Burning

So if you didn't know what the title of my post the other day meant, Pyrographer, I recently learned that pyrography is the art of woodburning. Specifically, that mean using fire to draw and write, typically on wood though it can be on other mediums, using varying levels of burn marks to create depth and texture in a piece. Having spent a lot of time recently doing woodworking, looking into building things, and generally trying to create with my own two hands, I love this idea. And having found out that you can get a tool for it for twenty bucks, you're damn right I went and bought one.

Now, I've expressed before that I don't dislike drawing, but I have absolutely no talent for it. I can barely draw a stick figure - much less some of the incredible art that I have found while looking into how pyrography works. But I think this is the first thing that's really made me want to learn. Maybe it's the fact that it's in materials that a lot of people today don't work with as often. Maybe it's just the fact that it's fire. But the more I think about it, the more I want to get good at it. The more I want to do research on how to draw - specifically things like shading, and how to get proportions right, and how to take what's in my head and give it physical shape without looking like a hideous pile of crap.

And I have all kinds of ideas in my head of things that I want to do. Things for me, things for friends, hell, even things for work. I can't think of another project that I've been this excited to work on in a long time. Maybe even since I started this blog. But a lot of the things that I have in mind are things that I know full well I won't be able to just jump into right away. They're complicated, complex, and generally require me to be better at other things that I'm already working on. But they serve as goals. When I'm burning simple straight lines and wondering what I'm doing with my life, I'll remember the things that I'm working towards making. Concrete, solid plans. Not like wanting to write a book - which, don't get me wrong, I still want to do, but that's a lot vaguer than "I want to build a box for someone and burn a picture of them into it."

I don't expect to be able to start doing these things overnight. Even before the tool arrives, I have a lot of research I need to do. What kind of wood works best, where I can get it, how much sanding I should do on it both before and after, what's the best way to preserve it once it's done. And it'll be dangerous - I'm effectively going to be using a pen with a tip that can reach over a thousand degrees fahrenheit.

But god damn if it wouldn't be cool to do.