When I was about two or three my father left. Because of this I looked to my mother for guidance and fun. My mother worked in a art studio that specialized in custom framing. She was also a pretty good artest herself. That started the fire (pun pun) for me. We were very religious and there was a few men who I looked up to and looked to for fatherly advice. In 1993 I asked one of them if they wanted to go fishing. He did and on our trip he cooked a incredible meal over the fire. Told me stories that fascinated me.Originally Posted by English Bloke
My mother was remarried to a Welshman who had moved to Florida years earlier. He also was very artistic. He had scholarships in art and was to attend The University of Oxford in the UK before he decided to come to the US.
Some how I ended up going to the fellows house every Wednesday (the one who took me fishing). I hung out with him and his wife making dinner, playing Sega Genesis, and watching some 80's movies. I came over on one Wednesday to find him finishing a coffee table made out of a slice of a tree trunk. He asked if I wanted to help. He began printing out photos or birds and deer scenes and I taped them to parts of the table with carbon paper between. He traced the pictures and when done it left the tracing on the wood. He tossed the papers and freehand sketched the rest of the scene. Then he took out a pyrography pen and began BURNING the picture into the wood!!! I thought this was the coolest thing I ever saw and never knew art could be dangerous!! The following week and years to come we would make bird houses and wood burn flower and things on them and then give them to old women in our hall/church I used a old style of wood burning pen that he gave me up until this last piece. I bought a professional unit and pen as I knew this hobby wasn't going away. Things I needed to learn was don't push hard when burning and also to take your time. Now that I have a professional pen I am learning to shade with detail and tiny lines rather than using the flat side of my old pen and burning a blur.
Here is the pen I learned on and used on all my woodburnings except for this last one.
Here is the first woodburning I ever did I was about ten at the time.
And this was about my fourth woodburning
Notice on the piece above that the feathers are not super detailed and are not even. Those are the things that separate the levels of skill.
Here is my new woodburning set
The last piece I did with the old burner was the one of Robert Burns I posted here about a month ago.
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