Pyrography Fairy

Hi All,
 In my last post I shared with you my progress so far on a pyrography picture I was doing of a fairy. I have included the picture here to save you looking back at the previous post.

 

  

Anyway, in my last post I said that it looked a bit lifeless and that it needed to be brought to life. Well hopefully, I have done that through the use of what I call contours. They are the lines that join places of equal height on a map and are similar to the swirls that are seen on a weather map especially when there is lots of low pressure about.

  

In actual fact, the idea to use these contour lines came from the need to add an extra dimension to some trinket pots that I used to do. If you look at the picture below you can see that I have followed the natural grain of the wood and it produces a lovely effect.

I could have followed the grain of the wood on my fairy picture, but there was one problem. The grain in the fairy picture was horizontal and that wouldn't have the right effect because I wanted the contours to create an impression of growth like trees.

 

So the only thing I could do was make it up. I took my pencil and drew hundreds of lines on the picture and then burnt them in with my pyrography iron.This was a painstaking piece of work literally because it gave my carpal tunnel syndrome some gyp. I had to have frequent breaks but that wasn't too bad because I got a bit more work done on my next book. By the way, all the pyrography work in this picture was done with a spoon tip. Below is a picture of the fairy with the contour lines included. I think it is a great improvement.

 

It had always been my intention to paint some of the items in the picture with watercolour paints. I'm going to start with the mushrooms and the fairy and then see how it looks. I know that some pyrography purists don't like to use paint on their pyrography work, but hell, life's to short too be bound by barriers of you own making. It is the image that counts so why shouldn't paint be used if it improves your pyrography creation.

 

The painting process is underway and you can judge whether or not it improves this picture in my next post. Meanwhile, if you have any thoughts on using paint in pyrography I'd love to hear from you.



Away with the Fairies

Hi All,
I mentioned at the end of my last post that I was working on something new and exciting with my pyrography iron, so here it is.

I don't know if I'm entering my third childhood (The second was when computer games first came out and I spent many hours playing Manic Miner on my Sinclair Spectrum) or what, but I've become intrigued by the type of illustrations that surround fairies. These include everything you find in a wood especially mushrooms and toadstools.

Anyway, I have a large library of art books and whilst browsing through one of these I came across some paintings of fairies plus the said mushrooms and toadstools etc. The style was more towards illustration than realism and I thought it would make a good subject for my pyrography iron.

So I gave the composition a bit of thought and came up with the idea of having a fary sitting on a fly agaric mushroom. Those are the red ones with the white spots, so I thought it would look nice if I painted it after the pyrography work was complete. I also included my version of a large ink cap mushroom to provide a bit of balance in the composition.

However, at this point the image I was sketching still looked a bit lifeless so I drew lots of heart shaped leaves and joined them up with curving tendrils that would be pleasant on the eye. I was still missing something at the bottom of the image, so I decided to cover the foreground with fallen leaves. This was better, but the composition still lacked a focus point, so I had the idea of giving the fairy a mushroom to hold like it was an umbrella. It isn't raining in the picture, the fairy is using it to protect herself from the falling leaves.

My intention is to use one of my old water colour picture frames to frame the work when it is complete, so once the sketch was finished I re-sized it on my computer to make it the right size. I then printed it out and transferred the image to the wood I was going to use. All I had to do then was follow the lines with my pyrography iron. I took my time and made sure that I didn't have the pyrography iron too hot. It is much quicker to use a very hot iron, but it means that you get overburn spots in places and these look unsightly. I find it is better to work at a lower temperature and keep my lines as crisp as possible.

Now, you may not be impressed with my fairy and mushrooms at this point, but worry not a jot because this image has a long way to go. This I'm calling stage one, stage two is well on the way and will be posted in the next couple of days.

Pyrography In Full Colour

Hi, I don't know if it's the the shorter days,  but time seems to be flying. I've been so busy trying to get another book ready for publishing that I have neglected my pyrography. In fact, I haven't picked my pyrography iron up for nearly two weeks.

That being the case, I haven't got any new pyrography work to share with you. However, I do have a big treat for you. I may have been busy with other jobs but my wife has been creating yet another masterpiece, so I thought you might like to see that.

She only took to the pyrography iron a few months ago but she is fast becoming an expert. In fact, she's so good I think she would be better at writing this blog than me.

Anyway, I'll show you what she's been up to. We used to be avid visitors of stately homes and have always admired the fine paintings that adorned the walls. My wife was always drawn to those small, still life pictures that were favoured by Dutch artists and this is where she got the inspiration for her latest work.

It is a still life picture that she first burnt using her pyrography iron and then painted with watercolour paints. I think the effect is amazing.

 

The pyrography and the water colour paints seems to work together really well and the colours just zing out. The other good thing about doing this type of picture with pyrography is that it doen't need glass. This means that the picture can be seen from any angle because there are no reflections from other windows, the light or the telly. I know you can get non reflective glass, but I find that it makes it like you're viewing something through a cludgy window.

