[Thomp]

I recently decided to do a burning on a box lid as bob did with his ship,

attached are bad photos;
being fairly confident in my sketching ability i sketched out my memory of a swamp scene on the lid of a michaels pre-made craft box "looks like Baltic birch plywood but no telling what wood it is" after preparing the wood then took my burner and started to work ...
and found out fast that burners dont work like a pencil, you can't depend on the tip to wear down and provide wider strokes nor can you just restroke like with a pencil to darken lines in the same manor, as the burner tip wildly follows the grain, dips and digs sometimes, and likens to drawing on burlap instead gliding like drawing on paper.... even after sanding surface smooth to 600 grit

Ok, i got a optma1 with p5 spear shape tip heavy duty cord and one piece tip, using heat setting of 1.5 or less...setting 5 is where this burner starting to show red hot glow on tip.. (benchmark referance)

borrowing a link from rick for tip shape illustration.. http://www.littleshavers.com/ImageFile/15060.jpg

the tip preforms outstandingly for detailing carvings and hair/beards, like a ultra thin maker.. But im finding it slow going for drawing covering and shading...

Q: "is there a 101 tutorial/web page on shading strokes , hints.??"

Im reminded in Scroll Saw Workshop - Issue # 20 - Fall 2005 one with intarsia tiger on cover...there was a page or 2 on shading patterns i own this issue, but Ive misplaced it in the move from outside fairweather shop to in the house for warmer winter climate, & small wood projecting...

Another Q:
has anybody ever addressed a remedy for the scorched wood smell, can a thing like a smokeless ashtray remove the nauseating smell and burning eye syndrome.. i was thinking of a computer case fan to remove direct eye irritation..
cuz my wife has a fit looking for where the fire is when i fire this thing up....

[carverken]

Thomp,
I am a member of this group and I have used their tutorial
http://www.woodburner.com/
Ken

[carverken]

Thomp,
As far as the smoke and smell, I too use a computer fan to help draw the smoke away. 110v version. Do not have it blow on your burning as it will cool the tip and make it harder to control the tempurature and the consistancy of the burn.
Enjoy
k

[squbrigg]

Thomp....use a fan to suck the smoke away from you, don't have it blow on you as then it will mess with your pen tip temperature. I use my Razortip Dust collector, it works great.

WCI Issue #31 has a woodburning special in it, a part of Sue Walters book on Pyrography. Really useful information in it. The book is outstanding for learning burning, and I hear Susan Irish's book is great as well, but I don't have a copy yet!

Bob

[Thomp]

not sure but i think i found that one lastnight and got diverted into the leather work patterns on tandy sight last night but im loading it as i reply
thanks a lot for the responce and link.

had 2responces while replying here

i wanted tp use a 6" pancake computer fan to suck - dispose of the bad smell as my wife calls it.. i didnt know if it would be strong enough,,,,
thomas

[Pyrographer]

Originally Posted by Thomp

I recently decided to do a burning on a box lid as bob did with his ship,

attached are bad photos;
being fairly confident in my sketching ability i sketched out my memory of a swamp scene on the lid of a michaels pre-made craft box "looks like Baltic birch plywood but no telling what wood it is" after preparing the wood then took my burner and started to work ...
and found out fast that burners dont work like a pencil, you can't depend on the tip to wear down and provide wider strokes nor can you just restroke like with a pencil to darken lines in the same manor, as the burner tip wildly follows the grain, dips and digs sometimes, and likens to drawing on burlap instead gliding like drawing on paper.... even after sanding surface smooth to 600 grit

Ok, i got a optma1 with p5 spear shape tip heavy duty cord and one piece tip, using heat setting of 1.5 or less...setting 5 is where this burner starting to show red hot glow on tip.. (benchmark referance)

borrowing a link from rick for tip shape illustration.. http://www.littleshavers.com/ImageFile/15060.jpg

the tip preforms outstandingly for detailing carvings and hair/beards, like a ultra thin maker.. But im finding it slow going for drawing covering and shading...

Q: "is there a 101 tutorial/web page on shading strokes , hints.??"

Im reminded in Scroll Saw Workshop - Issue # 20 - Fall 2005 one with intarsia tiger on cover...there was a page or 2 on shading patterns i own this issue, but Ive misplaced it in the move from outside fairweather shop to in the house for warmer winter climate, & small wood projecting...

Another Q:
has anybody ever addressed a remedy for the scorched wood smell, can a thing like a smokeless ashtray remove the nauseating smell and burning eye syndrome.. i was thinking of a computer case fan to remove direct eye irritation..
cuz my wife has a fit looking for where the fire is when i fire this thing up....

I don't think you will find a website with a 101 tutorial on shading but my book Pyrography 101 will give you a step-by-step on shading using a bent spear shader which is similar to what you have but bent making it easier to shade. Sue Irish's book is also another good resource.

One comment is that you do not want your tip to be red hot when burning. If it's getting red hot on a 5 setting you need to adjust your low end adjustment which is on the bottom of the Optima.

