Pyrography, or fire-etching, is by no means a modern art, but one that was practised many centuries ago both in civilized and barbarous countries. In Europe, during the early ages, this work was executed with a poker inserted in the fire and heated red hot; but as the iron must have cooled quickly, the task of embellishing a panel was a tedious and laborious one.
A knowledge of drawing will be very helpful to the young pyrographer, as the object can be sketched in lead-pencil and followed with the heated iron or platinum-point.
Of the various materials that may be used on which to etch the ornament, wood and leather have been found the most satisfactory, since they retain the deep, rich brown-and-black tones given by the heated iron, and yield more readily under the tool than other materials.
If wood is employed, such as oak, birch, maple, holly, and cherry, it should be selected with a pretty grain and as free from knots as possible; but if leather is used, a good quality of oak-tanned sole-leather will give the best results; although for light work a pleasing effect can be had by employing a stout Suède and etching on the rough side.
The etching-tools are few and simple, and are shown in the illustrations.
Fig. 1 depicts a set of irons that can be made by a boy from pieces of round iron a quarter of an inch in diameter and having the points fashioned with a file. The ends of the irons can be inserted in file-handles that may be purchased at a hardware store for a few cents each.
Fig. 1. Fig. 2.
A is a sharp-pointed iron for outlining; B is a round-pointed one for broader work; C is a stub for bold work, and measures three-eighths of an inch in diameter; D is a curved background tool, and is used for burning in the grounds, or shading, in order to make the design stand out boldly.
With these tools and a spirit-lamp and rest, such as is shown in Fig. 2, some very good work can be done; and to complete the set a sharp-edged eraser may be added to scrape away the wood, if perchance it should have been touched by mistake with a hot iron.
To begin with, it is best to carry out a simple design—to decorate a panel, a drawer front, or the sides to a small wooden box. The pattern must first be drawn out in full size on a piece of smooth brown paper, and then transferred to the face of the wood by the use of colored or black transfer-paper, sheets of which can be had at an art or stationery store for a few cents each.
To reproduce the design, lay the transfer-paper face down on the wood, and over it the drawing face up; pin it fast, and go over all the lines with a lead-pencil, bearing down to impress them on the face of the wood. Having gone over all the lines, unpin one corner and raise both sheets of paper to see that the impression is good. If not, replace the paper and redraw the faint or unmarked lines.
Fig. 3 is a simple and attractive design for the embellishment of a panel, of a small drawer, or as one of the sides to a box.
If the tools shown in Fig. 1 are used, fill the spirit-lamp half full of alcohol and light it, then place the pointed iron A on the rest in such a position that the point will be enveloped by the blue flame, where, after remaining a minute, it will become red hot. Remove it and trace the lines in the wood with the hot point until all of them have been gone over, and as a result the wood will have the appearance of Fig. 4. The iron will necessarily require reheating continually, and to save time it would be well to have two or three irons of each shape, as they cost but a few cents, and are easy to make.
Fig. 3. Fig. 4.
After the outlining has been done, the background should be burned in with the curved iron D. Fig. 5 illustrates the manner in which this may be accomplished; the left side is partly finished, and shows the simple and effective mode of lining or “dragging” the ground. The right side is a finished ground, where the cross-strokes may be seen with an occasional oblique stroke to lend added density. It is not always possible to complete a ground until the ornament is shaded, and what may seem to be a finished background before the shading will sometimes afterwards prove too weak or flat, and will necessarily require going over in places to strengthen and darken it.
Fig. 5.
Fig. 6.
Fig. 6 is a piece of finished work where the ornament is shaded to give it character, and where also the background has been retouched in some places to give it a stronger feeling. This illustration is a good example of pyrography, and gives the relative tones of high light and shadow.
Before beginning on an ornamental piece of work, it would be well to practise on clear pine or white-wood, and to become dexterous in the use and manipulation of the tools, and to find the ones best adapted to certain kinds of work. The round-pointed tools B and C, shown in Fig. 1, are good grounders, and where large work and bold patterns are carried out they will be found of use.
