Hello Again! Today I thought we could talk about a type of art that I have gotten into within the past year and I am OBSESSED! Wood Burning or "Pyrography". I really enjoy experimenting with new mediums and different materials to create on. On a whim near Christmas of last year I decided to buy a starter kit just to play with......Well, I ended up making up practically all of my Christmas gifts to friends and family using it! I couldn't get enough and I was jam packed with different ideas.
This was one of the first pieces a made from an old TV tray. My mother and pops are moving to Oregon so I burned the state on the tray with their "clan name". I stained the outside and sealed it with varnish. They loved it! It was a fun, simple, and thoughtful gift. Homemade gifts are definitely better than bought!
I have continued to adventure away with my wood burner and was lucky enough to get a ton of really great tips for my burner that allow me to create some unique lines and shapes. Also it came in a great organized container with different sections that I can separate however I want. If it keeps easily tidy I am already in love!
(Click for more on this image)
What is so appealing about burning wood? I grew up in a very "rustic family' which is odd because I grew up in a normal suburban town in Michigan just outside of Detroit. Not the most rustic places in the world but that's just how my family was. My mother grew up in Colorado and most of our love for wood and nature was probably brought on by her. So even the idea of working with wood I was drawn too and had been painting on wood for a while and it feels much more organic.
I have a love / hate relationship with the fact that it's pretty much permanent so if you mess up it is almost impossible to fix. I am use to oil painting which is easy to work with since it stays wet for so much longer and you are fix your mistakes much easier than say watercolor or even acrylic. I have learned this great "scraping" technique with a small razor to eliminate light burns in areas you don't want. But I tend to use the burner on the higher settings and it burns rather deep, quickly which tends to not scrape well. I end up with big divots in those areas.
(This video is a really great example on how to scrape some mistakes away from your burning.)
I had sketchbooks filled with these great doodles I came up with for fun a while back. I never thought I would end up doing anything with them but when I decided to make small wood burned paintings out of them I was pleasantly surprised at how CUTE they turned out!
Mixing paint on a wood burned area is so much fun because it can almost feel like you are coloring. you have to be very careful not to get too close to the burn or the paint tends to run down in the burn and it's very hard to "wipe away" but it is fixable for the most part and I think the finished look is really stunning!
Mixing paint on a wood burned area is so much fun because it can almost feel like you are coloring. you have to be very careful not to get too close to the burn or the paint tends to run down in the burn and it's very hard to "wipe away" but it is fixable for the most part and I think the finished look is really stunning!
Well that's it for today everyone! Thanks for stopping by and if you are even slightly interested in trying out wood burning after reading this I ABSOLUTELY recommend it! For more on pieces like "The Owl" below, be sure to check out my Etsy Shop! Or follow me in Instagram where I frequently post these step by step pictures of my process through a piece! Thanks again!
Until Tomorrow - Dream Away
Samantha Menzo
Etsy Featured Item of the Day:
Custom Made To Order Wood Burned Sign With Pressed Flowers by - EarthenAllure
Song of the Day:
Ellie Goulding - Burn
Color of the Day:
Ben Moore Tuscan Red 1300
