Pyrography
with Monica Moody
Pyrography refers to the art technique of decorating wood (or other materials) by burning on the surface with a heated metallic point. Wide ranges of pyrography tools are available, and many different types of wood can be used. The materials list will vary depending on your preferences. The following pages contain more specifics on these materials and their uses; upon review, you can better determine which materials you will need.
Materials
• Woodburning tool
• Wood
• Leather
• Sandpaper
• Small blowtorch
• Media for adding color (watercolor pencils, pan or liquid watercolors, acrylic paint, stain, wood stain markers, antiquing medium)
• Dremel® tool or drill
• Waxed thread or hemp cord for wearables (and beads if desired)
• Water
• Paper or shop towels
• Sealants or finishes for completed pieces (polyurethane, clear fixative sprays, varnish, Danish oil, or beeswax polish)
Fundamentals of Pyrography
There are many resources (books, websites, classes, and videos) devoted to pyrography, where you can find a wealth of detailed information and woodburning instructions. Here you will find a brief (but hopefully valuable) introduction to pyrography that will focus mainly on safety, an overview of available tools, and some fun ways to integrate mixed media with relatively basic pyrography techniques.
Safety
In addition to preventing smoke inhalation, you should also be aware that some woods and materials are more toxic than others. Some materials should not be burned on at all. Here are a few key tips:
• Basswood is readily available at most hobby shops and is a great wood to burn on, especially for beginners.
• Other woods that are good for beginners are birch, Italian poplar plywood, and maple.
• When burning on plywood, be careful not to burn too deep into the glue layer.
• Be mindful that burning wood may affect not only the artist but also the people around the artist.
• Never burn on: MDF; pressure-treated wood; any wood that is already stained, painted, or sealed with a finish; plastic of any kind; glues or tapes; leather that is tanned with chrome or metal; treated canvas, man-made compounds; or anything of unknown origin.
Tools
There are many brands of woodburners available, but most are one of two types:
• Inexpensive single (or variable) temperature “solid point” burners that resemble a soldering iron. These are usually found in craft stores and often come in kits with interchangeable tips or nibs.
• “Hot wire” machines, which consist of a base unit with adjustable temperature dials and separate woodburning pens that plug into the unit.
This is an example of a variable-temperature solid point burner. Tips are interchangeable, but the burner must be completely cooled before the tips are removed and replaced.
This is an example of a variable-temperature hot wire machine with interchangeable fixed-tip pens. This particular unit from Razertip® is a dual burner, which makes switching from one pen to another quick and convenient. (Pens cannot be used simultaneously.)
All projects in this section were burned with a Razertip® SS-D10 burner, using mostly skew and shader tip pens. The Razertip® dual burner has an amazing variety of fixed-tip pens. Fixed-tip simply means the tip is not removed from the pen itself, so the pens are interchangeable with the unit, instead of tips being interchangeable with pens.
The array of available pens for this type of burner can be daunting, but as pyrography expert Sue Walters notes on her website*, a beginner can do well with only three pens: a skew, a writer, and a shader.
This piece was drawn with pencil and then burned with skews and shaders. The thicker lines were actually burned by turning the triangle shader pen on its side. Thinner lines, dashes and dots were made with a small skew. Some shading was done with the triangle-tipped shader pen, but many of the dark areas appear as such because of the closeness of lines that were made with a skew or the side of the shader pen. I finished this piece with two light coats of Polycrylic®.
This deer was drawn with pencil and then burned with skews and shaders. As with the work above, turning a triangle shader on its side burned thicker lines. Small lines and marks (and all those hairs) were made with a small skew pen. The deer was burned on the exact same type of wood as the man above. The warm, rust background color was achieved by adding antiquing medium, and the dark edges of the wood were burned with a small blowtorch. (These techniques will be discussed in the following pages.) I finished this piece with two light coats of Polycrylic®.
This butterfly was sketched onto the wood plaque with a pencil. Initial outlines were burned with a skew and then filled in with a triangle-tipped shader pen. The background was done with an extra-small ball-tip pen. I finished this piece with homemade beeswax polish.
Pen Types
Skew tip pens
Writing tip pen
Shader tip pens
Specialty tip pens (circle stampers)
Woodburned Leather
Besides wood, there are other things you can burn with pyrography tools, such as gourds, paper, and leather. This is a quick-and-easy bookmark project that can be done with a strip of leather and a woodburning tool.
To create this bookmark, punch a hole in the top of the leather strip and sketch a peacock feather with pencil.
Burn the larger areas of the design first.
