Boy, I thought I had a clever plan. Graphite paper. Not so clever. First and foremost it doesn’t erase like graphite pencil does so when I put the rabbit on upside down, I had one heck of a sanding job. The paper moves, the lines are thick and wobbly.  So one line is way out of the lines.  Stain should cover that up…

The reason I did the designs so thoroughly on paper was so that I could transfer them complete but alas, I had to re-draw most of them.

Ah, the life of the artist, folks see your finished project but they never see the angst, the mistakes, the botched prototypes, the ripped stitches, and all the sanding. And hey! Now you do!

Wood is trickier than fabric. Once it’s burned, that’s it. There is no going back and ripping out stitches. So must learn patience of stroke and lighter hand.

Fern needs to be transferred to plaque placeholder on the right.  The little crow in the tree was placed there that day on the beach. I was sitting in the sand and there was this downed tree on the hillside and this crow just kept cawing at me.  I finally turned my head and connected and I swear, the minute I said, yes you can go on the box, it flew away.

Water is ready to go, you can see how the turtle is just not quite right.   The nightshade is pencil drawn, the turtle is graphic transfer paper.

Salamander is getting a pomegranate in the right hand placeholder and I can’t for the life of me decide the background for salamander.  I want flames but they are problematic, still percolating. I can at least get started on the bits I do have and see if the smell of burning wood brings any bright ideas.