Poppies

Hi All,
Sorry it's been a long time since my last post. They say that time goes quicker as one gets older and they are right. If it carries on like this I'll be getting up before I've gone to bed.

If you were expecting to see the poppies pyrography project finished, I'm afraid it's not to be. I did however, manage to complete one poppy so I thought I would show you that.

 

I am still working on the poppy with my pyrography iron, but I thought I would point out one or two things you might want to take into account if you would like to try doing one. Please feel free to copy my drawing.

 

It is important to take your time when doing this sort of pyrography work because if you make a mistake it can't be undone. So with that in mind I set the temperature of my pyrography iron at a medium temperature. If you are using a Peter Childs machine try it on heat setting number 5. If you are using a fixed tip iron, all I can say is good luck.



I have used a spoon tip for all the work on this project and I can't imagine how it would be possible to create the effects that are required with any other tip.

I always start by burning in the outline and then once that is done I tackle the shading. This is very important and can make or break the project. I tend to pick one petal to start with and carefully put in some dark marks. If you imagine the surface of a poppy, it isn't flat, it is made up of a series of hills and valleys. So as you shade it in, try to work out in your mind's eye which bits are the valleys and which bits are the hills. Then put the darkest marks in the valleys because that is where the shade will be, and leave the tops of the hills light.

Concentrate on one petal first by putting in some shading lines and make sure each mark goes in the direction of the growth of the petal. The technique with your pyrography iron should be in one sweeping movement. Start on the outside edge and move your iron towards the centre. Because you want most of the darkest marks along the edge of the petals, it is best to take your time as you begin the burn and then slowly speed up. This will ensure that you get a graduated line. If it isn't dark enough, do it again. It is always worth practising this technique on a bit of scrap wood first to give you some confidence.

When you have one petal looking reasonable, move onto the next. Once you have all the petals complete you can adjust the tone of each one to give them some uniformity.

The pyrography marks that surround the circle in the centre of the poppy have been done by turning the heat up a little and doing lots of small stab marks with the point of the spoon tip.

If you have any questions, please let me know and with a bit of luck I will have the whole thing finished for my next post.