Wood carving/burning?

Question

This seems like the closest to acceptable area to post this, hobbies and crafts seemed to be for making less difficult projects.

I'm interested in creating a headboard for my bedframe for my new apartment but I would like to either carve or burn a pattern into the wood. How do I go about cutting and or burning -accurate- patterns into the frame.

cutting: http://www.propriuscasket.com/resource3%20images/v2.carved-letter.600.jpg

burning:

http://darkwood-woodcarving.com/Patterns/Package%2001/Wood_Burning_03.gif

Answer 1

the burning can be done easily with any stencil made of metal or other heat resistant material.  just heat the stenciled area witha gentle flame, a lighter will work, long one for grills would be best. the good part is, if you mess up, you can just sand it down and start over. You'll probably want to put a coat of sealer over it either way when your finished. The cutting was done by machine inthat picture, not something you can do at home. You can proably come close if your very artistic, just draw it out first then use a series of very sharp chisels and do it by hand. practice first on some scrap lumber to see if you can pull it off.