Thank you, Great question. It’s a mix of trace and free hand drawing. The general outline of the flowers and leaf positions themselves are a template and the center of the flowers, petals, leaves and branches are penciled on and filled in using a picture as a guide then all freehand scrimshaw over the template and pencil lines. I’m still learning to control the awl. It sometimes seems to have a mind of its own and wants to wander! My problem my be trying to bear down too hard when cutting the lines and the needle is catching natural grooves /fibers in the surface. I feel it’s sharp enough. The antler though cuts much better (harder and less fiberous) than horn and the needle seems to wander much less. The snake and eagle are all freehand drawn. I use pencil lead to fill in all the lines.