Note that when burning leather, you should use a lower temperature setting. Less heat is needed than when burning most woods.
Once the main areas of the sketch are filled in, add more freehand lines.
Burn the edges of the leather strip to create a border.
The finished bookmark (on the right), along with another bookmark that features hemp cord and beads.
All burning on this project was done with a triangle-shaped shader tip pen (turned on its side for lines and used flat for darkening solid areas).
Woodburned Pieces & Color
This demonstration details a few ways to add color to woodburned art using FolkArt® antiquing medium and Inktense® pencils.
Begin by sketching a ladybug and barn owl on two wooden oval plaques. Next burn in the outlines.
Note the black item below the burner. A tip cleaner is a little tool for removing the carbon build-up from your woodburning pen tips.
Burn a dark border on the top edges of the plaque using the triangle-shaped shader tip pen.
Use an extra-small skew for smaller lines and details.
Add a little shading with a triangle-shaped shader.
Paint FolkArt® antiquing medium around the edges, and then quickly wipe it off with a paper towel.
Add color with Inktense pencils.
Add water with a brush to the areas colored with Inktense pencils. The color will blend and become more vibrant.
Final touches: Use a white, oil-based, fine-tipped Sharpie® to add details to the ladybug and owl faces.
Two types of pens were used to burn these pieces: A triangle-shaped shader tip pen, turned on its side for lines and used flat for darkening solid areas (A), and an extra-small skew pen for thinner lines and details (B).
Abstracts: Go with the Grain
Burning lines along the natural patterns in wood is relatively uncomplicated and makes for a very organic, enjoyable process. For this particular project, find a plank of wood that has interesting patterns, and cut it into squares to create a polyptych (one work that is comprised of multiple panels).
Trace over the patterns in the wood with a pencil to define the areas you want sectioned off. Next burn the lines, and then color in sections with watercolor pencil, stain, and liquid watercolors. Add the bird silhouettes last to tie everything together into one scene. See the steps below for more detail on how to finish each piece.
These two photos show an example of how each piece began. Natural patterns in the wood were traced over with pencil to define where lines would be burned.
Using a tester piece, continue to burn lines along the wood’s natural patterns.
Use a small blowtorch to burn the edges of the piece.
Enhance existing color and add darker color with wood stain markers.
Add more color with watercolor pencil and white with acrylic paint.
All burning on this project was done with a triangle-shaped shader tip pen (turned on its side for lines and used flat for darkening a few larger/solid areas).
Wooden Wearables
Create woodburned pendants from slices of maple. The slices of maple have a very natural look, with the bark still on the outside edges. However, you could also make these pendants from laser-cut wooden circles or other shapes available from hobby stores.
Sand each slice on both sides, and drill a hole at the top with a Dremel® tool. Sketch designs onto the slice with a pencil.
Burn thicker lines with the side of the triangle-shaped shader tip pen, and use a small skew pen to burn smaller lines and details.
Use a triangle-shaped shader tip pen to burn a border on the bark around the top edge of the slice.
Use wood stain marker to color in the background.
For this pendant, use a blue Tim Holtz® Distress Stain with a paintbrush.
String finished pendants with waxed thread. You could also use a chain or a leather or hemp cord.
Two types of pens were used to burn these pieces: a triangle-shaped shader tip pen, turned on its side for lines and used flat for darkening solid areas (A), and an extra-small skew pen for thinner lines and details (B).
Burn Outside the Box
Pyrography is a wonderful way to create unique and eye-catching functional art. This skeleton box is the perfect project for Halloween!
Draw a sugar skull design onto a coffin-shaped box with a pencil, and begin burning the background around the sketched design.
On the sides of the box, you can create a patterned border by pressing the edge of the triangle-shaped shader tip pen along the perimeter.
Switch to a small skew tip pen to burn in outlines and details.
Use a small circle stamp burning pen to create the patterned background around the box edges.
Use a small blowtorch to burn the edges along the sides of the box.
Brush on two light coats of Polycrylic® to seal the completed box.
In this example, a printed image is transferred using heat transfer on a solid point burner.
Tape the printed images to the top and front of the box. Be sure that the images are printed as mirror images.
Using the solid point burner with a transfer tip, go over the back of the paper in a circular motion.
Peek behind the paper to make sure the image is transferring.
Use the transferred image as a guide to burn the image into the wood.
Add an antiquing medium to all sides and the bottom. Lastly, burn the edges with a small blowtorch.
A triangle-shaped shader tip pen (A) and an extra-small skew pen (B) were used for both pieces.
For the flag box, a small circle stamper (C) was used to create the background all around the edges.