Purple House Finch (12 2017)BBQ Chips ornament (11 2017)
Hummingbirds (11 2017)
Wolf on leather (11 2017)
Lion on leather (11 2017)
Matthew & Maggie (10 2017)Tree Frog (9 2017)
Nuthatch (9 2017)
Scrub Jay (7 2017)
Lotus Goddess (6 2017)Golden Eagle (6 2017)
Old Truck (3 2017)Dragonfly (3 2017)Christ of the Mines (2 2017)
Garden Thief (1 2017)
Eagle Owl (12 2016)Collared Lizard (11 2016)Collared Lizard side view (11 2016)Trout Lake (11 2016) burned on cribbage boardVista House (10 2016)Doves on a Wire (10 2016)
Cedar Creek Grist Mill (9 2016)
Bald Eagle on gun stock (9 2016)Cougar stalking deer on gun stock (9 2016)
Brenda your work is amazing. Thank you for the lovely way of teaching and always the kind way you give advice and sharing your knowledge . I am in South Africa and ordered the Colwood Superpro2 international model and the tips you use after learning from your blog. I have been burning very happy since it arrived here for just over a year now. I have absolutely NO regrets. Thank you for your amazing Blog . I learn alot from you
Hi Alta,
thank you so much for the kind words. I’m glad my blogs are helpful.
South Africa is a beautiful place. My sister is currently living there and sends me photos.
Glad the Colwood is performing well for you. I haven’t had any problems with mine and hope yours will be the same.
Hi Brenda,
I have just come across your site and am very excited to find all your free tutorials, which I plan to make use of. Thank you.
Your gallery is amazing, your art work superb. I am yet to start pyrography, I am gathering up suppies and awaiting a delivery of gourds to start on. I have been drawing with coloured pencil for a number of years and was interested to see your butterfly tutorial. I noticed that you did not seal the wood before adding the coloured pencil. Coming from a background where I was taught that everything had to be archival, is this detrimental to your finished product? Will the acid from the wood create blooms on your coloured pencil or watercolour work?
Thank you again.
Robyn
Hi Robyn,
Congratulations on picking pyrography as a new hobby! It’s a wonderful medium to work in, but I might be a bit biased. 🙂
You bring up some fantastic points that I had not thought about. To be brutally honest, anything I add color to I would never consider selling because I’m not sure how the color will age. Plus I don’t try to keep my color selection to colors those rated for high lightfastness. That’s another reason why I wouldn’t sell something I’ve added color too. Given your background you are probably a lot more aware than I am on that fact that not all colors have the same lightfastness rating. That rating changes depending on the brand of pencil being used.
That said, of the projects that I added colored pencil to, I haven’t noticed the color fading. Keep in mind that I only had the artwork for a month or two before it was given to a family member. Plus I almost alway add a glaze of Pearl Ex pigment over the colored pencil and that interferes with the ability to see how the colored pencil is fairing.
I do have one piece of artwork, Northern Shoveler Ducks, that I airbrushed color onto back in January of 2019. The wood is aging (turning a deeper tan color), but the color still looks good. I applied white colored pencil on some of the feathers and the white is vivid. No yellowing detected.
It would be interesting to test out applying color before and after the wood is sealed to see how the color ages. I’m sure it would take months if not years to reveal changes. Another idea I’ve also been pondering is applying a acid neutralizer to the wood before sealing it to see if that impacts how the wood, finishes, and color age. I just haven’t gotten any yet to test out my idea.
Well I did a lot of babbling, but didn’t answer your question because I don’t have an answer. Thank you for the thought provoking questions! I’m going to have to get off my lazy rump and create a test panel.
Brenda
Thanks for your response. I will do some playing with transparent gesso in specific areas, i guess you could seal then add brush and paint tooth before adding pencil? More quetions. Thanks again, such a repostorie of information to go through, my gourds arrived today, start burning tomortow
Cheers
Robyn
Hi Robyn,
I’m going to be honest and admit that your ideas are well outside my realm of experience. I started to talk painting lessons many years ago and absolutely hated it. My knowledge of of gesso is just that I’m aware there is such a product, but how and when to use I couldn’t begin to guess at. All I can recommend it testing out your ideas on some piece of scrap material and see how it works.
