I have found that many have a common misperception that this is a craft for youth summer camps, and although it may be good for that… the youth are actually in the minority of who and what pyrography is about. I hope I can show you that it can be a lot more than that.

1. Pyrography is most commonly known as “wood burning” but you will see that it can be done on more surfaces than wood, such as gourds, paper, leather, etc.
No one knows for sure how long this art has been around, it may be as old as fire. It was called poker-work by folk artists because they would use fire pokers heated in the fire to create the images. They were much cruder than what we can produce today, but if you have one, they are worth a lot of money.

 

Pyrography became popular in the Victorian age as a household hobby and during that period it became known as Pyrography.

Pyro- burn
Graph- picture
Pyrograph- burned picture.

It was used primarily for decorating and accenting furniture, crafts, jewelry boxes, etc.
The colonists brought the hobby with them to America, and with the discovery and ability to use electricity, the art of pyrography really took on a new life. Not only now are we able to do things more easily and convenient, but the tools have really evolved and become easier to use and we can do more with them.

 

2. Pyrography is one of the most versatile mediums there is. Just like painting, people use it from the simplest craft, to fine art. This can be as simple or as complicated as you want it to be. You can do very simple black and white designs or intricate and detailed pieces and use shading techniques. You can do your own original work, or you can use patterns. You can burn on key chains, key holders, shelves, clocks, spoons, furniture, plaques… anything you want.

The last thing I want to do is intimidate anyone with this craft. I don’t want anyone to limit themselves as to what can be done with this, but no one should make it so overwhelming or complicated that it isn’t fun for you.

The primary purpose to doing this should be to get a sense of satisfaction, pleasure, and bring some balance to you to have a creative outlet.

There is no good-better-best here as far as I am concerned, if you are enjoying yourself, then you are doing it right.

You will find that everyone will develop their own interest and style with this, and that is what you should do. It comes down to what you want to do with it.

 

My goal for the class is to take you from your current ability to where you want to be with this… wherever that may be.

 

 

I started burning on pine because that is what I had in the garage; I learned later that Pine is one of the worst woods for burning. Douglass fur is perhaps the worst, and let me tell you why.

If you look at a piece of wood you can see light and dark grains running through the surface. The dark grains are denser than the light. When you burn over the lighter areas it burns quickly and dark. The denser grains burn more slowly and lighter. What can happen is you end up with “stripes” running through your work. You can compensate for this by burning over the denser grains until the value matches that of the burn on the lighter grain.

So the best woods for burning are the woods with as little difference as possible in the grain densities. Also woods that are light in color offer better contrast and give you a broader range of value you are able to put into your piece. Birch is a good wood that is easy to find, but probably the best and most popular wood for carvers and pyrographers, and the easiest to work with is basswood.
You can not find basswood at any lumber stores. You can find it at specialty wood working shops, but it either comes in blocks which are good for carving, or it is rough cut lumber that you must mill yourself. You can do that, and I do that with a lot of the wood I use… but the best place to get it is craft stores, normally the same places where they sell the wood burners.

The wood you can buy there is already cut and almost ready to burn on. You can also buy plates and platters, accent furniture like shelves, boxes, even frames. Frames can be a fun project.

 

2. Other surfaces

Other surfaces you can burn on include paper, gourds, and leather. Water color paper is good. I recommend hot pressed paper because it has a much smoother surface which is easier to burn on and control your texture. (textured paper gives you the same challenge as unsanded wood.) 300 lb. paper or heavier is probably best. You don’t want to burn through the paper. Bristol paper is also very good and can be purchased in pads. The best leather for burning is the thick hard leather they use for leather tooling; you want to find vegetable tanned leather.

 

B. Burner

The burner I recommend starting with and recommended for the class is what they call a “single temp.” or “solid tip burner”. They take about 5 minutes to heat up and cool down. You will find that it makes a huge difference if you can control the temperature of your unit. That can be accomplished with a simple cord designed to dim a lamp. You can pick one up at a hardware store.

