After all, they say "practice makes perfect."
I enjoyed trying pyrography, also referred to as wood burning, for the first time a few weeks ago. I got another wood plaque and decided to try burning another design. This time around I decided to try drawing Garfield the Cat on a wood plaque.
UPDATED 08/20/2020: I realized I posted an incomplete post and forgot to provide text for The Design section. Oops. My bad. There's more than just the word "text" there as of today.
Supplies and Stuff
These are the items I used for my second attempt at pyrography:
Wood plaque. I got a Plaid brand 9"x12" unfinished wood plaque from Walmart for about $6 USD.
Sandpaper. Unlike my first attempt, this time I sanded the wood plaque to remove flaws and prevent splinters.
Wood burning kit. Once again, I used my Weller Corded Wood Burning Iron Kit.
Face mask. The mask protected my sensitive nose from the fumes released while burning the wood.
Heat resistant gloves. I found it helpful in handling the iron for a longer period.
Jar lid. I used a jar lid to place hot tips as they cooled.
Needle nose pliers. I used the needle nose pliers to remove and attach a tip to the wood burning iron.
Pencil and eraser. I sketched directly onto the wood plaque using a pencil. I erased pencil marks after I burned the image into the wood.
Acrylic paint, paintbrushes, and a jar of water. I used paintbrushes to apply acrylic paint colors to the wood plaque. I cleaned the paintbrushes in a jar of clean water.
The Design
I flipped through my sketchbook for design ideas to see if there was something I wanted to work with. I came across this sketch of Garfield the Cat breaking through paper.
The sketch is based on a design a found online. I originally intended to use this as a design for a Note 9 cell phone case, but I decided I wanted to use it for this pyrography project instead.
I wanted to stay away from a text-based design, like what I did for my first attempt at pyrography. I hoped burning a cartoon image would be easier than what I experienced last time.
Initial Test
Before I did my initial test, I sanded the wood plaque with a 220-grit sandpaper. The plaque I got from Walmart had so many splinters along the sides and corners. I wanted to remove those before I got a splinter in my skin.
I once again referred to the "Project Book" included with the wood burning iron kit. I tried following a few of the tips such as "pulling the point toward you instead of pushing it away."
One tip I wished the "Project Book" provided was which tip was best for curved lines. I guess any tip could work for burning curved lines into wood. However, I found the universal tip wasn't the best option for sharper curves thanks to my initial test.
Burning the Design
I focused on burning straight and slight curved lines with the universal tip. I'm getting better with using it. I only had a few scorched areas, so I'm proud of my improvement.
I used the needle nose pliers to swap the tips as needed. I placed hot tips in a metal jar lid to cool off. In case I didn't already mention it, I wore a mask and wore gloves to protect myself from the fumes and heat, respectively.
I used the groove tip previously during my first attempt at pyrography, so I felt comfortable using it for burning the sharper curved lines like the ones that make up Garfield's eyes.
Unfortunately, I struggled to burn following the path of my sketched lines. Even though I sanded the surface, the tip would hit a groove in the wood and follow that path. Perhaps my hands were unsteady, or I wasn't paying enough attention, but I personally struggled to follow the lines I sketched.
I realized it doesn't matter because I'm still in the learning process. I'm just surprised how well I did for it being my second time trying this craft.
I eventually switched to the larger dot tip. I didn't use it long because the line strokes were larger than I wanted, but it worked very well.
To fill-in several large areas, I finally switched to the shading tip. It worked remarkably well with burning large areas and, of course, with light shading.
The biggest problem I encountered dealt with the heat of the wood burning iron. Because I used it for a longer period during my second attempt, I noticed the iron would automatically cool down periodically. It became inconvenient as I attempted to burn into the wood.
For example, using the shading tool burned a larger area quickly, but then wouldn't burn anything for about a full minute. I realized this is likely due to a built-in temperature control feature. Unfortunately, the automatic cool down was inconvenient at times.
NOTE: I likely used all the tips incorrectly. I'm a novice, but I thought I'd share what tips I thought worked for different things in this design.
Adding A Little Color
I originally intended to only do a pyrography project. Yet, when I finished, I felt the design was too plain. I figured adding a little color to Garfield would help add a little visual interest.
I pulled out my Artist's Loft beginners' acrylic paints. I thought I could use the colors I had to quickly add orange paint color to Garfield. Unfortunately, the orange paint color looked too dark to me. I recalled Garfield to be lighter in color.
I dabbed some paints onto wax paper (I have lots of wax paper from Dollar Tree I specifically use for arts and crafts projects). I mixed a few colors to create a lighter yellow-orange color I liked best.
I left some of the darker orange color for shadows. I decided it was a good opportunity to practice working on lighting and shading.
Once I completed painting Garfield, I was done.
Adding More Color
A few hours later, I still felt the design was too plain. It was late at night, and I didn't want to go to bed before improving or ruining the design. I again pulled out my Artist's Loft beginners' acrylic paints.
I thought a blue background would complement Garfield's orange body color. A bonus of painting the background I didn't expect was hiding scorch marks under the paint color. I painted the frame edges with different shades of violet to finish the overall design.
My Thoughts
I'm enjoying pyrography! I need to get more wood plaques or other wood pieces for burning designs into it.
Burning the Garfield design onto the wood plaque took me less than an hour to complete. As I've mentioned before, I don't typically pay attention to the total amount of time I spend on projects because I'm multitasking.
In this case, I listened as Shadow vocally watched Ridiculousness (his current favorite show) on TV. When he tried to get me to watch animal clips with him, I'd unplug the wood burning iron and take a brief break.
What's Next?
This is a craft I want to get better at, so there'll be more pyrography posts in the future.
Login and Sign up to share which cartoon character you'd want me to burn into wood next. My art skills aren't great, as you've seen in my posts and videos, but I'll do the best I can as I work to improve my pyrography skills.
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Thanks, and have a great day!
Simply Jelly Jam
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