Winter Birdhouse Woodburning Tutorial

[Dangee's Pyrography]

Hi Susan!
I've been saving your tutorial to my word program and your attachments have been working fine until now...starting with Step 12 through 14 the attachments are showing up with red x and no picture. Is anyone else having this problem? Hugs..Danette

[Irish]

Thanks for the very nice words gang!!!!

Danette, You have to log in now to see the images. You can't just stop by as a guest or visitor any more and view the jpgs.

I'll post the finishing detail burn in the morning.

Susan

[Irish]

Step 15: Detailing with the micro writing tip

OK ... I am adding the detailing. I want to accent the outline edges of the design where an edge is not well defined or where an edge does not stand strong against it's background.

I AM NOT outlining each and every line of the original tracing ... I want lots of areas without any detail lines along the edge.

I have changed to my micro writing tip and set the temp up high, almost to 8. My micro tip seems to need a high temp to get a nice dark line.

While I am adding the detailing I also used the micro tip to add a little shading to my berry vines. Since these lines are so tight the micro is perfect for fine line shading.

The detailing done I have cleaned my board with a white eraser to remove the original tracing lines and any dirt from my hands.

step15-1.jpg
step15-2.jpg
step15-3.jpg
step15-4.jpg

Susan

[Irish]

Step 15 cont:

I have the detailing done. But I am not finished the project!!!! It's time to set the project on a shelf or table somewhere across the room so that I can stand back and just look.

I am looking for - Any area that seems to disappear, that feels weak in it's tonal value. Any area that seems confusing where I can't quite figure out what the elements are. Any area that I might have missed in my detailing step.

Do I have a few areas of extremely black tonal value? Do I have a few areas of bright, unburned tonal value? What I see for my burning is that there are five areas that I need to work just a bit more.

1. The nuthatch's bottom and the wood bird house wall are very close in tonal value ... the same middle tone sepia brown. Since I want the nuthatch to come forward in the design I need to create more contrast. So I need to burn another layer to the shading behind the bird to darken the wall area.

2. I have that same situation with the gold finch and the perches on which he is resting. The belly area of the gold finch is the same tonal value as the high areas of the perch. So I need to darken both the shadows of the perches on the wall and the perches themselves.

3. I have a double shadow area on the left roof strut behind the berry vine but that side of the roof is still paler than the right roof shadow. This area really needs some dark tones added.

4. Now that I have added darkness in these three areas I can see that the hole is not near strong enough. So some very black tones have been added to the top half of the hole shading.

5. I captured some nice black marking for the chickadee but those in the nuthatch and gold finch feel a little weak to me. I don't want all of the marking absolutely black but I do want to pull this into a deeper range.

One more question before we are through the burning steps of this project ... Did you sign and date your artwork ????

step15-5.jpg
step15-7.jpg
step15-6.jpg

Susan

[Irish]

Step 15 cont:

I made a copy of the nuthatch area of the design. With my graphics program I cut small sections from my burning and pasted them into a tonal value scale. I easily have seven distinct shades of brown ranging from the unburned areas as my white to the chocolate browns that are my black tones.

How many tonal values can you discover in your project? An easy method to discover your tonal value range is with a piece of white printer paper and scissors. Cut the paper into 1" squares then cut a small hole about 1/4" square in the center of each.

Looking at your project find the palest area of your work and lay a paper square over it. What area seems just a little darker ... lay another square. Continue laying squares until you have worked to your blackest point.

A nice burning has at least three distinct tonal values. A good burning has at least five. A great burning is at least seven or more!!!!

My last step is to gray scale the image that I just made of the burnings sepia tonal value. Once gray scaled I ask myself a very simple question ... does it look like a pencil drawing or does it look like a wood burning?

This one, I believe, looks like a pencil drawing ... so I have executed my burning well enought that the design and tonal values show not the process in which I created those tonal values and details ...

step15-8.jpg
step15-9.jpg

Susan

[Irish]

Step 16: Decision Time!

At this point I can either leave the burning as it is or I can add coloring to the design.

If I want the wood burning without color, so that the burning stands by itself, I need to seal the wood to protect it. Personnally, now that the burning is completeld I really don't think it needs color ... the burning is strong enough that it does not need anything to bring the design forward.

There are several options that you can chose. Polyurethane spray sealer is an excellent chose to permanently protect your wood burning. It comes in several finishes - matte, semi-matte and gloss. I personally prefer a semi-matte as the gloss reflects the light creating bright highlights over your burning.

Several light coats is far better than one or two heavy coats of spray sealer. Follow the directions on your can and do the spraying outside on a warm dry day.

Boiled linseed oil makes a great finish for wood burnings. I mix my BLO half and half with turpentine then brush one generous coating over the entire piece. Let that set for about 10 to 15 minutes. Wipe the excess oil off with clean lint free rags. A second coating can be applied.

BLO is flamiable so the rags and newspapers that you used need to be placed in a coffee can full of soapy water. Store that container outside, away from any building and out of the sunlight until you can dispose of it properly. Again, read the directions on your can before you use it.

BLO also will add a light yellow or golden tone to your entire wood project. This can be a beautiful effect expecially for pale woods as poplar and basswood.

For this piece I would use paste wax as my finish. This particular basswood blank was especially well planed and prepared so it has a pristine smoothness to it's surface. The paste wax will give a soft matte sheen to the design area and the bark edges can be left as they are for a dull matte contrast.

Susan

[Dangee's Pyrography]

Hi Susan!
Thank you so much for doing this wonderful tutorial! The step by step process and accompanying photos were very detailed and easy to follow. I know this took a long time for you to do, as I have done a tutorial once myself. I feel kind of sad (sniff) that it is all done now.
When I get time to do this I will post it here for all to see. Thanks again! Danette

[Dangee's Pyrography]

Hi Susan!

Thank you for your reply...I was signed in, but for some reason when I tried to copy the images they just showed up as red X's. This morning when I tried again everything was fine. Must have been a gremlin playing around last night. LOL! Danette

[Irish]

Computer gremlins are very very real and always lurking around the chips

Danette, now the real fun begins as you and any one else that has been reading this thread post their burnings of the project!

I have had a blast doing this one.

Susan

[dmatias]

Thanks Susan for this tutorial.
After Christmas I will embark on duplicating this. Hopefully it comes out even a tenth as good as yours.
I will post as I go.