The Art of Pyrography by Cherry Ferris – book review

In this blog I will be doing a review of Cherry Ferris’s book, The Art of Pyrography.  Looking at the front cover, you might think that the artwork doesn’t look like traditional pyrography.  I know I did.   Cherry has freed herself from the limits of what is considered traditional.  Instead, she explores ways to incorporate other hobbies and random items to create visually striking artwork.  The Art of Pyrography is a way of introducing you to her mixed media style of art.

After I was contacted by Search Press to review this book, I googled Cherry Ferris.  I found her website and perused her gallery page.  All I kept thinking is that her art is not what I’d consider pyrography.  I had doubts that I would even enjoy the book.   

Then the book arrived, and I started reading through it.   In the book she states that her artwork isn’t what most people would consider as being pyrography, but she goes on to say, “anything that excites and inspires you is a good thing, and certainly worth pursuing in your art!”

That one line made me look at her book and my personal bias in a whole new way.  Afterall, one of the things I enjoy about pyrography is trying to push the boundaries of what textures are possible to create with the burner.   It was at that moment I realized that Cherry is doing the same thing I like to do, but she’s pushing to boundaries of numerous mediums by mixing them together.  In essence, we are both pushing boundaries, but in our own ways.   

I have a confession.  I ended up enjoying Cherry’s book so much that I read it several times!

Watch a YouTube video of the book review by clicking on the thumbnail image.  

Here’s an affiliate link to pre-order the book on Amazon.  The book won’t start shipping until January 3, 2023 https://amzn.to/3XdDSUQ

Let me begin by talking about the physical characteristics of the book.

The book is 8 5/8” wide by 11 1/4” tall (21.9 x 28.6 cm).  It has 173 pages of full color content, and this doesn’t count the final words and index page. 

The book weighs 1 pound 12 ounces (0.8kg).

The large size provides plenty of room for easy to see pictures, and font that makes reading the text easy. 

The content doesn’t feel cramped. 

The paper is a nice weight; it feels substantial to my fingers.  It’s definitely not a paperback!

Also, the paper has a slight glossy finish to it.  I feel like the book is made to last. 

One of the things I really like about the book is the built-in flap found on the cover!

What’s awesome is that there is flap on the back cover too. 

This flap was fantastic for marking my spot. 

That made it extremely easy to return to where I left off.  

All books should come with this!  It’s a wonderful feature.  

Now let’s talk about the book contents.

The beginning of the book begins with a brief introduction of who she is and her goals with the book.  Cherry is a former tattoo artist who wants to help you unleash your own “creative risk-taking.” 

Or as I like to think of it, being willing to experiment and think outside of the box of a specific genre.  

Next begins the basics of pyrography.  Every pyrography book I’ve seen has a section like this.  It covers very generalized information about the types of pyrography machines available, things to consider before purchasing a machine, and different materials you can burn on.  

Cherry does include a page informing you what she personally uses; which is always interesting to me. 

Seems like every pyrography artist uses a different brand of burner, and it’s pretty common if they use a couple of different ones.  Cherry has three; NM Newman hot tool, Razertip, and Antex Firewriter.

Eventually we get to a section of ways to control your burn results, and the type of pen tips available.

One thing I completely agree with on Cherry is that there are 4 basic pen tips; writers, shaders, skews, and specialty tips.   Like she points out, they may not all look the same or be called the same thing, but their basic functions are the same.   

This image is an example of some writer pen tips.  If you look close, you’ll see a couple of ball pen tips in the collection.   There are numerous artist who use prefer ball tips for writing.   

 

Here’s an example of some skews.  Skews have a straight edge on them that is usually angled.  These are great for burning lines.  Wood carvers like to use them to help shape and/or give textures to feathers. 

This photo provides a number of shaders.  The right circle has a collection of spoon shaders.

At the bottom of the page Cherry provides an excellent example of a specialty tip; Razortip’s wax writer.   This tip holds and melts a small amount of wax allowing the user to draw fine lines with the melted wax.

One very useful and interesting segment is the one that explains how to make your own pen tips. 

I recently received a burner that uses the type of wire tips that would accept custom made tips, so I really appreciated this section of the book.  Cherry shows what tools she uses, and clearly explains the steps involved.

Because there are so many different pen tips available, Cherry encourages you to create samplers. 

To do this, equip a pen tip and make a bunch of different types of burn marks to get a feel for what the tip is capable of.   Cherry shares a number of different samplers she created to have visually show what she is explaining.   

I will be honest, she has some rather unique ways of using her pen tips.  Stuff I don’t think I would have though of.

I have to tell you that creating samplers can be very beneficial.  When I received the Goodcrafter pyrography machine to test out, I created a number of samplers to try and figure out what all of the pen tips did.

The burner had a lot of solid brass pen tips.  I was completely unfamiliar with them, and doing little sample burns really helped me understand their capabilities better.

