Using a Wood Burning Pen for Pyrography

Video Transcript

"Now that we’re ready to start burning, one of the things that you want to remember is when you’re using the pen, you want to work with the tip of the pen, that’s what you want to burn with, not the pen. This particular one I have deliberately left a lot of carbon build up, you do not really want to have that one happen it can act as an insulator and it can cause really sloppy burning. When you are drawing with the pen, you want to hold it at an elevated angle to where you’re just letting the tip touch, you also do not want to hold it too hard or too tight. When you do, you have a tendency to limit your movement. Another thing that was really hard for me to get into my head, was we’re so use to wanting to work the pen with your fingertips, your really want to work it whether you move your arm. This one I’ve already got hooked up, there are also certain things that you want to deal with that you want to try to avoid, the dreaded blob, meaning when you first start and when you first touch down, you see I have a big black dot. Also, as I’m going on, you want a smooth mark, you need to practice this. Sometimes you need to blow on it to help cool it, that’s one of the things you want to do, you want to practice where you get a good consistent line. On many a drawing that black dot can really hurt you, so one of the main things you need is practice, that’s the best way to use the tool is constant practice."