Want to do Pyrography? Yippee!!!!

What do you NEED to do pyrography?

I get asked pretty often what tools I use to create my work. Here’s a list:

1. Wood - unfinished. Never use anything you suspect has been finished or treated in any way!
2. Sandpaper - I use 150 grit, then 220 grit, but you can certainly go higher.
3. No. 2 Pencils - better than graphite paper or other transfer techniques; it’s non-toxic, erases/sands off easily, and it’s cheap!
4. A white eraser - the pink ones can leave pink smudges on your wood.
5. Exacto-knife - even the best of us make mistakes, and an exacto works as a useful “eraser.”
6. Something to clean your pen with - Ideally this should be a soft brass brush, or a polishing material (aluminum oxide) and leather strop to clean. You can also use your exacto-knife for this. I use a whetting stone, which is WRONG AND BAD AND DON’T DO IT, but whatever, I’m a rule breaker.
   
   And finally:

7) A Pyrography Pen.

If you’re starting off, get a cheap pyro pen at your craft store. For years, I used Walnut Hollow’s. It’s inexpensive and serviceable. Invest in the interchangeable tips, too, as different tips are useful for different techniques. Also, keep a set of pliers on hand to change the tips while they’re still too hot to touch; these pens take a ridiculously long time to heat up and cool down.

Walnut Hollow Pen
Walnut Hollow Tips

They also get uncomfortable to hold after a while, so you may have to get creative with insulating the handle. (I used to use tissues and duct tape, but for obvious reasons, I don’t recommend you do the same.)

If you know you like pyrography, and you’re interested in investing in better tools, then it’s time to get an adjustable-temperature pen. There are two main types: fixed tip and wire tip. Fixed tips have interchangeable pen attachments with different shaped tips. Wire-tips have, well, a wire tip, that you can bend, shape, and grind down to suit your needs. I prefer the fixed-tip kind, but they both have advantages.

I recommend getting an Optima 1, which is what I currently use. The adjustable temperature settings are extremely useful, and it’s one of your least expensive choices, as well.

Optima 1 Resources

If really want to invest in an excellent pen, I hear nothing but wonderful things about the Razortip. Be warned, though, it’s obscenely expensive. I haven’t been able to afford one, yet, but I hope to someday.

Razertip Website

REMEMBER: WORK IN A WELL VENTILATED AREA.

I hope this is helpful!

A Word on Copycatting

Hey all! This is really important, so please read!

I truly enjoy creating tutorials for you guys. I want to see more people involved with pyrography, and I like helping people get better at this unique art form.

But I would ask you--I would beg you--to use my tutorials as examples and inspiration only.

Please do not directly copy my designs. 

I've seen quite a few people use my tutorials to make their own art, and that's wonderful! What isn't wonderful is when that art is clearly attempting to exactly copy my own. 

It really does not take much to change the design, and make it uniquely yours.  

I would deeply appreciate it if you would make a unique design of your own, rather than attempting to directly copy one of mine. 

Thank you so much for your consideration!

Tutorial : Pentacles Part 2 - Make It Fancy

First, please read this disclaimer. Thanks!

Now that you've created your pentacle shape, you have to decide whether you want your pentacle to be simple and clean, or all fancy.

Let's assume you want to make a fancy pentacle. Here's how I, personally, find it easiest to create the design.

First, decide what sort of design you want. For the example, I'm going with the theme of "abundance." I've chosen to decorate the pentacle with crop plants, specifically beets, wheat, and grape vines.  Since this design is for a client, and I have to get the client's approval before I start working on the wood, I'll be creating the design on paper first. You can work on paper or directly on the wood. If you choose to work directly on the wood, however, you must use a very light touch with the pencil. Frankly, I would suggest working on paper first.

Start by transferring the dimensions of the wood piece onto the paper.You can do this with a compass and a ruler, or you can use tracing paper to trace the pentacle you've already drawn on the wood.

Vendor POV: Wicked Faire IX: Through The Hedge

This year, I didn't attend Wicked Faire as a congoer. I attended as a vendor. VENDOOOOOOOOOOR. Yes! Let me tell you, vending is definitely a different experience from being a guest. If you're thinking about vending at a big con or festival like Wicked, this post might help you out.

First: What is Wicked Faire? And why was I so excited to vend there?

From the webpage: “The Wicked Winter Renaissance Faire is a miniature explosion of entertainment and activity, wrapped up in a fresh-baked Renaissance Faire exterior, filled to the brim with big tasty chunks of well-seasoned festival, spiced with a bit of convention, then dipped in a sauce of unconvention, and served at a terribly low price during one fantastic frenetic weekend every year. Only not so much with the “miniature” part. There are so many madly diverse fun things going on at any one time that, in general, if you come looking to find a good time, you are damn likely to find one.”

That's a pretty good description. The event takes place in the Doubletree hotel in Somerset, NJ. Every conference room in the hotel has vendors, or panels, or workshops, or some type of performance (musicians, magicians, burlesque, dancers, and more). They're all filled, all day, every day of the con. Frankly, there's almost too much to do. And even if you don't want to do anything, the people watching is pretty great. A lot of people come in costume, and since this isn't an anime or fandom convention, the costumes run the gamut of genres and genre-bending creativity.

It's also 16+, and while it isn't as risque as it used to be (the creators of Wicked have started some new cons specifically for the kinky and risque) it's still NOT a kid's faire. The entertainment, panels, and costuming is definitely adult-oriented. 

I've attended six out of the nine Wicked Faires. Wicked was also my very first ever vending gig. So it has a pretty special place in my heart. Being accepted to vend again was a huge deal for me. 

My First Booth: Wicked Faire 2005

Wicked Faire 2014

Pagan.

For anyone who might have been wondering why I make so many Goddess figures, Green Men, and Pentacles... yes, I'm actually Pagan.

