September’s Craft: Pyrography
I already mentioned that September’s craft is smoky, rustic, and perfect for autumn.
Doesn’t woodburning tick all the boxes? ;)
Some of my earliest memories are of my mother decorating little crates with pyrography techniques. The crates were being prettied up for market displays. (Can you guess where I got my DIY bug from?)
There’s a revolution of crafts being made modern again and I think pyrography is coming more and more out of its shell. The beauty of this technique is that it’s so simple it can be traced back hundreds and even thousands of years back. Heat applied to wood to make art was seen in Egyptian times. Wood burning is probably as old as human’s control of fire itself.
In China it was called ‘Fire Needle Embroidery’. How awesome is that?!
Now, amazing artists are making gorgeous guitar bodies and contemporary chairs and giving us glimpses of pyrography’s potential.
I’ve found some video inspiration, too:
Watch this for a good giggle
With some self-depreciating humour and an interesting choice of material (a skull!), I found this pretty entertaining. :) The cute cat doesn’t hurt either.
A peek at some techniques
This video shows how to get different shades from the same tool. The key seems to be patience!
[divider top=0]Pyrography can go far beyond wood burning. Leather, bone, wax and even paper (if you’re delicate) can be used. This might just be the perfect stash-busting craft. ;)
What are you working on this month?
xo,
Amazing! I tried Pyrography once on small disks of wood. I’d completely forgotten all about it until I read your post so thank you for the reminder! I look forward to seeing how you get on. Michaela x
Maybe we could have a ‘pyrography-athon’ haha! It’d be fun to see what you’ve made, too. I bought a pack of balsa squares for practising but I’m planning my final piece on some pine blocks. (Pine will be harder to burn, but I didn’t know that when I bought them… Oops!) Thanks for commenting! x
I’m going to ask my dad to bring home scrap wood from his job so I can try this. <3
Thanks for reminding me! This is a fun craft. And it smells good too … =)