[Irish]

I have (Great Big Grin) a new Colwood Detailer on my table!

As someone on another thread asked to see the Colwood in action and as this is my first time using one I asked the Message Board Admins if I could post a Review. They have kindly granted me that permission.

As with all of my threads and WIP's (Works in Progress) I am inviting everyone on the message board to please join in the fun.

Disclaimer and Ground Rules for ing:

Since this thread will include a step-by-step I feel it is important to set a few ground rules for our conversation and discussion.

Please ... Let's stay on topic!

The topic is that I am going to put a Colwood Detailer through it's paces. I have two Walnut Hollow burners and one Razortip - this is my first Colwood. I love my Walnut Hollows (that's why I have two) and like the Razortip, so let's see about the Colwood.

I will be doing a visual look, a test burn or two and then a step-by-step burned pattern. I will be working in MY style of wood burning which is to use the basic writing tip and create my tonal values through layers of burning. I will be posting my opinions based on what features I like or don't like, how I burn and how well the burner works through the project. My opinions are not meant as anything more than that ... what I like and what I don't like.

This thread is not in any way, shape or form meant to be desrespectful, demeaning or an attack on any brand of wood burner and may not be used in that manner in any way. In fact, if I am lucky, before I leave this world I will own one of each.

Please ask any questions that you might have. Remember that if you have a question then most likely someone else has one because I didn't make myself clear or because I just missed it.

Please add your comments of your experiences, techniques and styles of wood burning. This includes your favorite woods, favorite tips and favorite shading techniques.

Please if you want to see something close up, just let me know.

Please do not hesitate to say, "Hey, Susan, I didn't understand what you just did or why you did it?!?"

Please feel free ( I am giving my permission) to make copies of the photos and pattern used here to create your own personal wood burning. You may print the thread pages and photos as your step-by-step guide.

Please if you want to join in post photos of your progress, we would all love to see what you are doing.

Please, since we are looking at the Colwood burners, if you have a wood burning done with a Colwood you are welcome to post it to this thread.

Please do not post misleading information that can easily be checked for factual accuracy. If you want to post a 'fact' please make sure it is a truthful.

Please do not post what appears to be factual information but is either unconfirmed or misleading under the title of opinions.

Please do not post any comments that have been made by 'other' people. Let's keep this conversation in the first person and leave out all third party hear say evidence.

Please do not add comments about "Customer Service" or personal attacks against any company, company owner or company representatives.

Please do not post any comments against any product in a manner that could tarnish the reputation of this message board and the kind, generous company that hosts this message board.

Please remember that all and every wood burner manufacturer advertises with our host and let's be respectful of the fact.

Please do not post any personal grudges against any company. The past is the past and what we are sharing here is in real time ... ie ... my wood burner is on my work table right now!

And ... Please be patient. I don't rush wood burning so I expect that if I am posting photos of each and every step this could take a few days.

Now, let's have some fun together.

Susan

[Irish]

Visual Check:

detailer_back.jpg - The first thing that catches my eye with the Colwood Detailer is how the wire cord for the pen is attached.
The front connection for the pen tip is an RCA plug. When I plugged in my writing tip pen that plug had a very tight, positive grab. I needed just a touch of 'force' to set the pen so I believe that I am going to have very little if any energy lose in this connection.

The back of the pen wire is hard wired directly to the heating unit. I can get to this connection to change out pen cords if I need to but as I am using the pen I know I have a good transfer from this area - there is no second RCA connection which could lose power.

The heating unit has a very small foot print and is quite heavy ... So as I work that unit is not about to slip or move on me.

The unit that I have is a one pen only unit and has a temperature dial set between 0 and 10. The power cord and the pen cord are very heavy. I slipped over to Colwood's to double check and the specs show it is a 16 gauge wire. That is extra heavy for better power transfer from the unit to the pen but will it have the flexiblity that I want for pen movement???

tool_tips.jpg - I have four fixed pen tips. They are left to right "B" is a Round Heel Skew, "KB" is a Small Round Heel Skew, "MC" is a Micro Writing Tip and "C" is the Basic Writing Tip.

Susan

Edit Notes: Everyone on this message boards knows that I can not spell my way out of a paper bag ...right? So I will do my best however I make no spelling guareenttteees.

