The Nature of Pyrography

I recommend getting some practice in on a piece of the same kind of wood you will be using for your project. This will allow you to get the ‘feel’ of the pen and help determine just how much pressure you need to use while burning, to get the result you want. Practice also allows you to figure out just what your pen can do and what kind of burn can result from how you hold and turn it while burning. The more you practice, the better you will become, if you do it with an open mind. Use the different tips that came with your kit.

Use the universal tip for burning the fur and accent points such as the ripples, muscles, joints and even the grooves in the tree. You can even use the universal tip to do the face, but just use the very top tip of it so you don’t burn so much at a time or too dark or too deep. Keep in mind while burning the outline of the bear you don’t just make a straight solid line. Use short slightly uneven strokes of the pen to indicate the growth of hair from the body. Then go ahead and start to fill in the body, burning in the direction the fur grows. I don’t start on the face for two reasons: I like to get the feel of the pen in my hand and the heat level before I do anything that intricate.

You can use the shading tip to give contour to the outline of the bear and shade the inside of the opposite legs and maybe under his chin. You can also lightly burn over your fur, defining your muscle groups to give contour. Also, use the shading tip for the body of the tree to give it a light brown color.