How exciting! I haven’t burned on gourds. They seem like they would be fun and you can produce functional items from them. I hope you have a blast with them!
B
Hi! I’m very new at this kind of art and trying to learn one step at a time. I’m just curious about the dark background on your Skyrim’s Dragonborn and Venison, how did you achieve that? Did you also burn that part of the wood? Also, can pyrography be done on large pieces of wood, like long tables? Thank you very much in advance! 🙂
-Celeste 🙂
I burn the background with one of my large shader pen tips. I’ve tried using a mini torch, but I’m not good with it and burn areas I don’t intend or want. My method takes longer, but for me it’s safer. You can always paint dark backgrounds, but if you use paint it needs to be the very last thing you do. No more burning once color is added. Also use a spray on finish to make sure the paint doesn’t get smeared into the burned portions of the art.
You can burn on tables, but….the table needs to be stripped of all finish. Never EVER burn over finish wood. The finish needs to be sanded away. Plus if the wood was stained the wood needs to be sanded until the stain is gone. It might be a lot of work to get it ready for burning. Make sure you wear a dust mask as you do not want to be breathing in wood and finish dust!
One last thing. Be aware that some woods might be more irritating that others. It’s always best to check a toxicity chart to make sure you avoid those listed as toxic. A hobby is never worth risking your health. Here’s a link to a wood toxicity chart: https://www.mountainwoodworker.com/articles/toxic_woods.pdf
Thank you so much, Brenda! 🙂 Appreciate you not only answering my questions but also providing more valuable insights and tips! I will definitely keep those in mind and keep revisiting your site for more! 🙂
I absolutely love your work and appreciate all the time and effort you put into your tutorials to help your followers learn the art of pyrography! I think the miniature oak barrel with the pheasant on it is my favorite piece so far. I wanted to try my hand at it, but cannot find an unfinished miniature barrel like yours anywhere, not even on the internet (they are already finished. Can you please tell me where you found yours? Thank you so much for all you do and keep up the great work!
Hi Toni,
Thank you! I did the oak barrel on commission, so it was supplied to me by the person requesting the work. I’ll contact him and find out if he remembers where he got the barrel and let you know.
Brenda
Hi Toni,
I heard back from the gentleman, and he said he gets the barrels from: OakBarrelsLTD.com
Good luck with your project and send me a picture of it when you are done. I’d love to see it.
Brenda
Brenda your work is amazing. Thank you for the lovely way of teaching and always the kind way you give advice and sharing your knowledge . I am in South Africa and ordered the Colwood Superpro2 international model and the tips you use after learning from your blog. I have been burning very happy since it arrived here for just over a year now. I have absolutely NO regrets. Thank you for your amazing Blog . I learn alot from you
Hi Alta,
thank you so much for the kind words. I’m glad my blogs are helpful.
South Africa is a beautiful place. My sister is currently living there and sends me photos.
Glad the Colwood is performing well for you. I haven’t had any problems with mine and hope yours will be the same.
Thanks again for the lovely comment.
B
Hi Brenda,
I have just come across your site and am very excited to find all your free tutorials, which I plan to make use of. Thank you.
Your gallery is amazing, your art work superb. I am yet to start pyrography, I am gathering up suppies and awaiting a delivery of gourds to start on. I have been drawing with coloured pencil for a number of years and was interested to see your butterfly tutorial. I noticed that you did not seal the wood before adding the coloured pencil. Coming from a background where I was taught that everything had to be archival, is this detrimental to your finished product? Will the acid from the wood create blooms on your coloured pencil or watercolour work?
Thank you again.
Robyn
Hi Robyn,
Congratulations on picking pyrography as a new hobby! It’s a wonderful medium to work in, but I might be a bit biased. 🙂
You bring up some fantastic points that I had not thought about. To be brutally honest, anything I add color to I would never consider selling because I’m not sure how the color will age. Plus I don’t try to keep my color selection to colors those rated for high lightfastness. That’s another reason why I wouldn’t sell something I’ve added color too. Given your background you are probably a lot more aware than I am on that fact that not all colors have the same lightfastness rating. That rating changes depending on the brand of pencil being used.
