Maid of Wood: My First Pyrograph: The Beginning of A Journey

Those who know me probably think of me as Megan the writer or Megan the artist. I am both those things, and literally just yesterday I made my first blog for writing. But before I was ever a writer, I was an artist. Reflecting on that fact, I thought it only right to have a blog dedicated to my art and a little more specifically, my newfound interest in pyrography.

Pyrography literally means 'drawing with fire'--the art of wood burning.

It started with wood carving, actually.

I wasn't very good at it, but I sort of made a hairfork....or at least a shape that resembled one. About a month ago I sat at my desk trying to carve a unicorn letter opener and slashed my pinky finger pretty good (it's long been healed over yet still hurts!)

I decided carving had proven to be too difficult for me. I had neither the strength nor the patience to get through the struggle of trying to make things when my medium was clearly working against me.

Disheartened, I thought surely I can still do something with wood. Then I thought, well what about wood burning? That way I could get the detailed precision I wanted with my art and take on a more illustrative approach.

I bought the tool a few weeks before I ever actually used it.

Then the new semester of art classes at my community college began and I found the opportunity to make wood burning my medium of choice for my first class project.

And the result?