Original Pyrographic Fine Art 

Drawing with fire on Paper and Wood

By

Roger Ryder

Sepia tones, hues, and textures associated with Pyrographics, can create different moods and perspectives of common sights and moments. I hope you enjoy your visit.

My art focus is on Maine's rural communities,Maine's heritage and natural resources.

THE PROCESS

Burning on paper is predominately on 140# hot or cold press Arches water color art paper. Benefits of burning on paper are, paper is light in weight, no wood grain, consistent surface to burn, very white, very dense and great for fine detailed work. Minimum surface preparations are required for burns on paper.

 Burning on wood is very diverse due to the variety of wood grains, the density of wood fibers and color of the wood. Benefits of burning on wood are, color, incorporate wood grain into image, use of lower temperatures than paper, diversity of textures and wide range of tones. Burns on wood are either single panel board or multiple boards glued together to create a large panel. The wood species used for a burn is dependent upon many factors such as image details, wood color, the wood grain influence on image and wood density. Other than specialty items such as driftwood, the wood surface must be sanded very smooth if any detail will be in the burned image. Wood has much more preparation time than burning on paper.

 Both wood and paper burns are all original art, partially sketched in pencil then burned using a Razor Tip burner (heat source) and pyrographic hand held pens which transfers heat from the burner to your wood or paper. (Think of using heat instead of ink or paint to create an image or having a tattoo using heat versus ink). Standard tips and a variety of self made tips for pens are used along with varying temperatures and layers (repeated heat passes) to create a broad range of textures, hues and tones. Depending upon complexity and size of the image burned, a 9” X 12” may require 30-50 hours to complete and several 15” X 22” images have taken over 160 hours to complete. I also create less detailed illustration type images on various wood surfaces such as driftwood.  

In 2022 water color has been added for enhancement on selected images.