As a matter of fact, sometimes I DO dress as a witch for Halloween!

Tutorial: Pentacles Part 1 - Shaping the Pentacle

First, please read this disclaimer. Thanks!

This is Part 1 of 3 on Making a Pentacle. The only things we'll cover here is preparing the wood and drafting the pentacle shape.

Part 2 will be about adding embellishments, and Part 3 will be about burning the design.

1. Collect your Materials

You will need the following:
- A wooden disc
-Sandpaper (150 grit and 220 grit, or higher.)
-No. 2 Pencil
-Eraser, white
-Tracing Paper
-Compass
-Protractor
- 12" ruler

I draft each and every pentacle from scratch. I  could make a

October 2013, and I Quit My Job.

Goggles Make Life Better.

I quit my job.

In the beginning of September, 2013, I had something of a revelation. I was 34 years old. I was at a job I liked, but didn't love. It wasn't making me all that much money; really, enough to pay for gas, tolls, childcare, and a little left over for food. I certainly couldn't support myself on it, let alone support the family if my husband lost his job. There was really not much of a possibility of a significant raise. The only way to "move up" would be to take my supervisor's job, and, frankly, no. I've been a supervisor twice before. It's not a position I relish having again.

---

Moving careers--again--meant starting from the ground up. Again. I'd already done that several times.

In college, I held down a steady job in the university IT department, with temping as a lucrative side-gig. After college, temping was just about all I could find. It wasn't until I moved in with my husband (then fiance) that I struck on a career of sorts.

Unfortunately, we lost our apartment in New Jersey and had to make an emergency move to Pennsylvania. Career change.

I got pregnant, and the pregnancy was very rough; sustaining the job I'd landed became far too difficult, so I went back to temping: career change.

I've learned over the years that temping is definitely a sort of career. It takes a level of expertise that is not only rare, but extremely marketable. But the pay isn't as steady I would have liked, especially once the baby came.

After my son was born, my salary couldn't support my share of the living expenses and childcare. So, to take advantage of employee discounts, I entered the childcare field myself: yes, career change.

It was a great job, and good for a while. But it payed even worse than my previous jobs, and after my son got to a certain age (and the financial benefits of working where he went to school got progressively smaller) it was time to change again.

I got a job on the Port of Baltimore, doing customer support and data-pushing, and it was a field I excelled in, if I do say so myself. But, like I said above, it wasn't really going anywhere. And I still couldn't support the family, if the need arose.

And the apartment was constantly a mess... I CAN'T LIVE LIKE THAT.

Now look carefully over that history for a moment. I was 34, well-educated, with several accomplishments under my belt and with highly marketable skills, true, but...

I'd had a string of jobs. None of them had paid a sustainable wage. I had a child to care for (and yes, when you're a woman, that absolutely matters; in my extensive and diverse experience, employers almost always assume that motherhood is going to adversely affect your job dedication. In my case, they're right; if an employer isn't going to pay me what my husband is making, it's only logical that the "taking a day off for a sick kid/doctor's appointment" falls on me.) While my competency and skill sets were, frankly, enviable, my resume looked frightening.

And if I wasn't going to be able to command a high wage--which, with my job history, wasn't going to happen--I could not guarantee my employer full dedication. Without a paycheck to justify staying in the office, my family was going to have to come first. I would have to be the designated "parent on call."

Add to this: my son was having problems at school. Serious problems. Behavior problems, primarily, but they were starting to affect his learning. He wasn't able to follow the rules, or control himself in class. He wasn't making friends, and he wasn't making progress. Me spending all my time at the office was not what he needed. He needed help. He needed his parents.

(We later found out that he--legitimately-- had severe ADHD and was "somewhere on the Autism spectrum," but you know what it took to learn that? Conferences, meetings, doctor's appointments, psychologist appointments, therapy, and testing... in short, "time off work." And lots of it.)

So, really, where was I? Stuck in a job that wasn't going to advance and still didn't pay the bills, unable to commit fully to any career because of being "parent on call," unable to afford to take the time off when my  son needed me, and, honestly, unqualified to find a better position. This, too, was unsustainable.

The cats approve of my career choice.

Now is where I tell you something you probably aren't used to hearing from, well, anyone.

I was extremely luck.

Because aside from all the trouble with finding a sustainable career, I had this neat little "side-thing" going on since 2005. I was artsy. I did woodburnings. And people actually liked them enough to buy them. I was also getting pretty good at it; my work was getting progressively better, and I was able to command higher prices for my efforts. I had a growing fanbase--actual fans, can you believe it?--who supported me in my work. My business--Greenwood Creations--had shown a steadily increasing profit since its launch; I had a network of professional contacts happy to share support and advice; and with my son in school, not daycare, I didn't have to worry about childcare expenses if I set my own schedule.

And I had over a decade of experience in nearly every aspect of running a business, from finance to management to customer service.

Do you see where this is going?

In short, I had just about everything in place to launch into a new career. A career that stood a chance of filling all of my needs: financial, familial, and, finally, emotional. A career I could actually, maybe, succeed and grow in.

When you put it that way, the decision was sort of obvious, wasn't it?

So I quit my job.

And I started--really started--my business.

Now, I know it's not going to be easy. These last few months have been extremely difficult, in terms of time, and definitely money, and just about everything else, too. I've had to learn a lot in a very short time, and the learning curve is far from over. I'm still going up the hill, in fact. And, at the end of the day, I may find that this, too, is unsustainable. I may have to go back to having a "regular job." I know this, and I'm prepared to take that step... but I'm going to do my best to make this work, first.

The most important thing is: I'm here for my son. I'm here for my family.

And I'm finally doing the career I was born to do. 

---

And the apartment--and the studio--are, mostly, clean.