Playing at Pyrography

 

You’ve probably worked out by now that when it comes to crafting, I like to have a bash at new things.  Before Christmas, I’d been reading about pyrography and watched a few YouTube videos and thought it looked like something I would enjoy doing.  I was lucky enough to receive a pyrography machine from Mr. L for Christmas, together with some sycamore plywood blanks to practice on and a book showing how to do various techniques and patterns.

Off I went to play with my new toy with much enthusiasm. To start with, I tried some shading patterns and then writing letters.  I then had the idea to stamp some of my card stamps onto the wood and burn over them, since I can’t draw for toffee! This was a very effective plan and so then, having built up my confidence, I decided to try my hand at drawing trees freestyle and put a setting sun behind.  Oh yes, running before I can walk is one of my mottos!

Anyhow, I decided a project was required rather than just messing about so, since my dear friend’s birthday was coming up and I’d bought her a bottle of gin and an engraved gin glass, I thought a presentation crate would be just the job.  I bought a crate from Hobbycraft, surfed the internet for gin puns and downloaded some jazzy fonts for writing said puns.

The words and phrases were scaled so that the size was suitable for the crate and also a reasonable size for burning, printed out and then traced onto the crate using graphite paper.

According to the book and the members of the Facebook pyrography group I’ve joined (great for advice and inspiration), some woods are easier to burn than others.  All recommend staying well away from pine as it’s very difficult to work with.  You’ve guessed what my crate was made from! Well, even with my very limited experience of pyrography and only having my sycamore plywood to compare it too, it was indeed tricky to work with; lots of smoke, a few flames and the nib sinking deeply into the wood at times.

But I got there in the end and was pleased with the overall look - although I’m sure it wouldn’t win any pyrography awards!

Once all the sides were complete, I put some packing ‘wotsits’ in the bottom and then topped that with some shredded paper to hold the goodies: an engraved gin glass, a bottle of King of Soho gin, a measure, 2 cans of tonic water and a couple of tea towels hand stamped with drink related images.

Once everything was in place, I wrapped the crate in cellophane and finished with a printed band and a bow.

This was the card to go with the gift, another one using the eclipse technique and  the Stampin' Up! Half Full stamp set.

Carole loved both card and present 😀