As some very fine work is possible in fire-etching, the art can be applied in many ways to decorate pieces of useful and ornamental furniture about the house.
Charming pictures can be produced on holly and white mahogany; designs of fruit and flowers and conventional patterns may be applied to panels, tables, screens, frames, glove and handkerchief boxes; and on maple bedroom furniture designs in pyrography lend a pleasing and artistic appearance.
When working on leather do not cut out the form until after the work is finished, but pin the material flat on a board to hold it firmly while operating with the hot irons.
The entire design should be drawn on the face of the leather with a soft lead-pencil, and afterwards gone over with the burning-points. When the work is completed the piece of leather should be removed from the board, and the outline cut with a sharp penknife or a pair of scissors.
It may be desirable to varnish and polish some specimens, and it is possible to do so by coating the surface with a thin spirit varnish or thin furniture polish. This will bring out the density of the burned lines, and enrich a design that on certain woods might seem flat. Too much varnish must be avoided, and only a very thin coat will be necessary to obtain the desired result.
A Platinum-point Outfit
In preference to the hand-made irons, which must be heated each time before using, the modern devotees of the fire-etching art use the gasolene lamp and platinum-point apparatus. These outfits may be purchased at the art shops for a comparatively small sum, but the young craftsman may want to make his own apparatus. With the exception of the platinum-point and its metal holder, this is quite possible.
The parts of a gasolene outfit are the bulb, rubber tubing, platinum-point and handle, reservoir-bottle, metal union-cork, and a spirit-lamp. The latter may be purchased at a drug or hardware store for a few cents; but a good-working one can be made from a square or round bottle, a cork with a hole through it to receive a piece of brass tubing, and a piece of round lamp-wicking. (See Fig. 7).
Heat a piece of wire red hot, and burn a hole through the cork large enough to slip in a piece of brass tubing a quarter of an inch in diameter. Pass the lamp-wick through the tubing, and allow an inch or two of wicking to rest at the bottom of the bottle. This lamp should be filled half full of alcohol, and it is used to heat the platinum-point at first; after that the rush of gasolene vapor will keep the tool red hot. The gasolene reservoir is a square bottle with a fairly large neck into which is fitted the metal union-cork. If it is not possible to purchase this cork, then one can be made as shown at B in Fig. 8.
Fig. 7. Fig. 8. Fig. 9. Fig. 10. Fig. 11. Fig. 12. Fig. 13. Fig. 14. Fig. 15. Fig. 16.
From a solid piece of lead one and a half inches long, three-quarters of an inch wide, and one and a quarter inches deep, cut a lug, with a knife and file, having two projecting ears as shown at C in Fig. 8. The lower part is half an inch in diameter and three-quarters of an inch long. With a hot iron burn a hole in a cork so that the lower end of the lug will fit within it, as shown at D in Fig. 8. With a small drill bore a hole in the end of each ear. These holes should run through towards the middle of the lug, taking care, however, not to bore too far, since the holes must not meet. Bore two holes up through the lower part of the lug so that each will meet one of the holes bored through the ears, as shown by the dotted lines at A in Fig. 8. By this construction the air forced through a tube connected with one ear travels through that ear and down into the bottle; then up through the other hole and out at the opposite ear, where another tube is attached that leads to the platinum-point. The end of an old syringe can be used for the supply bulb, and for the pressure bulb there is nothing better than the inner bladder of a football, if it can be provided with an extra tube so that air may be forced in at one end while it is escaping at the other. This rubber balloon can be inflated to twice its normal size if care is taken not to blow it up too large. As a precaution against its destruction, it would be well to make a protective net from cotton string with a small mesh. This is easily done by making a wire hoop the diameter of the bladder when blown to its safe size; then loop cotton string over it, as shown in Fig. 9, and tie the knots forming the meshes as shown at the left side of the same drawing. Continue the work until a cylindrical net is formed about three or four inches longer than the size of the inflated bladder. With a draw-string the open ends of the net can be drawn together after the bladder is placed within it. The outlet of the bladder is connected by a rubber tube to one ear of the cork, and another tube leads from the opposite ear to the platinum-point and holder.
