Pyrography, or How to Wood-Burn Art

"Pyrography is the art of decorating wood or other materials with burn marks resulting from the controlled application of a heated object such as a poker." -Wikipedia

In this Instructable I will show you how to take an image and burn it onto a piece of wood by hand. As an example I used the heraldic lion of the House of Lannister from the book/TV series "Game of Thrones." 

Step 1: Supplies

-Wood, cut to size (I prefer to use Pine. It is soft enough to burn, but not too soft like Basswood)
-Sandpaper, 320 grit
-Pyrography Pen
-Graphite Transfer Paper
-Colored Pen
-Scissors
-Tape
-An Image to wood burn 

Comments

[Charlestark]

Hear me roar -House lannister :3

[EvilSnowMan]

Something I picked up in art class when I was in middle school and still use frequently. If you don't have or don't want to buy carbon paper, just flip your print out over and shade in the entire back side with the edge of your pencil tip. You are just putting a layer of graphite all over the back of your print out. Then tape it down and trace like you did. It won't leave real dark lines, but it will give you the entire outline just the same.

[wood is the word]

This is a great idea. Graphite paper can be expensive or hard to come by. This is a great alternative!

[Yandle]

Now I have to try this! My wife is going to be so pissed lol

[organgrinder]

Thanks for this tutorial. I saw some old ladies doing this and was taken by it and my partner got me a soldering iron to give it a try.
I love the look of laser cut works but it bothers me that everyone just designs something and sends it away to be made. I want that look, but I was to design and create the entire piece myself.
Good to see how someone else is doing it and what kinds of techniques and materials they use.
The old ladies were doing an amazing job of it.

[pfred2]

Your pyrography looks very nice. I am wondering if you could transfer the pattern using laser toner? Like is done to etch circuit boards. Although the heat of the iron may color the wood too. I also thought it might be easier if you used a different color of carbon paper maybe. In the pictures the transferred pattern, and the burnt design are difficult to distinguish from one and another. Maybe looking at it in person is easier? I've used a torch on wood myself to color in routed letters. So you might want to try a torch for some shading effects. I bet you could heat up all kinds of metal to brand the wood. Stuff like say expanded metal, for a cross hatch effect. Just thinking out loud there.

[pocmarck]

It's actually really easy to do with toner. While not as textured as the pyrography, it still looks great. I did several last year as Christmas presents. Search "wood print photo" for more info.

[wood is the word]

@pfred2: Thank you. Unfortunately i don't have a super high-resolution camera, but in person it is fairly easy to distinguish between the graphite transfer lines and the burned lines. It is sort of comparable to a pencil line and a black pen line. I think using different types of metal would be a great way to diversify a pyrography. I have seen people who make a personal branding mark out of a wire hanger.

[AdamVanMeter]

Oh, this is excellent. I think I'm ready to give my woodburner another go!

Could I use, say, watercolor or thinned transparent oil paint over my burnt in marks? Or would those obscure the lines?

[wood is the word]

I have actually never tried to do any coloring to my works, but I have seen it done before. Here is an example of another person using watercolors on their pyrography: http://browse.deviantart.com/art/Burned-Flower-355124823

[pocmarck]

Great job! Love the detail.

[Tomdf]

Wow those turn out looking really clean. Cool stuff!

[samalert]

Great Ible ! Thanx for giving an insight of the Wood Burn Art

[BrittLiv]

It turned out really nice! I especially like the shading.