I recently had a commissioned order for a toothpick holder for a hunting camp cabin. One of the sides was to include an image of a skunk. The typical method of carving (see How It's Done on the About page) is to apply the pattern in black toner on the wood, and then carve that away. The interesting part of skunks, though, is that their body is the black part, with the stripes being white. I tried a practice version with this method, which resulted in the main body carved out and the stripes standing out. It looked alright, but didn't seem quite right. So I followed it up by doing the inverse: carving out the stripes, leaving the body of the skunk uncarved (except with an outline to form the shape). When I emailed the two versions to the buyer, I didn't bother to erase the black, and he actually particularly liked it with the black toner still in place on the wood. After some thought, I decided that I should be able to do that. When it came time to finish the piece, though, I wasn't entirely sure how the printer toner would respond to applying the sealer and stain. I was very careful to apply these very lightly and not dragging the brush across it, in case the finishing products might cause the toner to smear. I think it turned out very well, and it added a new option for designs that I can use in the future, where the toner remains permanently in the wood -- a sort of tattoo.
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