History & Overview of Pyrography

Series Summary

Wood burning, or pyrography, is the art of decorating wood with burn marks that are applied with heated pokers or tools that are similar to soldering irons. It is a very natural form of art that can be applied to different wooden surfaces. This form of art has been practiced by the Egyptians, African tribes, Argentineans, Hungarians, Europeans, and Americans throughout centuries. Artists have used pyrography to decorate wooden masks, musical instruments, and wooden bowls as well as for scenic pieces of artwork.

In this expert video series, you’ll learn more about the history and general practice of wood burning. Get expert tips on wood burning pens and other equipment needed to practice the art of pyrography. In order to get the best results, you need to keep a sharp tip on your pen; learn how in these instructional videos! Watch these clips and get tips on choosing an outline and a medium for pyrography. Our expert gives tips for burning different kinds of wood such as cherry, walnut, pine, and cedar. Learn how to transfer your outline onto your wood of choice. Get expert tips on using a wood burning pen and see examples of different wood burning projects. After viewing these video clips, you’ll have plenty of inspiration and instruction for a new wood burning project!

Video Transcript

"Hello my name is William Mickelboro and welcome to my studio. I’ve been wood burning now for probably 25 to 30 years on and off. Wood burning is something that I really enjoy and I’ve tried to I’ve tried to find out as much about it as I could. The first writings that I found that relates to wood burning goes back to the 18th century where they would heat up hot irons to use to mark on wood. The first wood burning pen was patented in the early 19th century; from there they’ve grown to the very sophisticated pens we have today. Now that you’ve decided you want to wood burn, you need to pick yourself out a tool. As you can see I use an array of different tools. The very first tool that I ever purchased was a pen, I think I paid a little under $7 for it when I first bought it, it had about 3 different tips, they screwed off and then you could screw them back on. The problem as you can see, it’s a very cumbersome pen and for doing fine detail work it is very hard to do."