How to Smooth & Burn Leather Pyrography Tutorial wood burning

About a year ago I tried burning on leather and was very disappointed with the results.   The leather’s surface wasn’t conducive to the techniques I use in pyrography, so I couldn’t achieve the same level of detail I can with wood.  A few months back I became obsessed with learning how to burn fine art on leather.  I started researching the subject and was surprised at the lack of information.  Lots of people are burning on leather, but they didn’t discuss whether or not they prepare the leather surface before burning.  Armed with determination and some scrap leather I started experimenting.  I discovered a process that gives me a firm and ultra-smooth surface that allows me to create fine art pyrography on leather.   I will share what I’ve learned, and provide tips and techniques to get better burn results.  

By the way, pen tip and nib refer to the same thing. 

One more thing, I am not a leather worker.  I dabble in crafting things in leather, but I’m awful at it.  I just like to burn on the leather.  I cannot tell you what weight of leather is best to use.  I know enough about leather that it depends on what you plan to do with it, but that’s as much as I know.   There is a YouTube channel that I use to get information from:  Weaver Leather Supply.   They provide a lot of informational videos like staining leather, leather weights, etc.   Plus, they have a lot of leather crafting videos that are geared towards beginners.  Here’s a link to their YouTube channel:  https://www.youtube.com/@WeaverLeatherSupply

I have a YouTube video that I make years after I wrote this blog. The video covers a lot of the same information in this blog, and a few extra bits of information I’ve learned since writing this blog.   To watch, either click on the image to the left or click on this link:  https://youtu.be/h2t5906TYhA

Another possibly helpful video is  the one I did where I helped someone with their leather project.   I answer some questions and provide results to some experiments I did using leather.   Click on the video thumbnail to watch or click on this link:  https://youtu.be/qfg1788_zis

Before we get going I need to explain the difference between the flesh and skin side of the leather.   The flesh side is the rough or back side of the leather, and the skin is the smooth side.  Pyrography is always done on the skin side.  Or maybe I should say that I believe it is always done on the skin side.  There might be someone out there who burns on the flesh side.

April 13, 2018 – I have to share a discovery with you.   I used a “polished” pen tip to burn on the leather and it was so much easier to burn with!  Colwood offers to polish pen tips when you buy them for $3.00 (usd as of April 2018).   If you plan to do a lot of burning on leather I’d recommend investing purchasing a couple of polished pen tips.   I purchased my favorite shaders (J and mini J) with the polished option and plan to use them just on leather.

PREPARING LEATHER

The first question that should be asked is whether or not you need to prep the leather surface.   It is not necessary.

The process I use to prepare leather smooths and firms it’s surface.   I prefer the firmer surface for burning because the pen tip glides over the leather easier.   On the flip side, it also makes the leather less pliable.   Mostly I do wall hangings, so stiffer leather is a benefit in this situation.   Some projects, like a leather jacket, needs to stay as pliable as possible, so I wouldn’t do anything to alter that.

Step 1 – Wet the leather

Place the leather, skin side up, on a clean smooth surface. 

Do not cut your leather to size as the smoothing process (aka burnishing) will distort the shape of the leather.  If you do cut it before smoothing, just keep in mind that you will probably have to trim it to shape later.   

Liberally mist the front and back of the leather with water.   The goal is to get the leather very wet so it is nice an pliable.   

I use a small pump spray bottle for this, but you can also use a damp sponge to wet leather. 

Here’s a photo of the leather after I was done misting it with water.  As you can see there are little pools of water here and there.  Don’t worry about them as the leather will quickly absorb the water.

Step 2 – Burnish the leather

After the leather is very damp, firmly rub over the entire skin surface of the leather with the burnisher of your choice.   I am applying a lot of pressure with the burnisher as I smooth the leather.  The burnisher I’m using in the photo was made out of cherry wood.

It is extremely important to make sure the burnisher you are using is smooth.  Rough spots can scrape/scratch the leather surface ruining it.