 

Regarding my own pyrography work, I have just started on a new design which is a bit of a change of direction for me and I'm very excited about it. In my next post I will show you the design and the pyrography in progress.

 

Just one last thing before I leave this post. You are probably aware that beside doing pyrography I am also an author. If any of you have a kindle you might like to know that I have a free book promotion running until Midnight on Saturday 17th of November. If you would like a free copy of my book, "No Fishing In Here: Just Short Stories please click on the link below.

Click here for Amazon in the UK

 

Click here for Amazon USA

 

Hadrians Wall

Hi All,
You may know that I have been doing a bit of personalised pyrography work. It all started after I did a plaque for a friend to commemorate his achievement of doing the Coast to Coast Footpath. I have done several others since and quite enjoyed doing them.

Doing personalised pyrography work is strange because one feels pressurised by the need to do a great job and it often means working to a deadline. There is a need for total concentration too because if I make a mistake it can be costly because the blank plaques cost almost £6 each. When I see the finished article though it makes it all worthwhile

Anyway, a lady from Linclonshire saw my Coast to Coast plaque on my website and asked me if I could do one for The Hadrian's Wall Path which she had walked with her father earlier in the year. She wanted the plaque for a birthday present for him. A lovely thought. The path follows Hadrian's wall across the north of England from Bowness on Solway in Cumbria to the aptly named Wallsend in Northhumberland.

At first, I found it difficult  to find an icon that can be readily identified with Hadrian's Wall because one bit of stone wall looks pretty much the same as any other. Eventually, I settled on a drawing of Milecastle Gate and this became the centre piece of my design. I sent the lady a copy of my sketch which she approved and I then went ahead and did the pyrography work.

There is a lot of text on the plaque and I was pleased when that part of the pyrography was done. I mentioned in my last post that the best way to do text is to do the outline first and then fill in the centre. Use a short stabbing action with the point of a spoon tip instead of trying to shade the letters in.That is the method I always use and it works very well for me. Getting the curve of the text can also be quite tricky and if it wasn't for my computer I think I would find it impossible.

The lady who commissioned the plaque was very pleased when she received it and e-mailed me to say that it was perfect. In my book things don't get any better than perfect and a comment like that can work wonders for the soul.

Personalised pyrography can be quite exciting and I can hardly wait to see what commision comes in next. If you know anybody who has climbed Mount Everest, bagged his quota of Munroes, or skipped a light fandango across the Pennines, please give them my details.
Click here to go to my website

Precious Memories

Hi all,
A couple of weeks ago I was in the loft and came across my little box of treasures. There wasn't any silver or gold in that little cardboard box, but what it did hold was still precious to me.

Now that I'm getting older I find that I spend more time looking backwards rather than to the future. I won't get all maudlin because hopefully I've got a few years left in me yet, but the past represents at least 75% of my life.

Anyway, I looked in the box and the memories came flooding back. A lot of them came from the time when I was a £10 pom who had been dragged off to Australia by my parents in 1967. Warm sunshine and golden sandy beaches, mixed with a few snakes and more poisonous spiders than you could shake a boomerang at. Ah I remember it so well.

I still had some letters from my first wife whom I met in Melbourne. Some photos including one of HMS Patris, the ship I returned to good old blighty on. There was also a set of worry beads that I picked up in Athens on the way back and my crossing the equator certificate. I missed the actual ceremony because I was sick with sunstroke and laid up in my cheap cabin way down in the bowels of the ship.There were lots of other small items in that box and I guess most other people have their own box of personal stuff.

Sorry if I've been a bit slow getting to the pyrography, but do you remember that job lot of boxes that I bought? Well I reckoned that memories should not have to put up with living in shoe boxes or biscuit tins.

Below is a box that I did some pyrography on, (actually my wife did most of it; I just gave it a few finishing touches) and I think it would do any body's memories justice.

Doing letters in pyrography can be tedious but at the same time strangely therapeutic. You have to be accurate when doing letters because there is no room for error, but having said that, you don't have to think about anything clever either.

While I'm doing letters with my pyrography iron, I often listen to Harry Chapin or Leonard Cohen on my mp3 player, they take me to another place and the rest of the world just doesn't exist.

My tip for doing letters are:

Do the outlines of the letters first then fill in the centres.
Use a spoon tip
You may find it easier to creep the iron along the wood by doing lots of small movements instead of trying to draw a long straight line.
Make sure your wrist is supported

At the moment I'm working on a commission and I'll tell you more about it in my next post.

Pyrography A Mistake

Hi All,
I've finished another box so I thought I'd share it with you in this post. But, before we go there I'd like to tell you a little story.

Once upon a time, there was this little boy who grew up in a beautiful little village in England.  He roamed the woods and fields and soon learnt the names of all the magnificent trees and could identify every bird that flew in that enchanted landscape. He was truly at home with nature.

