Hi guys!
I thought I'd write up a post about the silver birch pyrography "botanicals" wall plaque I recently designed. It is available on our Etsy shop, and I thought it might be nice to go through the processes involved in creating a piece like this.
 |
| "Botanicals" pyrographed plaque |
You may recall from my previous posts about the wooden necklaces, and the pyrography hearts, that my husband is a woodturner (check out our website), and one of the methods he uses to decorate or embellish some of his pieces is pyrography, which is the art of adding a permanent design to wood or other materials using burn marks resulting from the controlled application of heat.
I've since designed a number of pieces myself, and now I've became more familiar with the equipment and tools, I've been having a lot of fun creating this "botanicals" design, which I aim to feature on further items in the future, and also on my ceramics pieces. By the way, the heart plaques I designed are currently available on our Etsy shop (www.craftykindcrafts.etsy.com) at a discount price of just £9.50. Each one is unique.
 |
| Three designs to choose from |
So, here's a brief description of the equipment I use for pyrography. A more informative description can be found on the post I wrote to accompany the designing of the pyrography hearts.
You need a pyrography unit, one or two pyrography pens and an air filter. Once you get into pyrography, you'll discover that a variety of different nibs are available (different thicknesses, different shapes). But I'm focusing on the basic kit here.
You will also need some scrap wood (or leather if you like, but we'll cover that in a separate blog) to practice on, and some finished pieces that you are wanting to decorate.
 |
| "Peter Child" pyrography unit |
 |
| Pyrography pens (2 different nibs) |
 |
| "Microclene" air filter |
It's easy to use the equipment. You must first of all switch on your air filter, and have it positioned so that it draws the smoke/fumes away from you. When you start to pyro you'll know what I mean. Do not inhale the smoke!
Make sure your pen is connected to the unit and then switch on the unit, turning the dial to your desired heat. The higher the number, the hotter the heat!
The wire at the end of your pen starts to heat up pretty rapidly. Once glowing, you can start to make marks on your practice piece of wood. The degree of heat you use very much depends on the type of wood you've chosen, the nature of the design, and the size and shape of the pen nib. It's just a question of practise.
 |
| Making marks on your practice piece |
I'll take you through the process I used to apply my "botanicals" design to the silver birch section:
- This piece of silver birch originated from our garden. It comes from a log that was removed from the tree in order to keep the tree healthy. It's great to be able to use it for something now that it is no longer part of a tree!
The section was cut and then sanded to a very fine grade. My husband did this for me, and it took him quite a while to get the correct degree of smoothness.
- I then drew my design onto the section. I'd made a number of sketches of this design beforehand; I didn't just design it on the fly!
 |
| "Botanicals" design drawn onto the section of silver birch |
- Once I was happy with my design (remember that you can use a standard rubber/eraser to rub out any unwanted lines. You'll also be doing this after you've completed the pyrography in order to remove the pencil lines), I started to trace over the outlines of my design using the pyrography pen.
 |
| Close-up of my design |
 |
| Tip of the pen glowing hot |
 |
| Starting to trace over the outlines |
- You do need to set about this carefully, as every mark you make is obviously permanent, as you are branding the wood with the hot pen. This particular piece of birch, despite being highly sanded, was fairly "ridgy", especially when I had to draw across the grain. It takes a steady hand ...
 |
| Outlines completed, now on to the detail |
- Once I was happy with the outlined design, I went on to add the shading, form and depth. I chose a mixture of stippling and lines to create depth and shape. Check out the hearts post I mentioned earlier if you'd like to see a brief video of the stippling process.
 |
| Close-up of the outlines |
- Once completed, I rubbed out all the pencil marks. This is the great thing about pyrography, as you can make mistakes with your pencil marks and then just rub them off afterwards. You obviously can't rub out any of the burned-in marks ... but that just adds to the thrill of it!
- I applied a little cellulose sanding sealer to the piece, just to give it some protection and a slight sheen. I then attached a small picture hook to the back of the plaque so that it can be hung up on the wall.
 |
| Cellulose sanding sealer |
 |
| The completed piece. Available on our Etsy shop! |
Keep crafting x
If you fancy looking at our Etsy shop, please click here!
Our Etsy shop
Our YouTube channel
Disclaimer: We are not sponsored by any companies we mention, nor are any of these links affiliate links, nor are we trying to sell you anything. The links are purely for your convenience if you are interested in anything we try or show you.
Comments
Post a Comment