Reclaimed Frame

Hi all,
I have managed to finish the pyrography work on the photo frame that I bought from a charity shop for 50p. The design was based on one that I'd done previously on a bowl; I just modified it and added a few more leaves here and there to suit the frame.

The theme is one that comes from late summer and features red admiral butterflies and brambles.
Here is a picture of the frame now that the pyrography work is complete.

I am very pleased with it so far and, to be honest, it is a lot easier than it looks. The beauty of doing something that is organic is that as long as the basic shapes are right mistakes aren't noticed. Buildings need to have the correct perspective otherwise they look like they've been built by drunks and likewise animals need to be spot on to convince the viewer that they shouldn't be spending more time with a vet.

By the way, please feel free to take a copy of my design and have a go yourself. My main tip would be to look for areas of dark and light when shading in the leaves and, where possible, put one next to another. Likewise, where a leaf is going behind a dark piece of butterfly wing, make that edge of the leaf light and visa versa.

I used a spoon tip to do this pyrography work and a medium heat setting. the last thing you need when doing this type of image is over burn because that will take away the whole essence of the picture, which is the crispness of the edges.

I said the pyrography element of the image was complete and so it is, but I intend to paint a little colour onto the butterflies just to make them pop out a bit. I have done a watercolour painting for the centre, which I'm not sure about yet because I've used the wrong background colour.

In fact, none of the colours may not work with the frame but we will see. It is less than 3 inches square so it won't take long to do another one and I am looking forward to seeing the whole thing complete.

I will show you that in my next post.