Tag Archives: pyrography

Daily Sketch

Wood sketching

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I have a new favourite hobby, after an afternoon sanding and burn-sketching this slice of sycamore.

I am practicing for a bigger project coming later this month and trying to get used to making marks with the burner. As I say in the workshops; the more marks you can make the more textures you will be able to capture.

The wood I think is sycamore and below is a photo of it once I added the varnish. It is great fun and I hope to make many more sketches on slices of wood, I love the smell, the feel of the textures and also the history of the tree itself.

This sketch is Edinburgh’s skyline from Holyrood Park. The original sketch I made a few years ago sitting on the hill in the sunshine. Happy memories of an afternoon drawing in the sun, but I never thought I would be burning it on to a piece of wood one day 😊

Daily Sketch

A new skill for a new year

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Pyrography Castle 2I was very lucky this Christmas to receive a pyrography set from Mrs Sketcher and I have been having fun experimenting since.

It’s always great to find a new way to be creative and from my early experiences it seems pyrography, which is the art of decorating wood or other materials with burn marks is perfect for my style of sketching.

Using a ‘pen’ with a heated tip you can make a marks on wood and with a number of different shaped tips you can make various marks from curved lines to broad shading. Below is my first mess around with the pen, and a burn portrait of Mocha, the Sketcher Cat.

Pyrography Mocha

I have included a link to a similar kit to mine online if you want to have a go yourself, it is a little tricky to get used to the speed in which you move the pen, as depending on the wood if too slow the tip can stick resulting in a large burn mark, and if too fast then the linework can be too light. But once you have a controlled speed the drawing is relatively easy.

The kit I received had a number of wood pieces within to try out the pen but unfortunately they were not labelled so I cannot name the wood that these are made on, if you can then please let me know.

A similar pyrography kit at the HobbyCraft website.

The original Edinburgh Castle burnt sketch is available framed for £75. Let me know HERE if you would like to purchase it.

Pyrography Castle frame