Читать книгу Great Book of Woodburning - Lora S. Irish - Страница 10

Introduction

Whether you’ve never tried pyrography before or you’ve simply used it to sign or enhance projects created in other media, this book will show you how to create beautiful pieces with only a pyrographic tool. Today’s pyrographic equipment can be both inexpensive and readily available, so getting started is easy to do.

Although it is often referred to as woodburning, the art of pyrography can be worked on just about any natural surface, which gives you a wide variety of possibilities on which to explore this craft. Wooden box tops, gourd bluebird houses, watercolor paper that’s suitable for framing, and even leather belts are used as working surfaces for burned designs. For this book, I worked the finished samples on several different species of wood, such as birch plywood and basswood. However, the techniques and instruction do apply to other materials, such as leather, paper, and gourds.

As you work through the lessons, ideas, and patterns in this book, you will learn how to start with a drawing or a photograph and translate it to a fully finished, finely detailed woodburned project. Working step-by-step, we will explore what materials and tools you will need for your woodburning kit, which woods might best suit your project, how to prepare the wood surface and transfer your patterns, how to judge the depth of color or tonal value for each area of your design, and of course, how to create and control the woodburned tonal values through the use of textures and layers. Once your woodburning is complete, we will focus on how to add color to the burning as well as what top finishes you may wish to use.

You will also notice, as you browse through the pages, that the step-by-step projects and the patterns are broken into beginner, intermediate, and advanced sections. This breakdown of patterns and projects is designed to get you started in woodburning and to provide you with ideas and patterns to match your skill level as you continue to grow in your art. The projects are presented so that you can learn not only how to woodburn a design or pattern but also why a particular technique, tonal value, or texture was used. With the basic instructions in this book and a little practice, you will soon be able to woodburn any drawing, pattern, or photograph with confidence and expertise.

What is Pyrography?

Pyrography: The art of burning a design or pattern into a natural surface, such as wood, gourds, leather, or cotton rag watercolor paper using heated one-temperature or variable-temperature woodburning tools or a fine flame.

Pyrographic Process: The action of creating a detailed drawing onto a natural surface by using a woodburning tool to control the depth and thickness of the burned line and to develop tonal depths of shading. Pyrographic designs and patterns include landscapes, house portraits, dragons, comical firemen, wall clocks, wild roses, cowboy boots, old cars, flying mallard ducks, Western horses, and many other subjects.

Pyrographer: The person who gets to have all of the fun, excitement, and enjoyment of creating those burned drawings on clocks, box lids, jewelry, gourd birdhouses, tabletops, bookshelves, door hangers, Christmas ornaments, leather key holders, belts, cowboy chaps, greeting cards, framed art, and much more!

This Western Dragon banjo (see pattern here) was created using half of a dried kettle gourd for the banjo’s barrel, ⅛" birch plywood for the banjo’s faceplate, and sugar pine for the neck. The dragon’s tails were elongated to flow and intertwine into the neck area.