Todd made the burnisher out of a piece of scrap wood he had.  It measures 8” long, 2” wide, and 3/4” thick (20.3 x 5.1 x 1.9 cm) and is rounded on all sides for comfortable gripping.   

If you make your own, use a hard wood and preferably one that is pale in color.   Some of the darker and/or colorful woods can bleed their color when wet and I doubt the leather could be fixed if that happens.

The most important side of the burnisher is the rounded end.  Only the burnishing end needs to be sanded so it is ultra-smooth. 

As I said before, you can use almost anything as a burnisher.

I initially tried using the end of a drinking glass.  It worked, but it was too large for my hand to hold onto comfortably.

I also tried a small plastic jar.  The jar is 2” tall (5.1 cm) and it is very comfortable for me to hold onto.  I found that when I’m working with a small piece of leather the jar works best for me. 

After you smooth the entire leather surface with the burnisher, rotate the leather and repeat in a new direction. 

Add more water if the leather starts to dry.  Continue this process of rotating and burnishing in a new direction until you have smoothed the leather in all directions.  

Then flip the piece of leather over and repeat the burnishing process on the back (flesh) side of the leather.   

Note –  if you plan to use gum tragacanth on the flesh (back) side of the leather, then skip this step.   

See the section on water alternative for more information on gum tragacanth.

This is a composite photo of a leather test piece.  The top portion of the photo shows the leather, and there is a separation line drawn down the center. 

The left side of the separation line was not smoothed, but the right side was. 

Looking closely you can see the left side has a lot more visible texture to it.  Plus, it feels slightly rough to my fingertips.   

The right side is much smoother because it has been burnished or smoothed out.  The texture on the right side feels more like glass.

The bottom part of the composite photo shows the side view of the leather test piece.  I’m holding onto the left side which has not been burnished, but the right side has.  Hopefully you can see how the right side is a touch thinner than than the left side.  The burnishing process compresses the leather.

Is it necessary to burnish the flesh side of the leather?   No. 

I burnish both sides of the leather because it further compress the leather providing the firmest surfaces to burn on.   Keep in mind that this is my personal preference. You may or may not like burning on burnished leather.

I mentioned before that the leather distorts with the smoothing process.  My small test pieces gained at least 1/8” on all sides (0.32 cm) and in some places it stretched out by 1/4″ (0.64 cm).   Because of this I don’t cut the leather to exact size until after I’m done with the smoothing process.

Step 3 – Let dry

Let the leather dry completely before doing anything else.  I flip the leather once or twice to help keep it semi-flat as it has a tendency to start curling.  Thinner or lighter weight leather has a tendency to curl more than thicker (heaver weight) leather.   

Depending on the size of the leather, how wet it is, etc., the drying process can take a number of hours.  I generally let mine sit overnight.

After the leather is dry it is ready for burning or crafting.

WATER ALTERNATIVE

Traditionally gum tragacanth is used to smooth or burnish the edges of the leather, but it can be used on the flesh (back) side.

The leather needs to be dry before applying a very small amount of gum tragacanth onto the flesh side of the leather.  A little goes a long way.  Then burnish the leather.  I’ve found that it is best to only burnish in one direction.  This makes the flesh side smoother looking.

Gum tragacanth will darken the leather and impart a shiny sheen once burnished.  Apply sparingly as a thick coat will make the leather very stiff. 

Here’s a photo of the flesh side of two pieces of leather.  The left side is untreated.  The right side has been treated with gum tragacanth and burnished.  

Below are the pros and cons of water and gum tragacanth.

WATER

• free
• no smell
• matte finish
• stays supple
• Can smooth the flesh side while the skin side is still wet
• No reaction. By reaction I mean that the water won’t cause any skin irritation if you are crafting a wearable leather item like a bracelet. 

