Personalised Wood Burning Mandala Gift Idea

Pyrography mandala Ikea hack

How to turn a simple Ikea tub with a wooden lid into a personalised gift with a wood burning tool and a mandala design.

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Every time to go to Ikea I seem to come back with what I went for PLUS something wooden that I think just NEEDS me to decorate with my wood burning tool!

Last time I went in for a couple of picture frames I came out with this glass bowl with a wooden lid. They have a whole range of these bowls in all different sizes and have both glass and plastic bowls that fit these wooden lids. I thought it looked perfect for some decoration.

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My niece’s birthday was coming up so I broke out my pyrography tool and got to work personalising it for her.

To make something similar you will need:

  • A bowl with a wooden lid

  • A pyrography tool

  • A pencil and ruler

  • A few different sized round things to draw around

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Start by marking out a band across the centre of the lid for the name. Just draw either side of your ruler with the pencil.

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Next write the name across the centre. You can freestyle it if you have nice writing (practice on paper first to get the sizing right) , or use a font from your computer that you can then transfer to the wooden lid using the method I used for the Brides Dress Hanger.

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Mark out some circles on the lid by drawing round a few different sized round things. I used glasses. Don’t try and do this by eye - you will be way off and draw uneven ovals, at least you will if you are anything like me!

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Build up a mandala design using the circles and these photos as a guide. KEEP IT REALLY SIMPLE! Drawing with a pencil is much easier than drawing with a pyrography tool so don’t over complicate it.

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When you are happy with your design just heat up the pyrography tool and then using a fine nib go over all your pencil lines.

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I should learn, because this is not the first time this has happened. A lot of these ‘wooden’ things from Ikea are actually bamboo which means it’s lined. I find the pyrography tool catches on the lines just a little bit, you can see in the photo above, it’s just a little bit dotty. This might also be because I’m a wood burning novice really! It doesn’t matter too much for a project like this, but just something to bear in mind.

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mandala design woodburning box lid

When it’s finished use a soft eraser to rub out any remaining pencil lines and give the whole lid a wipe with a soft cloth to remove any bits of eraser or little ashy bits of wood.

Fill with whatever you like. I filled this pot for Isabelle with stationery but you could fill it with sweets, hair accessories, sewing accessories, stickers etc; whatever you think the recipient would like. Of course you could make one for yourself and fill it will things you like!

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personalised wood burning mandala gift idea
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I’ll be sharing this idea at these link ups