Burning your carvings

[toycarver]

I sprayed the polyurethane on and will be antiquing soon. Here it is before antiquing;

[Irish]

Beautiful blending on your colors, especially through the belly and the bulge of the nostrils. The Oriental God is really sharp!

Susan

[kev.b]

Can't believe i missed this tutorial......aaagghh.
what can i say but a stunning piece of work. the design, carving and painting are beautifully thought out and executed thanks SO much for sharing! guess what my next project is going to be?

[LMiller]

I'm a little late to the game, but I hope for an answer:

My tools selection doesn't yet include a sophisticated wood burner. I have a craft and hobby one that has screw-on tips but doesn't include any temperature control. As I have reviewed (okay, let's be honest here in the forum -- lusted after) the Razortip tips, they are much more fine than those in my little kit.

Will using a more blunt, less sophisticated burner even be worth the effort? I have resisted spending time experimenting as my carving needs so much practice, but I would welcome the advice of those that may have experience in this area.

Thanks so much!

LMiller

[toycarver]

I will suggest you do a sample piece and see if it meets your expectations. I guess you are talking mostly about the Oriental god.. I found it not as hard as I first thought.. but then I used one with a temp control. Get a scrap piece of wood and play around with what you have, maybe it will work. That's this rookie's 2 cents..maybe Susan will pop in and have a better answer.

[Irish]

LMiller, there is a new tool coming out soon called the Versa-Tool by Walnut Hollow that will retail for a minimal cost. Go down to the Pyrography area of this forum and you will see a thread about it.

In the mean time I have used a one temp tool for ... well, giving away my age here .... over 25 years. It will do the job wonderfully. With a one temp tool when I need fine, mid-tone burns as the Oriental God I unplug the tool, clean the tip well with silicon oxide paper or on a leather strop with red oxide. Then after the tool has cooled down I plug it in and start burning as it is heating up. That usually gives me about 5 minutes of lower temp burning. When the tool gets near its top heat I simply unplug it again and start over.

Remember also the light pressure on the tool tip makes lighter burns, so don't "push", glide!

Susan

[Irish]

So ... over the weekend I literally carved myself into a tight corner.

I had traced the pattern to my board, rough cut out the arched frame area, when I realized I simply had not allowed myself enough room to maneuver the tools for the carving of the oak leaves in the background.

I thought that when I dropped the bird house down to its level I would have more room to work the background ... but, Nope!

So I surrendered. I went ahead and finished the shaping steps for the house, branch, and bird then dressed the carving out with a light sanding. Then I grabbed my wood burning tool.

The burner did what I could not do with my gouges. It easily reached into the background to clean up the rough cuts, trim up the cut around the leaves and then detail the leaves and acorns.

In fact it did so well I just went ahead and burned the rest of the details that I had planned to carve.

Susan

[LMiller]

Thank you so very much Susan!

I am interested in using pyro to burn between colors on my carvings -- to follow along with Lynn Doughty's suggestions and instructions. I'm not yet contemplating a challenge to you in your art! Chuckling.

Thanks for the help!!!

LMiller

[pararaptor]

Susan,
I-am-in-awe....at your talent and creativity!!
Yours is the kind of art I strive toward in my own endeavors.
I've carved numerous dragon flutes, and they've each been inspired by your representations.
Just sayin....
Greg

[mojavezig]

Beautiful work and great techniques. Thank you for taking the time to share them.
I love the vibrant colors and finish. I just ordered and read two of Shawn Cipa's books and wanted to incorporate fantasy or grotesque figures into walking sticks. I get tired of the same old mountain man themes. After reading this post it completed my thought process and I am off to take on a dragon themed walking stick. Thanks for the motivation......