One nice touch in the book were the numerous examples of Cherry’s artwork like this mouse artwork titled Harvest Mouse.

Next to each image is a brief description of what she used to create the work.  Often there is a short saying; poem, quote, etc. the accompanies the artwork that I assume was part of the inspiration for the artwork.  Cherry has covered a wide range of subjects, and experimented with quite the variety of mediums.

One piece of artwork I really like is this owl artwork titled The Owls of Fingle Woods.   The piece of wood is very interesting, and the artwork blends with the wood well.   Plus, the added color really makes the owls pop, and seem like they are in a cavity in the wood.  Excellent work!  

Something I don’t think I ever would have thought of is to use small leftover pieces of wood to create little works of art.  To paraphrase Cherry, these are a great way to gain some experience while testing out pen tips.  Plus, “they are quick, fun, stress-free and make great gifts.”

Another innovative concept is Cherry’s mini burn projects. These projects are designed to be completed in 30 minutes or less. 

The whimsical bumblebee is one of the mini burn projects.  

I mentioned to Todd, my husband, that I was thinking about trying one of the projects as part of my book review.   He replied with, “anyone but you could finish it in 30 minutes or less.”  

He went on to say something about me being too nitpicky and obsessed with minute details to do whimsical quick art.   Hmph!   

While there might be some small smattering of truth to his comments, but I refuse to tell him that.  Instead, I decided to view it as a challenge to prove him wrong.

I sanded a board, transferred the design, and started burning.

Here’s my bumblebee. 

It’s not very big. 

The board I used measured 3 1/4 x 5 1/2 inches (8.3 x 14.0 cm). 

For the record, Cherry’s board was 3 1/4 inches (8.3 cm) in diameter, so both of use created very small works of art. 

While my bumblebee isn’t near as cute as Cherry’s, my official time was 21 minutes and 54 seconds.  I proved Todd wrong!   And I successfully completed the challenge. 

Now I do have one small admission to make.  I didn’t start the timer until after the board has been prepped, but I know it didn’t take me 8 minutes to sand the tiny board.  

The philosophy behind the mini burns is to give the reader easy projects that can be created quickly to boost experience and confidence with burning.  It’s an excellent idea!

The one thing I initially found odd with the book had to do with the larger or more complex projects like this tree frog. 

The project is introduced, started, and then the book changes to another subject.  What?  Wait a minute, what happened with the frog?  

After I got through the book, then I understood the organization method.   A concept or technique is introduced.  There are a couple of smaller projects to practice the technique with, and then the complex project is introduced.   

If I had actually read the text during my initial thumbing through the book, I would have discovered that what she was planning.  I will admit that I mostly looked at picture during my initial thumbing through. 

Eventually a new concept is introduced.  Along with the new concept are more practice projects to do.  By practice, I mean less complex that the big project like the tree frog.

At the end of the section, the complex project is brought back and the recently taught technique(s) is added to the artwork.

This process of introduction, practice, and continued work repeats until the tree frog is done.  The result is a colorful, eye catching piece of artwork.

One of the practice projects is this extremely colorful artwork.  For this Cherry uses watercolors, metal leafing, and even table salts.   So not only is this artwork color, but it’s an excellent example of Cherry’s mixed media style.

I do realize that practice artwork is not the best term to use.  I use this term just to differentiate it from her large complex project.      

This owl is another practice project.  Boy does it grab your attention.  And it too showcases Cherry’s use of mixed media such as masking fluid, acrylic paints, and more. 

I really found it interesting how she creates her artwork and the things she incorporates into it.  

Speaking of mixed media, there is a section in the book that demonstrates how to use gold and metallic leafing.  Some of the artwork produced using it is stunning and so unique.

 

Another medium I though was unique was resin.  This is considered to be a wood finish, so it’s the very last thing to be applied.  

If a resin finish isn’t your thing, Cherry shows a number of other finishing options.

The book also has a small section of fixing mistakes, and safety precautions you should take.  

It’s rather amazing how much information and assorted art projects are contained within this book.

IN CONCLUSION

I will readily admit I started out with a bit of a negative towards this book because her pyrography wasn’t “true pyrography” to my biased mind.  During the course of reading Cherry’s book, I discovered how limiting my mindset was.  This mindset was ironic in a way, but one of the things I really enjoy about art is the wide variety of styles.  For example, I’ve seen some art challenges on YouTube and what’s most interesting to me is the range of artwork created based on a common theme.

I would have to say that I found Cherry’s book to be very enjoyable.  Cherry is an extremely creative person who truly enjoys what she is are doing.  Plus, she isn’t concerned about staying within the box of one genre, so to speak.  Instead, she explores and experiments creating artwork that is visually striking and wonderfully unique.   

If you have ever wanted to incorporate more mediums into your pyrography, then I highly recommend her book.   Cherry will introduce you to concepts and ideas that I think will help expand your creativity!

Brenda

Nov 22, 2022

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