GUM TRAGACANTH

• cost money
• slight smell
• darkens the leather
• imparts a sheen
• loses a little suppleness
• heavy coat turns milky in color and really stiffen the leather
• Skin side must be dry before treating the flesh side
• Might cause a skin reaction with wearables like bracelets   

I very seldom use the gum tragacanth on the flesh side of leather.  In fact, the only time I have was when I was crafting credit card holders.  The reason is that I want to keep the flesh side super smooth for as long as possible so the credit cards don’t catch on anything.

Here’s a quadrant comparison where I tried smoothing with water and/or gum tragacanth.  A = water only.   B = not smoothed.   C = water and gum tragacanth.  D = gum tragacanth only.   Now keep in mind that the piece of leather was really small, so it was difficult to work with and it had a big crease in it. 

To me there is no benefit of using both water and gum on the same side.  Especially since you have to wait until the water treatment is dry before doing the gum. 

I think gum tragacanth produces the smoother surface on the flesh side compared to water, but you lose a little more of the suppleness.  And if you apply a heavy coat of gum the leather can become almost ridged like cardboard. 

PATTERN TRANSFER

I use the tracing method to transfer my patterns just like I do with wood.   It’s cheap, easy, and gives me control on what I want to include. 

Print off your pattern on lightweight paper (standard copier paper is perfect), coat the back of the pattern with a graphite pencil, secure to leather, and trace over the pattern.  Make sure to check the trace results for accuracy before removing the pattern.   

I don’t draw directly on the leather with a pencil.  Most of the time the pencil won’t leave a mark, and it frequently carves a line into the leather.   

Once your design is transferred to the leather, you can erase the pencil marks with a standard pencil eraser.

Very Important! Do not press hard when transferring the pattern as it is very easy to emboss the pattern into the surface of the leather.

DO NOT USE SCOTCH TAPE to secure the pattern to the leather.   Instead use a paper tape like “gentle paper First Aid Tape” because it has a very low adhesive factor.

This will help prevent abrasions on the leather when the tape is removed.  That is it will as long as you DO NOT press firmly or rub over the paper tape.

This composite photo shows paper tape and scotch tape side-by-side on a piece of leather (left side). 

I rubbed firmly over both pieces of tape just to see what would happen.

Both types of tape abraded the leather, but the scotch tape was the worst of the two.  Being a curious type, I did mist the leather with water, rub over the area with a burnisher, and the tape abrasion disappeared, so it can be fixed.

BURNING TIPS / TECHNIQUES

I highly recommend burning on a scrap piece of leather to get a feel for it.  Try different techniques and heat settings to see how the leather reacts. 

Looking at my test piece you can see that I tried smooth strokes, zigzag fur strokes, and an assortment of strokes, blotches, etc. to the right of the animal. 

Scrap leather is a great place to check the temperature of your nib before you work on the actual artwork.

The below tips aren’t in any particular order.

1) Keep the pen heat low! My Colwood burner goes up to 10 and I had the heat setting around between 0.5 – 2.5 with   0.5 = low.   1.25 = medium.   2 = high.   3+ = instant charring (smells awful).  Remember each unit is different and the pen tip you are using also influences this.  

For example, my micro writer pen tip requires a slightly higher heat setting than my shader does to get the same brown tone.  Also, my pen tips are old and have had a lot of use, so they don’t require as much heat as newer pen tips do.

2) Keep a piece of scrap leather nearby to check the heat setting. 

3)  Only burn on vegetable tanned leather!   This is frequently referred to a veg tanned.   DO NOT burn on chrome tanned, dyed, or stained leather.   The chemicals used in chrome tanning, dying, and staining can be very toxic.  When you burn on leather you will cause those chemicals to vaporize into the air you’re breathing!   Your health is NOT worth the risk!

4) Keep a tip cleaner handy and use it often!   Especially when burning dark.  The gunk (carbon) builds up quickly and can be difficult to remove.  

This picture of my shading tip shows the gunk build up after just a few dark lines and blotches were burned. 