[Irish]

writing_grip.jpg - OK ... I'm in love with this little machine!!!!

I plugged in the standard or basic writing tip and grabbed a practice board and was just blown away with how perfect the length of the tip was for my hand and my style of holiding the pen. You know how you have a favorite ink pen - that one pen that just fits your hand, not too fat, not too skinny, not too short or too long. That is how the wirting tip pen sets in my hand.

I like a loose grip with lots of finger tip flexiblity and that means I need room to be able to stretch my thumb. The burner that I have been using has always felt just a little too short between the pen tip and my finger grip on the foam covering. I have felt sort of 'choked up' on the pen. This one ... oh, there is plenty of room because of the longer pen tip.

Now, this is just my way of holding a pen. I have an average sized woman's hand ... about 1/2" shorter then Mike's hand measured from the heel of the palm to the tip of the middle finger. You will need to test any burner and pen system as this might be very different for you.

But since this is MY burner and MY pens - I am throughly delighted at this moment.

Throughout this WIP I will be referring to this way of holding my hand and pen as the 'Basic Writing Grip'.

painting_grip2.jpg - The second way that I hold a burning pen is in an upright position, just like I hold a paint brush liner or detailer. That straight up position lets me get the finest of details without changing out my pen. And guess what .... ... ahhh, ohhh ... this is very good.

Again, this may not be a way you use your pen ...

Throughout this WIP I will be referring to this way of holding my hand and pen as the 'Paint Brush Grip'.

Susan

[Irish]

test_run.jpg and test_burn.jpg - I have two posted photos for this area, one is a photo and the other a scan.

I marked a piece of 1/8" birch plywood sample board into 1" squares. Using the Writing Tip pen I worked a simple line pattern into each square working on the diagonal to the wood grain. I started my first square at temperature setting 3 and worked through to temperature setting 9.

In this test run I have changed nothing but the temperature setting to what my sepia tone colors are for each setting. I believe that the Colwood gave me a very even steady color change as I worked through the temps. So I would not need to 'fuss' through the settings to easily establish a sepia value scale ... I could just burn by the numbers.

The lower value scale in these two photos is a three layer cross hatching. Again, each square is burned on the number setting ... the first square has all three cross hatch layers done on setting 3, the second square on setting 4 and so on.

This cross hatch test shows me the possiblities between the number settings. I can easily develope the tonal value by simple adding layers of work.

In my opinion: The Colwood gives me an easy, quick and even sepia value scale just using the temp settings. For a beginning woodburner it is a great assest, they have done the work for you so that you can burn from very pale to very dark.

temp9.jpg - By temperature setting 9 the tool tip had turned to this beautiful cherry red coloring. That tip was hotter than whosits but the handle was a comfortable as could be. What heat I could feel was radiated from the tip not coming through the cork grip.

Mike pointed out in this photo how even the heat is through the tip's wire. Notice how even in color that red is throughout the tip's end and how evenly it deepens toward the handle area. Most excellent.

Susan

Edit Notes: The tips of all four of my pens are polished tips. Colwood will polish them for you if that is your preference as it is mine. And as I use a strop and rouge to keep my tips clean they will be re-polished with each cleaning. I found that the tip flowed very smoothly across the wood and all of my test work was done going against/diagonal to the grain. I expect that same or even better movement once I move onto the design work.

[Irish]

I'm off to start working up the photos for the test WIP. WIP - for those who are new to the message board that means "Work in Progress".

To really give the Colwood Detailer a good test run I am going to work through a step-by-step project here on the message board. We will all be able to see the quality and evenenss of the Colwood by putting it to real use.

So while I work photos, here is the pattern that I will be using. Also I will be working on a 12" x 12" 1/8" thick piece of birch plywood using the Basic Writing Tool tipped pen. There is fine grade, 220 grit or higher, sandpaper on the table, a soft pencil for tracing and my strop and rouge.

Susan

Oops ... my pattern jpg is too big, be right back.

[WOODIE13]

Susan,
Looks like you are off to a great start. Look forward to seeing the progress. Are you using the fixed or replaceable tip pens?

[Irish]

Woodie! Really great question!!!

All four of my pens are fixed tip or permanent tip pens. Since these four are the most basic and most used by me I felt that having fixed pens was the right decision. Fixed pens tend, in my opinion, to give a more even, steady burn because there is not that extra connection point.

