Wood burning for beginners: stencils, easy master classes, photo ideas and tips

The history of wood piercing, or pyrography, has hundreds of years. Since the beginning, the technique has undergone many changes. Artists spent years perfecting their skills and using new techniques.

The technique is based on drawing on the wooden board with a red-hot tool. Pyrography will be of interest to children, especially boys. This article will help beginners to understand the technique of wood piercing step by step.

Wood piercing for beginners

You will need an electric annealer with a special pen or a blowtorch to work.

The principle of their work is similar, except for the nuances:

The quill tip heats up quickly and cools down quickly.
It is very difficult to draw a straight continuous line with this tip.
The lifespan of this type of pen is quite short.

Regardless of the type of burnisher, it is possible to achieve significant results on any device.

The best materials to use are:

A sheet of plywood;
Planks of wooden bar (cedar, cherry, poplar, aspen). The wood should be smooth, without knots;
MDF board.

You should avoid billets covered with paint and varnish materials - they get hot during work, and their vapors are poisonous.

In order to save material, blanks can and should be divided. You can do this in the store or at the markets where the blanks are purchased or at home yourself. A jigsaw (for plywood) or a hacksaw (for wood) is suitable for this purpose.

You need to cut with care so that the edges of the workpiece are not damaged. Next, the wood is treated with sandpaper and cleaned of dust.

A simple and effective solution would be to buy a ready-made set, which includes everything you need to work. It is also possible to assemble a set yourself.

It most often includes:

Sandpaper for processing the workpiece.
A simple pencil for sketching (hard, pointed).
A working table with a stand for the burner.
Paints, varnish of your choice.

Methods of burning.

Contour, silhouette and art techniques are the most common and popular in wood burning.

Contour technique is considered the easiest to perform. The drawing is done in straight lines, so such work is possible even for a child. Examples include inscriptions on boards, shading.

Silhouette technique - the background is completely burned out and obscured around the image, the image itself remains clean.

Artistic technique implies a symbiosis of the first two options. Such a drawing is worked out in detail, there is work with light and shadow, perspective. This option is suitable for experienced artists, master classes are held on such works.

Tips for beginners

Contours should be depicted in one line, leading the tip slowly.
The beginning of the line will be smooth, if at the beginning of its drawing a little blow on the sting.
Filling is fastest when the device is in medium temperature.
From time to time it is necessary to clean the tip from the accumulation of carbon deposits.
Replace the tip only with pliers.
Do not leave the device unattended while it is plugged in.
You should let the pyrographer rest by turning it off periodically. This way it will last much longer.
If the burner malfunctions, you should stop working immediately, wait for it to cool down completely, and then take it to a service center for repair of household appliances.

Getting to work

Work in a ventilated room, using a respirator. The workplace and the workpiece should be well lit. You can put a soft roller under the elbow joint so that the working arm does not get tired.

A hard pencil will do for sketching. If you make a mistake, unnecessary lines are removed with an eraser. You can use tracing paper, which will make drawing easier.

The following rules should be observed during burning:

First the main lines and contours of the image are burned, after that the detailing and shading is performed.
It is better to move towards the body, so the hand is less tired.
If the drawing has a fill or gradient, the first thing to do is to depict the contours.

After the process is completed, the surface of the image is cleaned with sandpaper (it is better to use fine-grained paper), charred areas are removed. The project can be painted with paints. After all the manipulations, the finished picture is covered with varnish and left to dry.

Wood burning for children

Many children love the process of pyrography. Boys, for the most part, achieve notable success with proper diligence.

It should be remembered that painting with the poker should be done under parental supervision. The tip is very hot, which you should warn your child about in advance.

To begin with, it is necessary to define the sketch of the future drawing. Let the kid himself determine what he wants to draw. It is better to start with simple works that he can do and will not get tired. Children like to draw toys, cars and animals. Based on this, you can choose a drawing from a favorite book or cartoon.

After drawing the sketch, you should practice with your child the main elements of the image, so as not to spoil the whole workpiece. You can do this on an unnecessary piece of wood or plywood.

After repeating each element of the drawing several times without mistakes, you can start working with the main workpiece.

You should tell your kid that in order to draw a straight line, the burner is set at an angle to the workpiece, without applying too much force to the handle. The color and thickness of the line depends on the speed - the faster you drive, the lighter and thinner it will be.

To get a uniform line, the sting should be drawn at a constant speed, without tearing off the surface. To draw a point, the tip should be held vertically.

It is necessary to change the nozzles with pliers. The first time this should be done even with the device turned off for the purpose of training.

After completing the basic process, you can give the child paints, which will make the image more vivid. The most important thing that parents should remember is that you should not leave your child unattended, especially if the device is not unplugged.