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Description
October ? - October 28, 2013
18 hours

Basswood
Walnut Grove Vers-a-Tool pyrography kit
Dremel 3000

Well, my first art project in 14 years didn't even turn out to be a drawing, it turned out to be a completely different beast: woodburning.

The idea hit me as a birthday present for a friend of mine considering the overlapping interests of wooden surfaces, the name, and the relevant reference to JAWS (or FINDING NEMO). The project is meant as a gift rather than a gallery item, but I put it here because it technically is the first work of art I've made since 1999, and I did promise to post the first work here when that happened.

TECHNIQUE:
I printed out a high-res JPEG of the original JAWS poster and then traced over it with 0.5mm Staedtler pigment marker and then scanned it into another JPEG. I then mirrored the image and printed it out on a Canon laser printer so it could be transferred to the surface. I found the JAWS typeface (it's called Amity Jack, BTW) and saved a name construct and then mirrored it and printed it out and did the same. I took an X-Acto knife to the letters to create a seam to guide the knife (which didn't stop the rim-burn from the heating shaft, hence the sanding around the letters) and around the teeth. I used max setting to "melt" the wood away from the letters and shark with different nibs, but the collecting carbon film slowed down the process by absorbing heat that was supposed to go to the wood, requiring constant cleaning and retouching of the area. I kept having to experiment with the nib sizes and their varying penetrative powers, as well as having to deal with their myriad heat dispersion properties.

Because of the differing depths in the depression areas, I had to use the Dremel 3000 grinding heads to create trenches and force surfaces flat, but to negligible effect. I used sanding heads to trim away overburnt areas and to flush edges, also to negligible effect. I also used the disc saw to grind away irregular pockmarks and burn scars so the final score could have some uniform surface, but to minimal avail. By the time I knew what I was doing, I had done too much damage to adequately repair it. Shading was a nightmare because there was only one nib suitable for the job and I never did get the hang of it's heat areas.

I had never done woodburning before and I don't plan on doing it again anytime soon. I found out the hard way that wood isn't paper and the control I wanted to express in the finished product is not possible with hand tools. I didn't realize until halfway through that I was trying to do 2 different woodburning processes: pyrography and pressing. I wanted a depression-based look, but failed to realize that mechanical presses with engraved stamps do that sort of work. As a result, I had to continually go over the surface trying to flatten out the wood only to find that the veins in the board made it impossible to do so. This is why the letters are so fucked up: I kept going over them trying to get them smoother and only managed to chip them up into an undesired rough-hewn appearance. In addition, woodburning is DIRTY: scraping the nibs off on sandpaper every 15 seconds got irritating FAST, and I had to get the Dremel kit to get the precision edges I managed to salvage.

And as you can see, the shading is a disaster. I tried using the hot knife setting dial to layer the shading, but I had to dial it to the red line just to burn and then control was all but impossible. I had to use the sanding head of the Dremel as an eraser, with questionable results.

I'm satisfied with the final results, albeit not pleased. I'll be sticking to graphite and paint from now on, methinks.

Description
October ? - October 28, 2013
18 hours

Basswood
Walnut Grove Vers-a-Tool pyrography kit
Dremel 3000

Well, my first art project in 14 years didn't even turn out to be a drawing, it turned out to be a completely different beast: woodburning.

The idea hit me as a birthday present for a friend of mine considering the overlapping interests of wooden surfaces, the name, and the relevant reference to JAWS (or FINDING NEMO). The project is meant as a gift rather than a gallery item, but I put it here because it technically is the first work of art I've made since 1999, and I did promise to post the first work here when that happened.

TECHNIQUE:
I printed out a high-res JPEG of the original JAWS poster and then traced over it with 0.5mm Staedtler pigment marker and then scanned it into another JPEG. I then mirrored the image and printed it out on a Canon laser printer so it could be transferred to the surface. I found the JAWS typeface (it's called Amity Jack, BTW) and saved a name construct and then mirrored it and printed it out and did the same. I took an X-Acto knife to the letters to create a seam to guide the knife (which didn't stop the rim-burn from the heating shaft, hence the sanding around the letters) and around the teeth. I used max setting to "melt" the wood away from the letters and shark with different nibs, but the collecting carbon film slowed down the process by absorbing heat that was supposed to go to the wood, requiring constant cleaning and retouching of the area. I kept having to experiment with the nib sizes and their varying penetrative powers, as well as having to deal with their myriad heat dispersion properties.

Because of the differing depths in the depression areas, I had to use the Dremel 3000 grinding heads to create trenches and force surfaces flat, but to negligible effect. I used sanding heads to trim away overburnt areas and to flush edges, also to negligible effect. I also used the disc saw to grind away irregular pockmarks and burn scars so the final score could have some uniform surface, but to minimal avail. By the time I knew what I was doing, I had done too much damage to adequately repair it. Shading was a nightmare because there was only one nib suitable for the job and I never did get the hang of it's heat areas.

I had never done woodburning before and I don't plan on doing it again anytime soon. I found out the hard way that wood isn't paper and the control I wanted to express in the finished product is not possible with hand tools. I didn't realize until halfway through that I was trying to do 2 different woodburning processes: pyrography and pressing. I wanted a depression-based look, but failed to realize that mechanical presses with engraved stamps do that sort of work. As a result, I had to continually go over the surface trying to flatten out the wood only to find that the veins in the board made it impossible to do so. This is why the letters are so fucked up: I kept going over them trying to get them smoother and only managed to chip them up into an undesired rough-hewn appearance. In addition, woodburning is DIRTY: scraping the nibs off on sandpaper every 15 seconds got irritating FAST, and I had to get the Dremel kit to get the precision edges I managed to salvage.

And as you can see, the shading is a disaster. I tried using the hot knife setting dial to layer the shading, but I had to dial it to the red line just to burn and then control was all but impossible. I had to use the sanding head of the Dremel as an eraser, with questionable results.

I'm satisfied with the final results, albeit not pleased. I'll be sticking to graphite and paint from now on, methinks.