern.

Now trace over the pattern using a medium tip ballpoint pen or a soft (NO. 2) pencil. Do not use a very fine-tipped pen or a sharp pencil as it may tear the pattern, and you do not want to get the ink from the pen onto the wood - you cannot remove the ink easily. Trace the pattern systematically so that you do not miss any lines. For example, start on the top left and work to the right and down. But do trace an entire line before moving to the next.

After you have finished tracing the pattern, lift the pattern and then the transfer paper, like turning the pages of a book. You need to ensure that the entire pattern has been transferred. There are several things that could cause an incomplete pattern transfer: not pressing hard enough (this takes practice to do it just right); using a worn piece of transfer paper (you can use it many times, but it will wear out!); missing the line completely (it happens regularly!).

Make sure you check the fine details to ensure that they are visible. If you find a line is missing, place the transfer paper and the pattern back onto the wood and trace over it (again?). This is why I suggested to tape the entire left side of the pattern so you could move the pattern without changing its position on the board. It doesn't matter if the transfer paper moves, but the pattern can't move until you are finished tracing. It's much harder to line it up after the tape has been removed.

When you are sure that the pattern was successfully transferred to the wood, remove the tapes, pattern, and transfer paper from the wood. Save the transfer paper for re-use on the next project. You may want to save the pattern also. I put my patterns in a three-ring binder inside of one of those clear document protectors. This seems to work well for me.

Now look at the board and the pattern that is now on the board. You may erase extra marks left by the transfer paper and maybe a slightly heavy hand by using the white eraser. Use the brush to dust the erasure particles from the board. You are now almost ready to start your pyrography.