A Brief Breakdown

Hello again!


This post is inspired by those who have asked me how I do my artwork.  Try as I might, I seem to fall short of properly describing my process.  Hopefully with some visuals and a very basic description, all of you can see how awesome this medium is!

So I've used one of my new necklaces to show you.  This one is an octopus design!  If you look at the pencil sketch, you may be able to see that this is a somewhat rough sketch, since it will be cleaned up later on.  Also, I tend to use lighter, softer woods for my art.  However, I can do harder woods by having more heat or some darker wood (although that really isn't ideal). 

Octopus necklace before burning

Thanks to my wonderful parents for an awesome birthday gift, I have a rather pimped out wood burner!  I have many different tips that are appropriate for different textures and designs.  I only used two tips for this design since it is relatively simplistic in comparison to some other works of art I've done.   Essentially, it is like a soldering iron that is intended for wood instead of metal.  I can adjust the temperature according to whatever shade I'd like.  Here is my equipment (and please forgive the poor flash job; I'm still learning how to properly use my flash!):

In the front is the actual equipment (the temperature control & the two tips simultaneously connected)

Behind is the case, with several other tips.  

The toughest thing about wood burning is surviving the neediness of my cat, Max.  He strictly follows cat laws and therefore tries to get in my way only when I am working on high heat, delicate sections of my art.  I worry both for his face and my art.  

Anyway,  the first part I like to take care of on any piece are the dark portions.  It helps me get rid of any sketchy areas that I don't like.  It also just gets me more excited than when I do the other way... the visual pops right away and I think I have a better idea of the end product. 

Partially colored background

In order to achieve a clean line, I need a very sharp tip.  The darkness is done by setting my heat very high.  My kit can get over 1,000 degrees.  There are trade offs, however, in doing this.  While the back has that very dark shade that I love (huzzah for contrast!), the light parts around it will also become shaded by the heat.  There is no right or wrong about dealing with this issue.  Either you like the extra cream color that happens to the light wood or you have to have to be patient and create the lines on a lower and slower setting.

One of my tips I use to create sharp lines.  

This one is both round and thin, which allows me to handle the curves of the legs with more confidence than my thin, straight edge tips.  

The setting is high, which you can somewhat tell from the red tip.

Necklace with background entirely done!

Once the background is done, I switch the power to flow to the other (rounded) tip.  I set it very low at first to shade in the octopus body, then slowly turn up the heat to highlight darker parts.  

Partially finished octopus.  

Now, at some point I accidentally burned over an area that I didn't want to.  That's fine, although really not ideal.  The way I deal with it is I take a knife and chip away until there is white again.  I also do this for fine detailing that was lost during the burning process.

The knife I use to bring out lost white areas on my burnings.

After I finish chipping away, I burn the areas that need it again.  It is obviously not an exact science in any way, but here I just needed to make a part of the head a little better.  Finally, I also burned a hole in the necklace to put the silver ring in for the necklace.  

Tada! Final product!

And there is the final product!  It will be available in my etsy shop soon for $25 dollars-and look for more designs soon!