Sunday, November 22, 2009

Pyrography Project


He's been working on this over the past three weeks with just a little bit of help from his Dad.

Woodburning or pyrography is an extremely satisfying and relatively inexpensive hobby and is really quite safe for a six or seven-year-old to do on his/ her own, with some parental supervision of course. All you need:
  • A piece of wood. We used a letter-sized plaque from Michael's. Cost us a couple of bucks.
  • A wood-burning tool kit. The pen tool looks a bit like a soldering iron. The kit should ideally include a few different tips for a nice variety of shapes. Ours was less than $10.
  • A favorite photo. We used a photo of an eagle just about to land, from DS' Birds: A Complete Visual Guide.
  • Tracing paper and a pencil.
  • An appropriate varnish for the finished product, also available at craft stores like Michael's.
  • A well-ventilated area like a garage (with the door open).
Collect all your supplies. Then determine what image you'd like to burn. Have the child trace the image out on the piece of wood. And then start burning. That's it! Encourage the child to first test on a piece of wood you don't need, noting how the burns appear when you use different burning tips and observing depth of burns when pressed more intensely.
Here's a website with more details if you have a very interested kid. And here's a carousel of products for inspiration.

3 comments:

  1. I'd forgotten how much fun wood burning was when I was a kid. (I still have a thing to put hot saucepans on that I did when I was about B's age!) I'll bet Billy would like to try that - it has the element of danger involved :)

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  2. This is a great idea; I've never heard of it until now. I've been looking for some good handicrafts for Stiggy and this may be a good one for him to try. Thanks for sharing. :)

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