Pyrography  Gallery

Pyrography is drawing on a suitable wood (usually, but paper is sometimes used) surface with a pyrography machine. The machine consists of an electronically heated, high-resistance wire nib, in a pyrograhy pen. Alternatively the pyrography machine is soldering iron like, with a solid point. The heated wire scorches marks ranging from lines to delicate tonal shades on the wood surface. The beautiful range of brown tones produced, sadly, do not last. Pyrography on paper is said to be more permanent, but the 'look' is different.  Bolder incised, blacker lines, produced with higher pressure and heat, then more properly refered to as, pyro-engraving, are more durable, and are usefulf for decorative effects in wood-art works.

Ino longer use pure pyrography on wood as a graphic medium, due to its tendency to fade in a short time in most light conditions not just high UV light. Combined with coloured pencil it fares better, if the coloured pencil pigments are predominate in forming the image and are merely blended, and 'polished' onto the timber surface with the heat and pressure provided by the pyrography nib. The subtle texture that the slightly 'engraved' line produced by the pyrography tool, can have a good effect in a coloured-pencil-with-pyrography, work on timber. These engraved lines can also be traced over with black ink to ensure their preservation.

The incised line produced with the pyrograpy tool can also be useful when thin flowing paint such as watercolour or acrylic ink is painted onto an un-primed wood surface as it produces boundary lines that resist bleeding into the wood fibres. A possible remedy to the fading of pyrography tones is to coat the timber with a thin layer of white gouache (not acrylic which will produce fumes from the PVC plastic binder.  This produces cooler toned lines and shading which seem to last better, perhaps in this case the tones are produced as much by the slightly abrasive effect of the white pigment on the pyrography wire ( like metal point drawing) as it is with the scorching effect on the timber. I haven't bothered to persue this with much experimentation though.