The holder is simply a piece of brass tubing at one end of which a coupling is made fast. This tube is pushed through a cork handle, or the covering can be made by burning holes through corks and slipping them over the tube, at the same time using thick shellac to act as a glue and hold the corks to each other and to the brass tube. The cork covering should be heavier near the point end, because the tube becomes hot from the superheated platinum-point. This handle should be three-quarters of an inch in diameter, and gradually tapered to half an inch at the back, as shown at Fig. 10. The brass tube should be five inches long and the cork handle about four inches in length. Half an inch of the tube projects beyond the back, or top, of the handle, and over this end a piece of rubber tubing is slipped. A complete outfit should contain three points—one sharp, one round, and one curved. These can be purchased at almost any art store, and should appear as shown in Fig. 11, A being the sharp point, B the round one, or grounder, and C the curved, sharp-ended point that is used for fine work and light lines in shading or background.
A good platinum-point can be bought for one dollar and a half; but better ones will cost all the way from two dollars to five. If a boy has points B and C in his outfit, he can do some very good work; but should it be possible to have one only, then the curved point C should be the choice, since with that tool almost everything can be done.
The principle of the gasolene pyrographic outfit is very simple. The reservoir-bottle is filled half full of gasolene, or benzine (62°), which can be had at a paint store for twenty-five cents a gallon. The union-cork stopper is then pushed down, and the platinum-point screwed in place at the end of the handle. Light the spirit-lamp and hold the platinum-point in the flame until it is cherry-red; then squeeze on the supply-bulb and fill the pressure-bag. The air forced through the first section of rubber tubing goes down through one hole in the cork, picks up some gasolene vapor from the reservoir-bottle, and passes along the second section of tubing to the point, where it escapes through a very small hole at the side. Directly the vapor reaches the flame it ignites, and the hot point is kept in its heated state so long as the pressure of the bulb forces the gasolene vapor out through the hole.
Do not bear hard on the wood when working. The heated metal will char the wood easily if gentle pressure and several strokes are used. Points A and B (Fig. 11) can be used on all sides and on end, but point C should be used only on its curved edge, as shown at A in Fig. 12; never as shown at B.
When both hands are needed for the work of holding the material and tool, a convenient foot device can be made, as shown in Fig. 13. This is a pressure-jack made from two boards, the upper one being cut and hinged, as shown in the drawing. The boards are twelve inches long and three inches wide, the short end of the top one being attached to the bottom plate with glue and screws. The wood should be three-quarters or seven-eighths of an inch thick, and it may be given a coat of shellac or varnish to improve its appearance.
If a constant supply of air-pressure can be had without the bothersome hand or foot bulbs, it makes it so much easier to master the art of pyrography.
Any ingenious boy who has a foot pump, such as are used for bicycle or automobile tires, can get an old boiler from a plumber and rig up a pressure-tank such as is shown at Fig. 14. A small pressure-gauge should be screwed fast on top of the boiler, and two outlets with brass cocks should be constructed out of one-eighth-inch gas-pipe, the fittings being purchased at a gas-fitter’s or a supply house. By means of the pump compressed air can be stored in the tank, and the pressure will be registered on the gauge. Twenty to twenty-five pounds will be quite enough pressure for an old boiler, although sixty pounds is the standard to which most of them are tested when new. The advantage of the two outlet-pipes will be appreciated when working, because each can lead to a different sort of point, and this will save the time and bother of changing points frequently for different parts of the work.
The Practice of Pyrography
Basswood, deal, and white-wood are the material most commonly employed for this work, since the grain is close and the color even. Almost any soft wood, however, can be used, and the boy who has mastered the craft of carpentry can make his own boxes, frames, stools, chairs, and miscellaneous wooden objects, and then embellish them with designs drawn in lead-pencil, the lines of which it will be an easy task to follow with the hot platinum-point.
