Blank Wooden Ornaments: Best Unfinished Wood to Paint or Engrave

The best blank wooden ornaments depend on the craft. Smooth solid basswood or birch shapes take paint well. For laser engraving, basswood and alder give clean, clear results. For hand wood burning, use solid unfinished wood and never MDF or plywood. Wood slices with bark look rustic but can crack.

Finished wooden ornaments, from carved figures to wool felt, are covered in wooden, felt and wool ornaments.

Which blank wooden ornaments suit each craft

Blank wooden ornaments come in five common materials, and each one behaves differently under a brush, a laser or a hot pen.

The engraving column comes from laser makers WeCreat and Creality Falcon. WeCreat describes basswood as soft with a tight, even grain and almost no resin, so it engraves cleanly. Creality Falcon warns that cheap or unknown MDF and plywood boards can give strong fumes or uneven cuts.

Solid wood or plywood and MDF ornament blanks

Solid wood ornament blanks are a single piece of wood. Plywood and MDF are made from wood bonded with adhesive, and that difference affects both safety and what happens to the ornament later.

Look for the TSCA Title VI label on plywood and MDF. EPA rules set formaldehyde emission limits for hardwood plywood, medium-density fiberboard and particleboard. Since March 22, 2019, those composite wood products, including household and other finished goods that contain them, must be labeled TSCA Title VI compliant. A seller of plywood blanks should be able to say whether the panel carries it.

Check the wood’s source. The Forest Stewardship Council’s labels tell you where the wood came from: FSC 100% means all virgin material from FSC-certified forests, FSC Mix combines certified, recycled and controlled wood, and FSC Recycled means 100% recycled material.

Think about the end. EPA’s home composting page lists untreated wood chips among the materials a pile can take, which fits an unfinished solid wood ornament broken up, with the metal hook removed. Paint, varnish, glue and laminated layers change that, so a painted plywood ornament is one to keep, not compost.

How to paint unfinished wooden ornaments

Painting unfinished wooden ornaments takes four simple steps: lightly sand the edges, sketch the design in pencil, paint with acrylic craft paint, and finish with a clear coat, following the directions on the can or bottle.

A few details make the job easier:

• Drill or check the hanging hole before you paint, so paint does not fill it.
• Wipe off sanding dust before the first coat.
• On darker wood such as alder, a white primer or gesso coat helps pale colors cover in fewer coats.
• Let each coat dry fully, including the clear coat, before adding the next.

To let the grain show, skip the base coat and paint only the design.

Laser engraving wooden ornament blanks

Laser engraving works best on thin, even, solid wood ornament blanks. WeCreat calls basswood affordable and beginner-friendly, and describes alder as giving excellent color contrast and clear, dark engraved images.

Thin blanks are easier for a hobby laser: Creality Falcon names 3 mm basswood or quality birch plywood as the easiest place to start, and recommends air assist, where a machine has it, to reduce smoke and edge charring. On plywood, WeCreat suggests several passes at low to medium power rather than one heavy pass.

Test one blank from each new batch first. Follow your laser’s manual for ventilation and for the materials it says not to cut.

Wood burning ornaments by hand

Hand wood burning, or pyrography, needs solid wood with nothing added. Woodcraft says MDF and pressure-treated or coated lumber can release potentially toxic fumes under a wood burner, and warns never to burn plastics or materials with adhesives. Hobbycraft advises avoiding painted, stained or treated wood and man-made boards such as MDF, whose glue can be harmful when inhaled.

Basswood and other pale, close-grained woods show a burned line clearly. Burn the design first, then add any paint, so the pen never touches a painted surface.

Wood slice ornaments: rustic but prone to cracks

Wood slice ornaments are cross sections of a branch with the bark on, and they crack more often than flat cut shapes. Wood shrinks as it dries, and a slice cut straight across a branch keeps the pith at its center. A 1998 Forest Products Journal study of walnut disks, dried with radio-frequency vacuum and press methods, found V-shaped cracks and checks hard to control fully, even when the cut faces were covered.

Buy slices that the seller describes as dried, and expect small checks on some of them. A drilled hole close to the edge can split a slice, so drill gently and away from existing cracks. For other homemade decorations from the garden, see natural Christmas decorations.

Finished wooden ornaments instead of blanks

Ready-made wood, straw and wool felt ornaments are plastic-free alternatives, and secondhand glass lasts too; see vintage Christmas ornaments. A painted blank makes a gift tag on kraft paper gift wrap and suits a wooden Christmas tree. For the rest of the season, start at the eco-friendly Christmas guide.