There are other burners which are more expensive. The advantage is they heat up and cool down very quickly. The tips are also much smaller, making it easier to do more intricate detail. Those units they refer to as adjustable temp, or burning systems. They start at around $200 and up, and around $40 for the pen (or tip). The solid tip burners are around $15 to $30… so they really are the best place to start. Even if you invest in a burning system, you will still probably want to have a solid tip burner as well because of the things you can still do with it, so it is an inexpensive way to begin, and if you find you want to do a lot of this and enjoy it, I recommend a burning system. I personally use a Detail Master, but there are a lot of good systems on the market.

 

C. Graphite Paper

Graphite paper is the best way to transfer an image. Because it is graphite, you can erase it. Carbon paper is another method, but the marks can not be removed with an eraser. Anywhere you will be burning dark, you will easily cover any lines you have made on the wood. Anywhere you are burning light or shading, once you burn over a line it becomes a permanent part of your picture, even if it is graphite. So you want to remove those marks before you burn over that area. Mineral Spirits are a good way to remove lines that you can’t erase.

 

Use a pencil to transfer the image, some people like to use a red pencil or pen so they can tell where they have transferred already. I like to tape on the same side as the arm I am using or the bottom, so I limit the smudge marks sometimes made by the pressure of my hand.

 

A. Sanding

The good thing about the wood you can get here is that it is already finished pretty smooth, so the final sanding is all you need. A very fine sand paper works best, I use 300 grain and find that sufficient, but a higher number would be even finer. You really want a smooth surface, the smoother the surface, the easier it will be for you to work on.

I will bring sand paper that you can use to prepare your piece.

You will find a scrap piece of wood to be an invaluable recourse. You can practice a pattern, texture, or stroke on the scrap piece and get your temperature where you want it before you start committing it to your piece. Since you normally won’t have a scrap piece of basswood, you can use the back of the piece you are burning on to do the same thing. If you don’t like the back of your piece to have the marks on it, you can always sand them off when you are done.

 

I will provide you with some patterns that you may choose from, or if you have one you want to bring, that is fine to. We will discuss patters more in a minute

 

A. Wood must be untreated.

I mentioned that you can burn on any surface; I have even seen people burn accents in corners of their kitchen cabinets, or pictures on them, headboards, and armoires. If you do that, be sure you have removed all the finish. Wood that has any finish on them emits toxic fumes when burned. Papers should be acid free, and leather should be vegetable tanned. Some woods can be toxic as well, but if you stick to basswood or birch, you will be just fine.

Some people are more bothered by fumes than others or can be a bit allergic to the smoke. You can use a small fan in your work space and that will help. Pointing the fan away from you will keep it from blowing in your face, and from cooling your burning tip.

B. Hot tool!

Also, some people like to put pens in their mouth… don’t do that with these. I know that is funny, but it is amazing how unconscious habits can become, and people have done it without thinking, or dropped it in their lap or on the couch or chair they are sitting in. Just remember the tool is hot and can burn you. If you turn the unit off it takes a few minutes to cool and you don’t want it to burn anything or have a child or anyone touch it.

One of the most common questions and concerns… No! One of the great things about wood burning is that you don’t need any artistic ability. You can draw your own pictures, use photographs, or patterns.

Coloring books, pattern books, clip art. They have pattern books specifically designed for wood burning, and many of those will also walk you through the project.

a) Copyright

The only thing you want to be careful with is copyright. Most of the time you aren’t going to get into trouble if you are using an image for yourself; I have done characters for my children when they have asked me if I could do something for them on a block of wood. I say you probably won’t get into trouble… but you can. You don’t ever want to sell a copied work, or use it to promote yourself like a brochure, business card, etc. You don’t even want to post a picture like that online because then you have “published” the picture that wasn’t yours. You will see people do it al the time, cartoon or movie characters… but you can get into trouble and it isn’t worth it. There are plenty of places to find good patterns that allow you to use them, that there is no need to use images that do not.

b) Clip art

I personally think clip art is one of the best sources because they are specifically designed for people to use and you see the images all the time being used as part of logos, on business cards, etc. most of the major printers and office supply stores use them as graphics for a variety of commercial purposes. The reason for that is that when you buy clip art, you purchase a degree of use for those images too. (All “clip art” does not have the same “rules” governing there use. Images you purchase on CD’s are not the same as ones you can download off the internet, and I would be more cautious about those because they all have different rules, depending on where you get them.)

