FIRST STEPS IN PYROGRAPHY OR FIRE ART
I’m going to talk about ideas for themes of work in pyrography and why you should think about having a themed design for your work.
1. Our eyes are often drawn to look more closely to a display that carries similarities of pattern, form, colour and shape because it is easier on the eye to look at things that flow or have a connection. If a display has a mixture of too many different things and is splashed with an array of colours, then it is difficult to know what to look at first and sometimes we may just move on to the next exhibit or presentation.
2. If you are aiming to sell your work and you have rented a stall or are advertising your wares via a shop or over the Internet, then perhaps one of the best ways to attract attention to your work is to display articles that are connected by virtue of their design and colour.
3.You may have decided to produce pieces of pure art in pyrography and so you could choose to display works which cover a similar subject matter. I have seen numerous professional works of art successfully presented as a group of one theme.
4. The number of themes that you can choose from is limitless and includes patterns and designs from nature for example:- plants, flowers, leaves, animals to quirky fun designs and personalised items that you could produce to order. Are you interested in traditional design? Celtic designs offer a range of patterns as do many other cultural heritages. If you are working on decorating toys for children you could have some fun with nursery rhymes or use your designs as learning aids e.g. the alphabet or numbers up to ten.
5. An alternative to choosing subject themed designs, is to display your work as one or two different groups of colour. You will notice in stores how shop displays are often themed around one or two different colour schemes and they look very effective.
6. If the aim is to sell your work then it is important to try and make it stand out from the rest of the crowd. For instance you may have three or four objects that are totally different in design but are all decorated in varying shades of blue. You can produce a striking show of your work if you exhibit them in a single colour setting.
7. If the objects you are to sell have a secondary purpose such as a decorated picture frame or a candle holder then don’t forget to do the obvious and display your items with a picture in and a candle in the holder to illustrate their usefulness.
As promised another old time extract from Burnt Wood Etchings.
Flowers and foliage will doubtless have a special attraction for ladies, and may be used with charming effect on many articles, useful and ornamental.
Large, bold subjects, such as Lilies, Irises, Sunflowers, Daffodils and Marguerites are the best to choose from in the floral world, while for foliage only, Oak sprays, Blackberry, Laurel, Vine and Virginia creeper are very adaptable; in fact, the work of reproducing in Pyrography is much simplified when such subjects are chosen, as have very distinctive shapes and outlines.
In all flower drawing it is advisable that the artist first gets the outline correctly in pencil, before commencing with the point, as a mistake in the burning would be fatal in anything so fine and delicate as the petal of a flower, where the utmost softness and purity are required.
Source A Handbook of Pyrography or Burnt Wood Etching by Mrs. Maud Maude
We have talked about displaying objects with a colour theme but as yet I have not mentioned anything about the different ways that you can introduce colour into your work, so I will talk about this in my next blog.
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