WOOD BURNING

The first of five things I plan on tackling is

WOOD BURNING,

 or more officially known as PYROGRAPHY

'Pyrography is the art of decorating wood or other materials with burn marks resulting from the controlled application of a heated object such as a poker.

It is also known as pokerwork or wood burning.'

Pyrography means "writing with fire" and is the traditional art of using a heated tip or wire to burn or scorch designs onto natural materials such as wood or leather.

There are various ways in which burning can take place, through appropriate mediums throughout the years pyrography has been popular, the modern tool used is similar to a soldering iron, with a solid point. A hot wire tool is also used, as well as more basic methods such as a metal implement heated in a fire to used to brand, or even sunlight has been used to concentrate a burn with a magnifying glass.

Varying the type of tip used, the temperature, or the way the iron is applied to the material all create different effects. This allows a great range of natural tones and shades to be achieved - beautiful subtle effects can create a picture in sepia tones, with incredibly attention to detail for those more interested in the image side of woodburning.

A very typical arts and crafts style wood burn of these cats, not my thing and not something I would try and replicate, but it just shows the type of work being produced with subtle shading, and sepia tones with extraordinary attention to detail.

In contrast to subtle markings, strong dark strokes can make a bold, dramatic design, which is exactly the desired effect I plan on trying to create with my own wood burning.

I saw these images a few months ago and it was the rawness that struck me and the effect of simply being on wood creates a really calming effect, it has a certain simplicity to it by being on wood, and the contrast from the type to the background is very effective and I think works really well.

This is one of the reasons I wanted to try wood burning, even though these images weren't even created by pyrography, but by laser etching. A little disappointing but still I see it as it could have been done by wood burning and therefore still think it is allowed to use as inspiration.

Solid-point machines offer a variety of tip shapes, and can also be used for "branding" the wood or leather. Wire-point machines allow the artist to shape the wire into a variety of configurations, to achieve broad marks or fine lines. This work is time-consuming, done entirely by hand, with each line of a complex design drawn individually. After the design is burned in, wooden objects are often coloured, sometimes boldly or more delicately tinted.


Light-coloured hardwoods such as sycamore, basswood, beech and birch are most commonly used, as their fine grain is not obtrusive, and they produce the most pleasing contrast. However, other woods, such as pine or oak, are also used when required. Pyrography is also applied to leather items, using the same hot-iron technique. Leather lends itself to bold designs, and also allows very subtle shading to be achieved. Specialist vegetable-tanned leather must be used for pyrography, (as modern tanning methods leave chemicals in the leather which are toxic when burned) typically in light colours for good contrast.


There is a lot to wood burning, and I find it really interesting, and have a lot of fun playing around and actually doing designs. No doubt it will take a lot of time to keep improving and have the control to work with lines and shading, although sounds like its not that difficult. I think it as a skill and as a method of delivering design it is affective, more personal, and quite different, its good.