PYROMANIA

I've always liked fire. It was one of the best parts of the Boy Scouts. So it should be no surprise that my latest hobby involves burning images into wood. It's called pyrography. It uses a handheld tool with an assortment of metal tips which can reach up to 1000 F. I'm still working out the kinks, but here are some drink coasters I have made:

The Maze from the TV show Westworld. This is the first one I tried making. I used a soldering iron which only reached 400-500 F, and it took much longer than it should have. First I printed the design, laid the paper over the wood, and used a pen to press holes into the wood to mark the lines of the maze. I then used a pencil to connect the dots, and proceeded to burn the lines with the soldering iron. I used the iron to burn blemishes along the edges. I applied two coats of a clear lacquer finish.

Deadpool symbol. Same process as the one above except I used a flat tip which resulted in more even shading. 

The Millennium Falcon. I realized that if I really wanted to get into pyrography I would need better tools. So I bought a proper wood burner with several tips (about $30 at Micheal's). I also got some graphite transfer paper which made drawing the image on the wood much much easier. All in all, having the right tools made a big difference. 10/10 would upgrade again.

Han Solo. I put this on the other side of the Millennium Falcon. I used a different tip to fill it in which resulted in a different shading effect. Unfortunately the piece of wood I used was slightly bent, so as far as coasters go, its a bit wobbly. 

Just lines. Nothing fancy. I wanted to try one of the finer tips to practice lines. It worked ok, but the tip was so fine that it had a hard time maintaining a consistent temperature which resulted in uneven lines. Not super impressed by it. Other tips worked better. 

The Death Star. I used a flat pointed tip to practice fine detailing. Much better than the lines in the one above.

Logo from Westworld. I took my time on this one, really tried to get the lines smooth. First attempt at letters. 

 Logo for Shogun World (Westworld). I put this on the other side of the one above.

Logo from the game Half-Life. I tired a different shading technique which resulted in the filled in area being rougher. 

Companion Cube from the game Portal. For some reason transferring this image to wood was tricky and I wish the lines were smoother. But wood can be a fickle medium. I put this on the other side of the one above.