Benefits of Woodburning? Advice? Tips?

[jillsy]

I've never used woodburning in my carvings, but it seems alot of you have. I was just wondering if there's anything specific I need to know beforehand? I was going to borrow my Dad's this weekend for practice and if I like the outcome, may use it to outline my Santas.

Besides outlining, are there other benefits to woodburning? Is it possible to shade? Can woodburning be used to highlight things? I'd really like to bring out the folds in Santa's robes and any decorative elements (stars, patterns, etc.)

I know NOTHING about woodburning so any tips or advice would be very appreciated. I've just got this desire lately to try new things and practice with different elements.

Thanks so much!

Jillsy

[Nancy-G]

I use mine to make the deeply curved, smooth stop cuts on my Santa beards. If I tried to use a knife to make such tiny, deep cuts, well, they would not be so smooth and I worry about my knife tips.

[mark yundt]

I've only used it on bird carving,,so that's my point of reference. On a bird ( tupelo) I can burn in the finest feather quill using only the burner with a flat burn tip. With a tip like this, you could put in detail I would imagine you could not do with carving alone,,tiny buttons. belt loops,,depends on the size of the carving of course, but you can basically "press" a design in and have it stay because of the burn.Also , as others have said, it cleans up the little fuzzies or "birds nests" as I call 'em in less than clean bottom cuts. Naturally , if you use a wash type paint to see the grain of the wood, the burn will show right through, so solid colors I imagine would be needed. See what advise Santa/caricature carvers who do this have to say.But I think it can add another dimension/detail to a carving.

[Carving_Celtic]

Jillsy,

Be Careful, I have used a wood burner in the past and burned my self. A glove is a good idea.

Shadowing: I held the burner on the darkest part of the shadow I was trying to create and slowly dragged it away and lessening pressure. The burn gets lighter and lighter creating a shadow affect.

Thing to remember is you can add more shadowing but taking it away is hard.

Best of luck and be careful
Bernie

[jillsy]

It seems like I should do all my burning before painting; but what if I want the burn to show? Could I burn something that's already been painted? Seems like it would be a mess.

Thanks for your tips,
Jillsy

[Nancy-G]

No, Jillsy -- IMHO you can't burn anything that has already been painted.

A burn will show through anything that is painted with wash (thin) paint.

[Tom-H]

Jillsy, I really don't have the experience to comment here, but I just got through experimenting with a old cheap wood burner. Before I painted and after I scrubbed the carving with soap and water I used the burner to clean up fuzzies. My burner blade was kind of thick so it was hard to get to the bottom of some of the cuts. After burning I tried to paint the carving with watered down paints. The layering of the paints did not entirely cover the burns, and the result looks kind of like deep shadows in the bottom of the cuts. Not all bad. I may save $ to buy a good burner...Tom H

[jillsy]

My dad lent the burner last night and just kept going on and on about how hot they get, so I think I'm prepapered in that area. Thanks for the tips - time to start experimenting!

Jills

[Ron Davidson]

I have a Razor Tip wood burner. I have had it for a long time and wonder sometimes it I could learn to use it on my carvings somehow. Right now I mainly use it to autograph my carvings on the back or bottom.
Ron

[jillsy]

OOOOO~! Ron, I never thought of using the tip to carve my initials! Thanks for that...tip!

Jillsy