What can be used to clean your tip?  100% cotton cloth.  I use old blue jeans.  The nib can be rubbed onto the cloth while still warm to remove most of the carbon build up.   Make sure that the cloth is place on a heat safe surface!

5) Burn on cool leather. If you need to re-burn over an area let it cool completely before re-working.  If the leather gets too warm it loses firmness, for lack of a better term.    It felt more like I was carving/shaping the leather instead of burning it.   To put this another way, it was like working with soft butter.  When the leather gets to this point, the surface is very prone to tearing.

When burning on low to medium low heat I didn’t have any problems with the different techniques I use.

When burning on medium or higher heat the leather grain quickly became an issue. What would happen is that the leather would tear if I burned in one direction, but not the other.  I’m not familiar enough with leather to be able to tell you if the tearing happened while burning against the grain or not.

6) Don’t burn deep lines as leather isn’t that thick.

7) Use light pressure when burning. Put another way, I had much better results when I barely touched the nib to the leather.  If I applied too much pressure on the pen tip the resulting burn wasn’t as smooth.  The smaller the nib was, the worst this problem became.  The reason is that the nib can easily sink down into the leather surface. 

8) Burn on quality leather.  I’ve bought some extremely cheap leather.    One piece in particular stands out because I had an extremely difficult time getting dark burn results.  I would burn over the leather, and it wouldn’t darken up.  When the leather cooled back down it had a slightly milky appearance and felt a touch greasy.  At the time, I didn’t understand what was happening.   Now I know it was fatty spew or fatty bloom. 

What is fatty spew (also called spue)?  

Per google:  Fatty spew is a white, waxy, or oily film that appears on the surface of leather goods when natural fats and oils within the leather migrate to the surface and crystallize.   I’m not aware of anyway to safely remove this from artwork. 

Fatty spue happens when the leather isn’t stored properly and/or isn’t cured properly.  That was mostly likely why the leather was so cheap.   The leather I bought was a quarter of the cost of what all the other leather in the store was going for.  Being a novice, I thought I was getting a fantastic bargain!   Little did I know.  

9) HIGH HEAT – go slow. Use very short strokes as high heat tends to rip the leather.  I’ve found I get better result if I just press the pen tip to the leather and lift straight up.  Think about it, you are burning on skin.  Your skin can bubble and peel when you get a bad burn and leather isn’t much different.  Be prepared for a very unpleasant smell.

When burning really dark; go slow, clean the tip often, and try not to re-work dark areas.

Be forewarned that if the heat is really high the leather tends to char instantly and the charring ‘bleeds’ or spreads. I can’t think of a good word for this, so let me give an example instead.  If I’m using a micro writing pen tip and touch it to the leather I would normally get a tiny dot, but if the heat setting is too high I will end up with a very large charred dot.  Most of the time it is also very irregular in shape (not round).  

Another potential problem with burning at high heats is the char spots flaking off.   I had finished burning a dark background, and when I flexed or bent the leather a couple of tiny flecks of charred leather fell off.  The spot from where the flecks fell off was still dark, but not as dark as the surrounding area.  Plus if the light hit the area right you could see a texture change.   I burned back over the spot and it seemed to fix it.    

FIXING MISTAKES

Leather is not very forgiving, but mistakes can be fixed by using the tip of an X-acto knife.  I can’t emphasize enough the need to gently scrape.   It is very easy to gouge into the leather and cause a lot of damage.  Even using a light pressure, the surface won’t be as smooth as it was.   

To fix that, lightly mist the area with water. You can also dab the area with a damp cotton swab (cotton bud).  Then gently rub over the area with a clean tool that has a smooth blemish free surface.  I’m using a plastic “bone folder” that is traditionally used to crease paper when making cards.

The larger the section is that you need to lighten, the harder it will be to hide all evidence of that.  The same is true with the darkness of the burn.  Darker burns are harder to remove than light one.  In this photo I’m showing the before and after where I scraped away a dark burn.   I removed most of it, but there where a few really dark lines that I couldn’t erase.    