Small picture-frames can be made from one piece of wood, but they are better, and will last longer, if made from two pieces. For a small round frame a pretty pattern is shown in Fig. 15. This can be made from six to twelve inches in diameter, and the frame proper should be from two to four inches wide, having an opening for the picture from two to four inches in diameter. The easiest way to make a frame is in two pieces, as shown in Fig. 16, the left side representing a narrow frame and the right a wider one.
From holly or basswood one-eighth or one-quarter of an inch thick cut a disk six inches in diameter, and at the middle cut an opening three inches in diameter. Strike the circle with a compass; then use a fret-saw to do the cutting. From pine or white-wood half an inch in thickness cut a disk five and a half inches in diameter and at the middle a hole four inches in diameter. Lay the thin disk down on a table, and after applying glue to one surface of the smaller but thicker disk place it, glue-side down, on the larger disk, taking care to have the grain of the two pieces run in opposite directions. See that the disks are adjusted so that one is centred directly over the other; then impose a piece of board on top of the frame, and put fifteen or twenty pounds of flat-irons or other heavy weights on the board to press the two wood pieces together. Leave them for several hours; then remove the weights and clean off the hard glue that may have oozed out from between the disks. Give the back of the frame two coats of shellac to prevent the wood from absorbing moisture, and it will then be ready for the design and the pyrographic ornamentation. By using the two pieces of wood, a rabbet is thereby formed for the glass and picture. If the frame had been made from one piece it would have necessitated the cutting of a rabbet. The design of holly leaves and berries is a pretty one, and quite simple to draw and burn.
A Few Suggestive Designs
A long picture-frame with three oval openings is shown in Fig. 17. This is made from two pieces of wood, as described for Fig. 15, and then embellished with the design and pyrographically treated.
Fig. 17. Fig. 18. Fig. 19. Fig. 20. Fig. 21.
In Fig. 18 an idea for a stool is shown. This little piece of furniture can be made of white-wood by the boy who has learned to handle tools. The legs are two inches square and fifteen inches high. The side-boards are each twelve inches long, four inches wide at the ends, and three inches at the middle; they are arched or crowned, as shown in the drawing. Blocks of wood are glued and screwed to the inner edge of each end, and these in turn are made fast to the upper parts of the legs. The top is sixteen inches square, with the corners cut out, so that it will fit down on the top of the side-rails and between the tops of the legs. Strips of wood three-quarters of an inch square should be glued and screwed to the under side of the seat at the four sides, and these in turn must be made fast to the top inner edges of the side-rails.
Leather-work
When embellishing leather, select the quality that is best adapted to pyrography. It must not be too thin, as the hot point would quickly perforate and cut it. Cowhide, Suède, calf, sheepskin, heavy kids, and binding leathers are best adapted to this work. Purses, bags, mats, boxes, travelling-rolls, and valises are made in leathers that are admirably adapted to pyrography, and these should be purchased rather than made, for leather-working is a craft that would not interest the average boy.
An heraldic pattern for a small pigskin or cowhide purse is shown in Fig. 19, and Figs. 19, 20, and 21 are designs adapted to different kinds of purses, wallets, and bill-books. It is, of course, impossible to lay down any specific sizes for these patterns, as the sizes of leather goods vary.
To improve the appearance of floral patterns, it is desirable to tint or stain flowers, leaves, berries, and stems in their natural colors. This can be done on the unfinished wood, either before or after the outlines and background are burned. Oil or aniline stains may be used for this purpose. If a dead finish is desired, the wood can be left without further treatment, except for a thin coat of beeswax and turpentine. If a glossy finish is preferred, the wood must be treated to several thin coats of white shellac; then a finishing coat of white dammar-varnish is applied and left to dry for several days. The inside of boxes should be “grounded” and shellacked, and at the top and bottom pads made of card-board, cotton-filling, and silk should be glued fast.