If your having such reactions to your burning that means it's probably not a safe wood to be burning. Some people use small fans (blowing away from the burner) to remove the smoke but if your having a reaction (burning eyes) then you should stop burning on that wood. The problem is that if the wood is irritating your eyes and other things just blowing it away from you won't help other people, animals, etc in the house. So, while it might help you, you are not solving the problem, it's just moving the smoke elsewhere. Most of Michaels craft boxes are made of mystery wood and one of the most important things in burning is SAFETY and know what is safe to burn on. If you don't know what your burning on and your already having problems with it, it doesn't make sense to keep burning on it...but that's just my humble opinion.

And one of the things I stress in my classes is that you don't rush art. It's not a race and yes, done right it is slow going. If you want fast stick to a pencil or get yourself a cheap single temperature burner!!!! Detail burners such as Optima, Razertip, etc are not fast!

And yes, you can go over it to darken, that's one of the ways to get darker shading without cranking up your burner.

Nedra

[Thomp]

the pictures posted dont show fine lines in the burning im doing Nedra, only the mudddyness of the shading im accomplishing due to the cheap webcam, my money tree didnt bloom again this year..

and i agree the wood is from other country's mystery wood, but im nearly done, guess its back to the porch with a sucking fan to finish when i get a hint of what im suppose to be doing...

im happy running my burner at 1.5 for a slight scorch, if i need darker i can wait a little longer...
im afraid if i start adjusting ill do it so often ill wear i out... im just too bad at tinkering with things...

not saying ill adjust the unit, but if i did, the tip shouldn't ever glow even at 10? is that the right understanding...

back to shading strokes/patterns,
on your
http://nedraspyrography.com/Pyrograp...ertip_Pens.htm
page near the bottom there is some tip styles and some examples of what they do, that's all im looking for in an example...

i tried cross hatching like the money or woodblock engravers do, but im not old enough or patient enough for all that biz that takes a lot of extra planning i dont know how to do..

the spear point i have could benefit from being bent for shading "using the flat side", but i also need a long straight tip for detailing my carvings i did modify a sharp flat-spot into one side of the tip for crisp sharp lines but didnt remove but a micro amount of material to achieve a 1/4" flat sharp spot.

[Pyrographer]

Originally Posted by Thomp

the pictures posted dont show fine lines in the burning im doing Nedra, only the mudddyness of the shading im accomplishing due to the cheap webcam, my money tree didnt bloom again this year..

and i agree the wood is from other country's mystery wood, but im nearly done, guess its back to the porch with a sucking fan to finish when i get a hint of what im suppose to be doing...

im happy running my burner at 1.5 for a slight scorch, if i need darker i can wait a little longer...
im afraid if i start adjusting ill do it so often ill wear i out... im just too bad at tinkering with things...

not saying ill adjust the unit, but if i did, the tip shouldn't ever glow even at 10? is that the right understanding...

back to shading strokes/patterns,
on your
http://nedraspyrography.com/Pyrograp...ertip_Pens.htm
page near the bottom there is some tip styles and some examples of what they do, that's all im looking for in an example...

i tried cross hatching like the money or woodblock engravers do, but im not old enough or patient enough for all that biz that takes a lot of extra planning i dont know how to do..

the spear point i have could benefit from being bent for shading "using the flat side", but i also need a long straight tip for detailing my carvings i did modify a sharp flat-spot into one side of the tip for crisp sharp lines but didnt remove but a micro amount of material to achieve a 1/4" flat sharp spot.

The tip should glow at 10 but not even close on a 5. You adjust the setting by setting it on the low end 1 or 2 and basically at one there should be no heat and at 2 just a bit of heat. If your getting hot at 1.5 it's set too high. I use a 3 for doing fine skin on portraits because there's just light heat. Don't be afraid to adjust it, that's what it's there for. Turn on the burner and set it at 1 and adjust the setting at the bottom so there's no burn when you put the pen on wood. Then move it up to 2 and see if you get a light burn and that should be just right. At about 5 you should get a nice med/dark burn on the wood and it should not start to turn red until about 8.

I'm not into hatching, cross hatching, pointillism either. Just no patience and I find it too "structured" and like you said requires too much planning. I prefer a more free flowing soft shading technique that is similar to using a paint brush so it allows for more creativity and subtle changes. Of course that's just my personal preference. I'm an oil painter convert so I'm into blending and I can achieve the look I want with the technique I use.

The bent spear shader I use is very similar to what you have but it is bent at a 45 degree angle and the edges are fine tuned so they are not sharp. Cam and I worked on this for a while until it was exactly the way I wanted it. So, he makes mine to my specs and they are wonderful

For fine lines I use the #14 which is a round-heeled knife. It gives nice thin crisp lines and because of the round heel it does do a bang up job on curved lines!

[Thomp]

Found the ssw Issue # 20,
which has 2 pages of pyrogaphic shading and texturing patterns it has 35 thumbnails images on each page with a blurp under each that tells tip and technique to achieve each.
Article by Sue Walters on burning realistic texture... pg44

you know it was in the last place i looked.....HA!

[squbrigg]

How's it coming Thomp? Any progress? Bob