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I made this of my dad for my sister.

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A gift for my sister-in-law as a thank you. 

Coasters 4.5" x 4.5"

Symbol from the Air Force (she's a pilot).

Another symbol from the Air Force.

Humphrey Bogart.

Quote from Humphrey Bogart in Casablanca. 

Sister-in-law's girlfriend.

Quote from The Martian (book), of which girlfriend is a fan. 

Candid photo of sister-in-law kissing girlfriend's cheek. 

Initials. 

Portrait of a close friend from Air Force who passed away. 

Plane sister-in-law flies. 

Ernest Hemmingway. 

Cover of Hemmingway's A Farewell to Arms.

Candid photo of sister-in-law.

Pertinent quote from A Game of Thrones.

Scene from Gone with the Wind.

Quote from Gone with the Wind. 

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Some new wood burns I did for friends. 

Silhouette of a bear with the letter "A" for a friend's young son. 16" x 16".

  Silhouette of a Fox with the letter "V" for a friend's other young son. 16" x 16".

For a friend and his husband (hence the joke). Originally a cross stitch from their parents. Made from basswood which burns much darker than other woods I've used, but also soaks up a lot of stain and lacquer. About 14" x 10".

Anakin/Darth Vader shadow. Originally from a poster for Star Wars Episode 1. 12"x 12".

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More coasters! (because they're good practice)

I made these coasters (4.5" x 4.5") of my wife's family as a gift for my in-laws. I sketched out the pictures in Photoshop and used transfer paper to draw the pictures on the wood. I applied a stain which ended up being a little darker than I intended, which makes some of the lines hard to see in dim lighting. But all in all I'm happy with them. 

PYROGRAPHY

Some more coasters I made. I tried some new tips and shading techniques. 

Quote from Game of Thrones. Lettering by hand is tricky and slow, but it turned out okay. 

Lanister lion from Game of Thrones (back of one above). I wanted to try finer detailing, which the claws and fur called for. Experimented with shading on the outside of the image. 

Symbol for the Rebels in Star Wars. I used a different kind of wood. Much denser than the others, and results in a finer line, but also takes a lot longer to burn. First attempt at shading a gradient.

Symbol for the Empire from Star Wars (back of the one above). 

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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.