Pyrography 101

Over the past couple of months it’s been a tad hot to spend much time in the studio. So, with 100+ degree temperatures, what do I decide to do? Learn the art of Pyrography (aka wood burning). Because I paint on wood panels, it seemed like the perfect accent skill, and I have been interested for a long time in adding some kind of patterning or imaging that I could lay down before the painting process. I started out with a cheap pyrography tool and a few hot tips, and started playing around. Within a week I had to order a more substantial (but still affordable) tool. Practicing on small pieces of wood, I began to get comfortable with the different hot tips and what I was able to do with each of them.

Project 1 - freehand

I am now a little bit addicted to this new form of expression. I say “new” because I’ve never tried it before in my life, and once I got started I found that almost everyone I knew had tried wood burning at one time or another (usually during childhood). How have I not tried this before?
 
After a couple of weeks of dabbling and playing I finally felt ready to attempt the real reason for learning to burn… something on a bigger scale. So, last night I began. First with a projected image and sketching with pencil to get the basic design, then moved on to the outline burning of the design. And this is where we're at. The outline burn is done, now for the shading and detail burning.

Yes, addicted would be the word. Stay tuned. Should be interesting.

xoxo

Kim