My best advice when burning on leather is to keep the heat low and go slow.  Most of the mistakes I make are due to excessive heat and rushing to get something done.

PRACTICE

Like with everything, practice makes perfect.  My first leather pyrography project, the acorn, was ok, but nothing spectacular.  Each project I gain more knowledge and skill, so my artwork continues to improve.  I doubt that I will ever achieve the same level of detail on leather as I can on wood, but I’ll have fun trying.   

Here’s my first leather pyrography project.  The leaf on the left side isn’t near as smooth looking as the right leaf.  That’s due to leather grain.  I was burning on a low heat, so if I had known to smooth the leather first I would have gotten better results.   Also the far left acorn has a lot of black char marks on it.  I don’t remember what I was doing or trying to do, but it obviously wasn’t working.

The leather bookmark was my second project.  It was a very basic image, but I was trying to make it 3D looking and failed.  Then I tried to make it black instead, but I only managed a couple of lines here and there before I gave up on that too.

Project 3 was this fish.  It turned out pretty well, but it’s not a complicated image.   The shading is smooth and the overall image is nice. 

My only complaint about this artwork is the eye.  I had the heat setting too high and it charred beyond the bounds of the eye area.  Not much I can do about that except scrape a little of the color away.

I’m not thrilled with how the deer turned out, but it was good practice.   I learned a LOT while trying to create this image.  Yes, the deer’s face is messed up, but what I learned while burning this was worth the wasted piece of leather.   

Skyrim logo was another leather project.  Again, it’s just okay.

The lion was my first good successful creation of fine art, in my opinion.  There is quite a bit of fine detail in the image and tones that range from light tan to black.   

Keep in mind that this artwork is small.  It is the size of a business card holder.  In fact, all of the artwork I’ve shared is the size of a business card.   That means they are all approximately 3 inches wide by 4 inches tall (7.6 x 10.2 cm)

Pyrography on leather reminds me of oil paintings in that if you view the oil painting too closely you lose the detail and instead see the canvas texture.

The wolf is another bit of pyrography artwork that was done on a business card holder. 

Thus far the wolf is a favorite of the business card holders  that I’ve done.

The wolf has fewer imperfections that stand out and I like how the eyes seem to be staring right at the viewer. 

Another business card holder I did that I thought turned out well was this image of Dragonborn.   Dragonborn is a character from the game Skyrim.  This image was on one side of the business card holder, and the Skyrim image on the other side.   

I was actually rather impressed with the amount of detail I was able to put into this artwork.   I think I used a micro writer nib for the majority of the burning.

The jungle measures 4 1/2 x 6 1/4 inches (11.4 x 15.9 cm).  Not super large, but larger than the business cards.   It is much easier to create fine detail when you’re working on a larger surface.   I created this one to test out a new piece of leather I had bought.  It was much nicer than the cheap stuff all of my business card holders were made of.   

Something I want to point out is that cheap leather can be tough to burn on.   I did this artwork of Mustang Island boat chart, and it was burned on the same cheap leather I did the business card holders on. 

The artwork measures  13 inches wide by 25 inches tall (33 x 63.5 cm)

I had a very difficult time getting dark burn results. This leather is that really cheap leather I talked about before.   Compare this with the next photo.   

Notice how dark I was able to burn on this leather.  The quality was so much better, and this made burning a lot easier to do! 

This artwork measures 16 x 24 inches (40.6 x 60.9 cm), not including the hanging loops.

IN CONCLUSION

That’s it for this blog.   I hope I provided some useful information that will help you with your leather burning projects.   Burning on leather is fun, but can be very challenging medium to burn on.   Like all things, you will get better with practice.

Have you tried burning on leather?  Leave a comment and tell me about it.

Until the next blog,

Brenda

Originally posted:  Jan 5, 2018

Last updated:  Sept 9, 2025

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