OK, The Fort Wayne Artist Guild (http://www.ftwayneartguild.org/) Big show is now behind us, with a great deal of success and I can get back to burning some more fine art. This was the second big show in a row for me and was time consuming. However I realized one thing. When you enter a piece of pyrography art in a major show, you will get attention. Chances are 99% or better, that you will be the only one entering pyrography. It's a breath of fresh air, as watercolor, oils and acrylics are the norm. What I do, to ease pyrography into a show, is to enter at least one or two as a mixed medium. I will do the burning on 140 lb water color paper and then put some washes over it. The chances are very few if anybody has see this type of mixed medium before. I think you will find, that your art WILL stand alone.



Go for it and BURN FINE ART for FUN & PROFIT



Ron

Colwood Woodburners ...My choice

A woodburner, like any other tool has it's plus and minis es and depending on what you want to accomplish, different feathers are important.

I started woodburning over five years ago, at that time I purchased a Colwood Cub model. I still use the same burner. It has served me very well and has made me a lot of money. Colwood has more than one model available but the Cub is my choice. I chose the Cub because of it's price, but I'm not sorry. I use the RT series tips , I own 12 different ones but I have found that I only use 2 or 3. Colwood has, at my last count, about 45 tip variations available. They have about the same in their fixed tips.

If your just starting out, and don't know what you need, here is what I recommend.

1. A Colwood Cub ( Its the least expensive)
2. A tip handle #RT-Hand
3. A #0155 EZ tip puller
4. A couple of tips to start (RT Type)
5. Something to burn on...Wood...Gourd...Leather...140 LB watercolor paper
6. And maybe a woodburning pattern or book
7. A little electricity and a comfortable work area, and your off on a great adventure.

Remember, I'm here to help, so contact me if you have any questions

Ron (The Pyro-Pointalist)

Hi, How is everybody this morning? Just wanted to tell you about a pyro picture I did the other day. It was Sunday morning and I had just read the paper and my wife was watching a chick flick on TV. I wasn't really interested in watching, so I hooked up my burner, grabbed my watercolor paper block and began making dots on it. At the beginning I had no ideal what I wanted to create, but as I progressed with more dots my favorite subject came to the surface, a tree. Yes the brain had this image stored some where, and it was time to bring it out and put it on paper. The entire picture was nothing but dots, but the look it gave, was wonderful. I now refer to this process as PYRO-POINTALISUM, which make me a PYRO-POINTALIST. I think you should at least give this a try, I think you will enjoy.

I have decided to explore this alot in the near future and will share my adventure with you.

Have fun by burning fine art for fun and profit.

Ron

Well, we finally made it to March, and here in Indiana it came in like a lion. I have had the pleasure to demo my skills on PBS public TV and to talk pyrography to a lot of people in february, and I love it. As I have mentioned in earlier postings, I own a woodworking supply store ( www.oaktreesupplies.com) and we just happen to sell the Colwood Brand of burners. Our sales of woodburning units have more than doubled in february. Last week I had one family purchase 3 units, so they could create together. How neat is that. So as I am doing, keep passing the word and ENJOY!!

Ron

Hey, The holidays are over, what better way to take your mind off of the troubles in the world, but to get your wood burner back out and work on you basics. Here are a couple of things to do to increase your pyrography skills:



1. Practice burning a value scale. Remember, what ever you are burning on is the lightest light you can get. And just shy of starting a fire will be the darkest you can acheive. Try this:....draw five or six 1/2" squares in a row on what ever you are burning on, leave the first one blank, that's your lightest light. Then go to the last one and make it as dark as you can. OK, now see if you can make the middle ones middle range values from light to dark.



2. learn as much as you can about vanishing points ( There are many good books available on this subject). Remember, things that are further away from you will get lighter. This is one reason why being able to do a good value scale is so important.



3. Try different tips, until you are comfortable with one. ( I rarely use more than 2 tips on a subject anymore, and usually only one.)



OK, that should get you started, I'll be back soon with some more suggestions.



Ron

What kind of paper?

I have tried burning on brown kraft paper, copy paper, toilet paper (very touchy) poster board, but the one that works best for me is water color paper. I have tried both 300 lb and 140 lb. I now use the 140 lb all the time. Try it, it's a whole new world waiting out there.

What you will need to get started

Hello again, Lets talk about some of the tools you will need to create your pyrography art work. First and foremost you will need a good power unit. I use a #2000 Colwood unit. It has a temp control that is very sensitive that allows it to heat up fast and cool down fast. When purchasing this unit you will also need a tip holder and a tip. colwood offers many tips for many applications. I will go into that in another blog. (however if you need to know sooner , E-mail me and we shall dicuss it.) You can find many good burning units on the market, I purchased mine from http://www.oaktreesupplies.com/.

I am a big fan of burning on water color paper, but most pyrography is done on wood, or gourds, I have seen some on leather but not much.

I also suggest buying a tip puller, if you use more than one tip, so you don't damage the tip when changing from one to another.

So until next time, may I suggest you BURN your art for fun and profit.

Ron Snyder

And if you are prone to laying your tool down without turning it off, my I recomend some type of a holder.