In the last six months I've become somewhat obsessed with wood turning and burning 🔥😂
I can only pursue my wood turning hobby once every few weeks at my local turning club, as I don't have the space (or money) to set up a lathe woodworking shop where I live.
But I can spend time making Pyrography pieces (the art of wood burning) at home, no problem... as long as I stay mindful to keep an eye on the machine and pens to avoid burning the apartment to the ground.
A few weeks ago it was myself and my girlfriend's two year anniversary, so I decided to put all my recent practice to the test and complete my first serious work of Pyrography art as a gift to her.
The Heart Tree is a mixed media work incorporating her favorite colours (using watercolour paints) into a 'tree of life' burn.
The tree of life design is a large tree with roots and branches enclosed in a circle. The roots of the tree almost mirror the spreading branches, providing balance and symmetry.
The tree of life symbol is ancient. In fact, this iconic symbol is almost as old as humans. The tree of life symbol has been represented in Christianity, Ancient Egypt, as well as Buddhist, African, Turkish and Celtic cultures. Though these systems of culture and theology reflect multicultural ideals, there are unifying strains.
Celtic Culture: Celts cherish trees for their spiritual connections to family, ancestors and deities. The tree of life represents the afterlife, and connection between the earth and heaven. The bond and affection to trees is so deep that Celts believed the actual trees were their ancestors, gatekeepers to the Celtic Otherworld. As such, the tree of life in Celtic Culture is sacred. In the Irish language, it is known as ‘Crann Bethadh’.
Source: houseoflor.com
The tree of life holds strong symbolism around connectedness and sacredness, it is for these reasons that I chose this ancient symbol to express our two year anniversary.
I thought it encapsulated the deep sharing that happens in a relationship, and the imagery of roots and branches inspired a haiku poem that I burned on the back of the round with a longer message of love.
The Heart Tree
The process of bringing this piece to life is quite a long and involved one.
To get a precise burn (especially given my beginner status) it was essential to transfer the pattern/design to the wood round before burning the outlines in and adding shading.
This is achieved by using wax paper and an inkjet printer.
First, you sellotape a sheet of wax paper to a sheet of A4 with the waxy side facing upwards. Then you print the design onto the modified sheet using the 'envelop printing' setting on your inkjet printer.
Then, you carefully place the wax side down on the wood and run a credit card slowly but firmly over the paper template in one direction keeping the paper taught. This transfers the ink (that sits on top of the wax) onto the wood, leaving a clear design to burn over.
I hope one day to be able to burn designs like this tree of life 'free hand'... but this is a skill that might take me years to develop, and in the meantime I don't want to waste tones of wood rounds, and money 😂
Then it is time for the burn, shading and painting processes.
... three days later, and around 15-18 hours of work I finally produced the piece you see in the title picture of this post.
Sometimes actions speak louder than words (or written work), so I will let the art speak for its self.
Gif Showing progression of art work.
The final wall hanging art work was 28 CM (just over 11 inches) diameter.
What is Pyrography?
Pyrography or pyrogravure is the free handed art of decorating wood or other materials with burn marks resulting from the controlled application of a heated object such as a poker. It is also known as pokerwork or wood burning.
The term means "writing with fire", from the Greek pyr (fire) and graphos (writing).[2] It can be practiced using specialized modern pyrography tools, or using a metal implement heated in a fire, or even sunlight concentrated with a magnifying lens. "Pyrography dates from the 17th century and reached its highest standard in the 19th century. In its crude form it is pokerwork.
source: Wikipedia
My pyrography machine with design mid-work.
For me, Pyrography is a fantastic meditative aid to igniting creativity.
The process of transferring a design to wood using carbon paper along with the careful application of heat in the main burn, refines focus and sharpens your thought process.
In the final steps of shading and detailing I find a quiet place, where ideas for stories are born, and realization about characters in my writing work are often resolved.
When added to the final satisfaction of the finished piece of art, the whole process of pyrography can be a profoundly grounding experience.
Thanks for reading 🙂
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