He particularly liked the dragonflies that flitted around the reeds as he spent many an hour fishing beside  a crystal clear stream. He thought these delightful little insects, with their metallic blue wings were great and he adored those dragonflies. However, this was a big mistake. The creatures he thought were dragonflies, were actually damselflies.

He was eighteen years old and fishing a small pool when a real dragonfly buzzed over his head and he nearly s**t himself. It took some time to come to terms with this creature, that was almost as big as a sparrow, and when he got home he looked it up in a book and realised his mistake.

I still have an aversion to dragonflies, but I still have a soft spot for damselflies and that is why I have used them in a couple of my designs.

If and when you start doing your own designs for pyrography, make sure you keep any rough sketches because they can be quickly adapted and used again somewhere else. Here is the original design for the dragon flies which I used on a round plaque.

If you learn to use photoshop you can quickly re-size or move items about in your design which is handy when doing pyrography. It saves me a lot of time re-drawing things that I want to use again.

Below you will find the box with the new damselfly design. I used a spoon tip in my pyrography iron and painted the damselflies with a special watercolour paint that gives the wings a lovely translucent sheen. Because I used a watercolour paint on it, I used spray varnish for the first of the three coats I gave it for protection. Then I gave the insides a nice covering of a deep red felt, just to finish it off.

Before we go I just thought I'd mention mistakes in pyrography. What do you do if you make a mistake with your pyrography iron?

Well, if it's a big mistake there isn't much you can do. I have been lucky enough on occasions to be able to blend the mistake into my work by changing the design or adding another element that wasn't there originally. If that isn't possible all you can do is use the piece of wood for practise.

If I make a small mistake with my pyrography iron, I can sometimes fix it with a craft knife. By using the blade as a scraper rather than a knife, it is possible, if the the burn isn't too big or too deep, to remove it. However, concentration and trying really hard not to make any mistakes is the best way forward with pyrography.

I am currently working on a box for precious memories and I will share that with you next time.

Pyrography Hares

Hi all, in my last post I mention that I'd purchased half a dozen wooden boxes to do some pyrography on. I also said I'd show you some results after I've attacked them with my pyrography iron.
This post is about the first of three that I have been working on.

A few months ago my wife and I were having a little tour around the Peak District in Derbyshire when we came across a small shop/gallery in the heart of Tideswell. The village is lovely and a magnificent church provides a splendid focal point for visitors. The shop in question is more or less opposite the church and we popped in to see what was on offer. Now let me tell you that over the years I've popped into a lot of arty crafty shops and popped right out again just as quick. The reason for my rapid departure is that many of these shops are filled with over priced tat.

Anyway, I walked into the establishment mentioned with crossed fingers and an open mind. Well was I surprised; the place was bursting with with some fantastic pieces of art and was completely devoid of the afor mentioned tat.

Obviously the owner of the shop had impeccable taste, but not only that, everything was priced decently. As we walked around the shop it became obvious that there was a bit of a theme running with Hares.  Hares are magical creatures and this shop boasted some fine examples and my wife declared a liking for them. So this was why I did a pyrography image on one of the 6 boxes.

How I went about it
For years my wife has had a wooden ornament of a running hare. It's a bit basic but the shape is there. So I used that as a model to draw the outline shape and then put some more details in from my imagination. I then scanned it into my computer and using Photo Shop Elements, I sized the image of the hare to suit the box. Then because I wanted two hares running side by side I copied and pasted the original hare then used the move tool to pick it up and position it a little way back from the original hare. I played about with the composition for a while until it looked pleasing. Then I printed it out and used wax free paper to transfer the two hares to the top of the box. Once that was done I used my pyrography iron, with a spoon tip, to burn in the outline. Once that was complete I carefully did the eyes and then the shading.

I think that pyrography comes to life at the shading in stage. Burning outlines is all well and good, but mastering the art of shading is what gives any pyrography work substance. I'm still working on the art of mastering it, but I'll stick at it because pyrography is like anything else. Success won't come easily, you have to practise.

If you are trying to get to grips with shading hares or anything else for that matter here are my tips.
1 Draw the item on paper first and shade it in. Your shading won't be right first time so rub the mistakes out and try again. You can't rub out the mistakes you make with a pyrography iron but you can rub out those drawn with a pencil.

2 Use the back of a spoon tip when shading and keep the temperature really low. Remember. Rushing when shading will result in disaster.

3 Keep your pyrography iron moving at all times. I find small circular motions are the best.

4 Get into the habit of blowing on your tip as you put it down onto the wood, that along with the low temperature I've already suggested will ensure you don't end up with deep burn marks where you don't want them.

I know you are dying to see it so here is the completed box.

 

The box in the picture below looks bowed, but it's just the barrelling effect of the camera lens.

By the way I have a request.
I like doing pyrography work on bowls, but I have a problem with my supplier. They are currently out of stock and it doesn't look as if they are going to order any more. Bummer, if you know where I can find some I,d love to hear from you.