They are also a great source because you can find such a variety of images and different themes to use.

a) Reference or copy

Photos are another great source for references, but again make sure you use caution when it comes to copyright. Your own photos are best. Permission is normally easy to obtain if you want to use a portrait of someone that a photographer has taken. They obviously don’t like people copying their pictures, but for things like this they almost never care, and many of them will give you a release at no charge.

b) Editing

I use photo shop, but most photo editing software will work fine.
You want to change the image to black and white, (in photoshop – Image/Adjustments/desaturate) and then adjust the contrast and brightness to exaggerate the shading. (photoshop – Image/Adjustments/Brightness-Contrast) To simplify the pattern you can change it into a “Stamp”. (photoshop – Filter/Sketch/Stamp you may also try Filter/Artistic/Cutout) In other software it may be called something different. You can also use a program called “photo to sketch” which can be found at download.com that can also simplify a photo for using as a pattern.

3. Drawing

The other thing you can do, which is what I do most of the time is draw my own pictures. If you do that I would recommend that you draw them out on paper first. I do a lot of erasing when I draw, and it is a lot easier to get it all looking the way you want it to on a piece of paper and then scan or copy your drawing and use a copy as a pattern to transfer to the wood. You can scale the picture smaller or bigger if you need to, and it also preserves your original drawing.

VI. Finishing

A. Damage

Finishing a piece is how you make sure you preserve the final piece and protect it from damage. The one thing that can do more damage than anything to a wood burn is sunlight.
Taking your piece outside when you drive home isn’t going to hurt it, but prolonged exposure to direct sunlight will fade the burn and darken the wood which will add to the effect of fading. The things I have heard about from other pyrographers I know is when they have had an event for several days outdoors, or when an piece has sat on a table by a window for a long period of time

 

B. Finishes

1. Polycrylic

You want to avoid putting things in the sun, but the other thing that will help, and also protect the piece from a variety of other things that can damage it is to apply several coats of clear finish to it.
Poly-acrylic finish is what I would recommend the most. I would suggest 4 coats, and a lot of burners like to seal the wood by finishing all sides.

2. Matte Finish

I also like to spray on a final coat of Krylon matte finish (1311). This will give it just the right shine without having any glare. You really will not likely be happy most of the time with a gloss finish on a pyrographed piece.

3. Mod Podge

For rounds some people like to put a finish on the bark to keep from loosing pieces of it as you work. Mod Podge works great to do that.

4. Brushes

I prefer to use sponge brushes for all my finishing for several reasons. They will not leave the brush strokes that a paint brush will, and they are so inexpensive, that I buy them by the bag and discard them when I am done. You can finish several pieces at a time and use one brush. Also you can discard the sponge, and use the dowel as a stand for plaques or small frames.

5. Color

You can do a variety of things to add color to a piece. You can stain areas or background for subtle natural looking color. You can use acrylic, oil, and water color paints. You can use water color or oil based pencils and rub the color into the wood. One thing to keep in mind is that thicker paints like oils and acrylics can cover up the detail you have burned. You can thin the paint, or just be aware of it’s properties as you use it, or using the pencils or water colors are transparent enough that they will not alter the burned image.

 

 

 

Wood burning is something that takes time and experience to develop your technique and get used to the tool and how to master it in creating the textures and values you want. Don’t get discouraged as you do this because you will find that the “mistakes” or pieces you create that you aren’t happy with will accomplish just as much in your development as the ones you are happy with. There is no success without failure, and if you are perfectly happy with everything you do, then you stop pushing yourself to improve.

 

Remember this is a hobby, it is supposed to be relaxing and enjoyable. By remembering that in your approach you can enjoy the process as much as the product. Don’t rush through anything or make a time line for yourself. Focus on one part of the piece at a time. I have found that the pieces that I spend many hours “puttering” on the small insignificant details are the ones I have been the most satisfied with when I was finished. When it gets monotonous and you start to feel in a hurry or tired, put the burner down and come back another time and continue.

One advantage of this medium is how easy it is to stop and pick up again right where you left off hours or days later without having a lot of clean up, or having things like paint that will dry up.

 

Last part of the class will be demonstrations on different techniques and textures.

 

Lines, detail, shading, consistancy, common problems and there solution, foliage, tip cleaning, how to handel mistakes, etc...

 

If you have any questions, please contact me... I am happy to help you with any questions.