I have a stack of cut oak tree branches laying around. They come from the garden of my father in law.
First plained it with a 1/4" end mill and then carved the bird with 30 degree V carve bit.
The branches are actually longer than the piece of wood, but this makes reproduction and placement less critical. 
I spray painted and then sanded it down again.
That looks great!
Making the design too big is a great idea. What size is that approx? Quarter, coaster, or plate?
Also, if you’re going to sand it down, do you need to plane it first?
Looks great. Nice work.
It has a diameter of about 12 centimeters. So slightly bigger then a coaster. Since the plaques are cut by hand they are never plane. So I plane them before use with a 1/4 inch end mill.
I do have small machine planer, but these plaques are too small for it.
Ah. Cool.
I’ve seen people make a planer cart for thin wood, just a 3/4" piece of plywood with a waxed top and a cleat to keep it from going through the planer. Of course this is not only thin, but short, so probably not going to work.