I do use interchangeable tips on my RazorTip with good success and, of course, all of the tips to my Walnut Hollow are interchangeable. When I expand my tip selection into those that I don't use on a daily bases I probably will go to an interchangeable pen and tips.

Susan

[Irish]

Tones - the amount of light or shadow an area contains: example: the sunny side of a tree has a pale tone value where the opposite side away from the sunshine has a dark tone value.

Hues - the colors within a work, example: an apple has a red hue.

Sepia - tonal values in the hue of brown, like an antique photograph.

Value - the paleness or darkness of a tone, example: a soft sienna sepia is a pale value where a chocolate brown is a dark value.

Tonal scale, Value scale or Sepia scale - a chart of tones worked from very pale through very dark graduations.

(Hey, Mottles ... did I do that right???)

texture-samples-1 - I use textures as my way of developing the sepia tones of a wood burning. Some excellent pyographers use only cross hatching, others use a shading tip and some use just dots which is called pointalism. Me, I love texture because it gives a variety of small color tones and lines to create the coloring in a larger area.

Those textures can be layered to create darker tones in a burning. So in the sample squares you can see where I am practicing both my textures and how they will develop by adding more layers.

I will be refering to these textures as I work and adding to them.

I do like to work a practice board as I work any wood burning. That way I can test the temperature setting for tonal value as well as the wood surface for coloration BEFORE I actually do it on my project.

Susan

[Irish]

Step 1: This step-by-step can be done with any wood burner from a basic one temperature tool as the Walnut Hollow style to a multiple pen unit as my RazorTip. So, plese join in no matter what wood burning unit you own.

I start any burning by sanding the surface well with fine sandpaper. In this case I have a piece of 320 grit. Sand with the grain of the wood so that you don't accidentally add or leave any scratch lines. After the sanding I remove all of the dust.

Step 2: I am only using the center circle of the pattern so that I can work large enough for you to watch the progress. I make a printing of the pattern to fit my board with about 1" of margin on each side.

If you hold the pattern up to a sunny window you can see through the paper. Use this to fold the pattern along the diagonals. As I fold I can see the other side of the pattern to line up the circle edges. I use those diagonal fold lines as guides to center my circle onto the board.

Turn the pattern over and rub the back with a soft pencil, this creates your 'carbon'.

Tape the pattern into place, matching the diagonal folds to the corners of your board.

Now trace along your pattern lines with an ink pen. Trace only those lines you really, really need.

Step 3: I always check my tracing before I remove the tape or the pattern. If I missed something I don't want to have to try and reposition the pattern.

Step 4: You can see that I now have a light pencil sketch of my pattern on the board. Notice this is quite pale, just what I want.

Step 5: I have gone over all of my tracing lines with a dark pencil so that you can see my pattern lines as we work. PLEASE DO NOT DO THIS TO YOUR PROJECT!!! I have to have dark pencil lines for the photography and scanning. But ... dark or heavy pencil lines can smudge during burning, discolor and get permanently burned into place.

This step is just for me to insure you can see everything I am doing.

Susan

[Irish]

Step 6: I first want to map out my design. This means that since I don't have a finished burning to copy I need to figure out the tonal values of each area before I begin detailing. I do that through pale tonal value mappings.

I have started the mapping in the acorn body. I know that the highlight areas are not going to be burned because they need to be the palest (whitest) area of the work. I know that the sides of the acorn are going to be darker than the center because the acron is round.

So using my Writing Tip, my writing grip, temp setting 4 and a random doodle line I have burned the first layer to my acorn.

Step 7: I have added a second layer to the acorn to the outer edge area and along the cap area. This makes these areas just a tad darker in value.

Step 8: I have taken that doodle line texture into the oak leaves where they tuck under the acorn or mouse. I am still using the writing tip, writing grib and temp setting 4.

Step 9: When I take a moment to think through where I am going next I also take the time to clean my tips from the normal carbon build-up. This is just my habit and means that I clean my tips often.

Scan6-8.jpg This is a close-up of where I am at in the work.

I have used the random doodling texutre here because I want just a little texture but no direction to that texture. Acorns and leaves change color but they don't have noticeable line direction.

Susan