Acorn WIP

[Irish]

Step 112: A few dark fur lines have been added along the bottom and back of the mouse, on the outer cheek and on his shoulder. Inside the ears also got a few fine lines. Several long black whiskers finish off the mouse.

Step 113: The pattern work is complete!!!! Now, I wanted to add one more pencil circle outside the one that was on the original pattern. But, I know I will never find the exact center of my patterns for a compass without making a bunch of little holes in the work. So I have grabbed a stoneware plate from the kitchen as a template. Please, don't use plastic for this step!!!!

With a pencil I have marked little guides outside the pattern circle at about 1/8" spacing.

Step 114: I can drop the plate onto the project, center it within the guide lines and then use it as a template.

Susan

[Irish]

Step 115A and 116: All right! I did it again, another dumb mistake. I tried to pull that line without moving the project away from the tripod of my camera ... dumb! I promptly got my hand stuck in between the tripod legs and the plate with no room to move. So in the next step you will see several dark spots along the circle where the tip burned hot because I didn't have moving room ... dumb!

Step 116: This tech does work when you are not trying to work around a tripod ... Sigh! You can seethe medium toned line that can be pulled when your hand and arm are free to move.

Step 117: O used the writing tip at a temp setting of 8 along the outer edge in a simple scribble type stroke. For the center section of that circle I turned the temp down to 6 1/2 and the inner edge was at 5. This gives me a simple
graduated tone circle frame. And, I signed and dated the project in the middle unburned circle.

We're done!

A light sanding with either very fine sand paper, 320 grit, or a light burnish with steel wool and this project is ready for framing. I will probably not add polyurethane to this but instead use glass in the frame to keep the wood surface clean.

Hope you had fun watching this WPI ... If you have any questions, please just let me know!

Susan

[Irish]

Step 119: Ok ... ready ... In My Opinion ...

I found the Colwood Detailer to be an excellent wood burning system.

* The small size of the burner takes very little space on my work table. A small foot print for the burner unit meant more work space for me.

* It's heavy weight meant that the burning system did not accidentally get moved from my pulling on the pen cord. It stayed where I put it. The pen cord is long enough for easy movement of my hand and arm to reach across the table. It's four little rubber feet gives it lots of grab and stability on my work surface.

* Working a sample board with just the temp settings gave me an excellent tonal value scale. Little or no guessing for the new wood burning student.

* I love the cork handle, only twice did the pen become hot to the touch. Both times I was working large areas at a temp setting of 9 or more.

* The cork gives a secure grip that can easily be rolled in my finger tips. Did I say I love the cork?

* The pen tips have a nice long length that let me use a very comfortable, for me, writing position during burning. Not once did I have any hand cramps or discomfort.

* The pen connection to the power cord is secure, firm and easy to change out.

* The interchangeable pen and interchangeable tip system is extremely user friendly. I could not see any difference between using an interchangeable tip to one of the fixed tips. With this system, the Colwood, I would not hesitate in investing in a wide variety of interchangeable tips for hard and steady use. Changing an interchangeable tip is as easy as changing a fixed pen.

* There really is a difference in heat transfer between the standard 18 gauge pen cord and the heavier 16 gauge cord if you want to super charge your unit.

* I can not see that any of the tip wires have become warped or miss shaped from the burning. They are just as straight as when I first used them.

* The wire tips seem very heavy to what I am use to using and have very even heat distribution. Only once did I notice a drop in temp for the tip and that was when I placed the tip against the ceramic plate - to be expected! Otherwise the heat at the beginning of the burn was there throughout the entire burn.

* The three primary tips that I used - the basic writing tip, the small writing tip and the spoon shader - gave me all of the variety that I needed to create the design that we burned.

* The tips hit their temp setting very very quickly. There was almost no delay between turning up or down the temp setting and going back to burning.

* And, the only time I fussed at this stem was when I forgot to check the temp setting after I changed out the power cords ... I did fuss just a touch to find myself holding an instantly white hot tip


In my opinion, as a professional pyrographer, Colwood's Detailer really stood up and shined thorughout the test.

It gave me everything I asked of it and more! The Detailer, their basic beginner's unit, will give a power house of potential for the most experienced wood burner to the newest pyrographer!

Now, that's just my opinion. Please if you have a chance visit a local retailer or wood working show where you can sit down, temp up and put the Colwood through the test yourself.

Thanks for joining in the fun, L. Susan Irish