That said, of the projects that I added colored pencil to, I haven’t noticed the color fading. Keep in mind that I only had the artwork for a month or two before it was given to a family member. Plus I almost alway add a glaze of Pearl Ex pigment over the colored pencil and that interferes with the ability to see how the colored pencil is fairing.
I do have one piece of artwork, Northern Shoveler Ducks, that I airbrushed color onto back in January of 2019. The wood is aging (turning a deeper tan color), but the color still looks good. I applied white colored pencil on some of the feathers and the white is vivid. No yellowing detected.
It would be interesting to test out applying color before and after the wood is sealed to see how the color ages. I’m sure it would take months if not years to reveal changes. Another idea I’ve also been pondering is applying a acid neutralizer to the wood before sealing it to see if that impacts how the wood, finishes, and color age. I just haven’t gotten any yet to test out my idea.
Well I did a lot of babbling, but didn’t answer your question because I don’t have an answer. Thank you for the thought provoking questions! I’m going to have to get off my lazy rump and create a test panel.
Brenda
Thanks for your response. I will do some playing with transparent gesso in specific areas, i guess you could seal then add brush and paint tooth before adding pencil? More quetions. Thanks again, such a repostorie of information to go through, my gourds arrived today, start burning tomortow
Cheers
Robyn
Hi Robyn,
I’m going to be honest and admit that your ideas are well outside my realm of experience. I started to talk painting lessons many years ago and absolutely hated it. My knowledge of of gesso is just that I’m aware there is such a product, but how and when to use I couldn’t begin to guess at. All I can recommend it testing out your ideas on some piece of scrap material and see how it works.
How exciting! I haven’t burned on gourds. They seem like they would be fun and you can produce functional items from them. I hope you have a blast with them!
B
Hi! I’m very new at this kind of art and trying to learn one step at a time. I’m just curious about the dark background on your Skyrim’s Dragonborn and Venison, how did you achieve that? Did you also burn that part of the wood? Also, can pyrography be done on large pieces of wood, like long tables? Thank you very much in advance! 🙂
-Celeste 🙂
Hi Celeste,
I burn the background with one of my large shader pen tips. I’ve tried using a mini torch, but I’m not good with it and burn areas I don’t intend or want. My method takes longer, but for me it’s safer. You can always paint dark backgrounds, but if you use paint it needs to be the very last thing you do. No more burning once color is added. Also use a spray on finish to make sure the paint doesn’t get smeared into the burned portions of the art.
You can burn on tables, but….the table needs to be stripped of all finish. Never EVER burn over finish wood. The finish needs to be sanded away. Plus if the wood was stained the wood needs to be sanded until the stain is gone. It might be a lot of work to get it ready for burning. Make sure you wear a dust mask as you do not want to be breathing in wood and finish dust!
One last thing. Be aware that some woods might be more irritating that others. It’s always best to check a toxicity chart to make sure you avoid those listed as toxic. A hobby is never worth risking your health. Here’s a link to a wood toxicity chart: https://www.mountainwoodworker.com/articles/toxic_woods.pdf
Brenda
Thank you so much, Brenda! 🙂 Appreciate you not only answering my questions but also providing more valuable insights and tips! I will definitely keep those in mind and keep revisiting your site for more! 🙂
Thank very much!
-celeste 🙂
Hi, Brenda.
I absolutely love your work and appreciate all the time and effort you put into your tutorials to help your followers learn the art of pyrography! I think the miniature oak barrel with the pheasant on it is my favorite piece so far. I wanted to try my hand at it, but cannot find an unfinished miniature barrel like yours anywhere, not even on the internet (they are already finished. Can you please tell me where you found yours? Thank you so much for all you do and keep up the great work!
Hi Toni,
Thank you! I did the oak barrel on commission, so it was supplied to me by the person requesting the work. I’ll contact him and find out if he remembers where he got the barrel and let you know.
Brenda
Hi Toni,
I heard back from the gentleman, and he said he gets the barrels from: OakBarrelsLTD.com
Good luck with your project and send me a picture of it when you are done. I’d love to see it.
Brenda