FIRST STEPS IN PYROGRAPHY OR FIRE ART
I am hopeful that my blog FIRST STEPS IN PYROGRAPHY OR FIRE ART has “FIRED” your imagination and inspired you to try out this creative skill. Although patience and practise are important, if you take the time to learn step by step, eventually you will be very pleased with the grand results that you can obtain with wood burning. The broadness and depth of work is never ending and with practise you will add to your skills and this will result in you being able to produce not only pieces of work that have great delicacy, but work that appears consistent and professional and this will appeal to a wide spectrum of people.
1. “Poker Work” or wood art can be seen as one of many traditional art forms within a wide selection of cultures and in the past has mainly been used as a way to decorate items of utility. Traditional Pyrography or Poker Work has played it’s part in many continents including Africa, Australasia, America, and Asia. Some beautifully decorated pieces of medieval pokerwork can be found in Europe and especially in private English collections.
2. The oldest pieces of work have been produced by heating an iron in an open fire or in a traditional forge with burning irons. The fire-etcher went on to use copper tools not unlike soldering -irons set into wooden or other non-conducting handles. These tools cooled rapidly, and had to be constantly shifted while oxidation of the copper necessitated constant cleaning. The etcher had to constantly feed up his fire and blow it with hand bellows, so it is remarkable that that anything was produced at all!
3.The art of Pyrography did not become more open to people in general until it was discovered that a thermo -cautery surgical instrument used for cauterizing could be adapted for the use of the artist, allowing him to work with comparative freedom. As a consequence of this pyrography a lost art became popularised in the late 1800’s and early 20th century and it also became an acceptable art skill for women of that time to participate in. It was during this period that the “Vulcan Box” was invented and Pyrographers used an outfit that consisted of benzoline bottles, a union-cork, a double rubber bulb with connecting rubber tube, a cork handle, a platinum point (a selection of points were available), an alcohol lamp and indiarubber bellows.
4. Of course we have now moved on considerably, with a variety of electrical machines that offer a range of different burning strengths. The large selection of points enable a pyrographer to create a wonderful display of patterns. There are a wide variety of woods and other materials to choose to burn. We can pick from a marvelous selection of wonderful colours in paints, inks, pens etc and make life easier with the use of templates, stamps, books of designs and patterns if we choose.
5. Pyrography will almost certainly remain a decorative art. If the experienced Pyrographer takes the time to pay attention to detail in his work in the same way that any artist would apply his skills to design or paint a picture, then there is absolutely no reason why the finished piece of work will not be held in even greater esteem than any other piece of art work because of it’s uniqueness and beauty.
All that remains for me to say is ……
Be Excited!
Be Fired Up!
Be Unique and Create With A Passion to Bring Beauty and Life Back to Pyrography!
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