Celtic Birds Postage Stamp Pyrography Project

CELTIC BIRDS POSTAGE STAMP PYROGRAPHY PROJECT

1 SUPPLIES NEEDED

Stamp collecting is one of the favorite past times 9” X 12” x 1/4” birch, basswood, or poplar plywood in the U.S. Many of us began as small children 220- to 320-grit sandpaper who waited impatiently for the day’s mail to arrive Brown paper bag to discover if one of the envelopes sported a new #4 soft pencil for tracing stamp for our album. Masking tape to secure the paper pattern Ruler As adults our interests expanded into the history, Variable temperature pyrography unit geography, and political movements of foreign Ball tip or loop tip burning pen countries or into the elusive chase of a particular Artist white eraser stamp that would complete a year set or series Polyurethane or acrylic spray sealer release. A philatelist, stamp collector, might focus their collection of a specific time period - as stamps issued during World War II - or on a specific group of countries - as stamps issued from the Caribbean Island nations - or on a particular topic - as steam engines, butterflies, or dog breeds. You can bring your favorite stamp topic into your love of wood burning with this beginner’s level pointillism-styled project. Pointillism is the art style of creating designs, with graduated shading, through the use of a simple dot pattern. So let’s begin our free ArtDesignsStudio.com project by getting our supplies together.

Ball-tip Pen

Loop-tip Pen

2 PEN TIP SAMPLE BURNING

Each wood burning unit manufacturer has a wide variety of pen tip profiles that you can use in your pyrography work. The shape of the tip determines the shape of the small dot pattern that pen will burn. Where a ball-tip pen creates a perfectly round dot, the loop-tip pen makes a small oval burn pattern. Any pen tip can be used for pointillism, so have some fun practicing Western Horses Pattern Pack with each burning pen you have in your kit to determine which pen tip will work best for you. Assorted Horses Pattern Pack

3 PRACTICE BOARD

Creating a practice board before you begin your project allows you test you tip points, experiment with your temperature settings, and explore the textures that you can use on any pyrography project.

If you are starting a new project work, practice on the same media on which you will burn your design. For this project you would burn your practice board on birch, Simple Realistic Flowers Pattern Pack basswood, or poplar plywood.

4 POINTILLISM

The simple shape of the dot is used to create the pointillism style of pyrography. Fine, small dots widely spaced give a light tonal value to the area of work while tightly packed, medium-sized dots take the area into a darker tonal value. The size and tonal value of each individual dot is controlled by the temperature setting of your wood burning unit. A medium temperature settings, between 4 and 5, makes mid-tone, medium-sized dots. Hotter temperature settings between 6 and 7 will give you a dark toned dot slightly wider in size than the mid-tone settings. African Big Cats Package Of all of the art styles available to the pyrographer, pointillism is North American Big Cats Patterns the easiest way to create seamless, graduated shading. White Tail Deer Patterns Giraffe Practice board: Working left to right First square: medium temperature setting, lightly packed Second square: medium temperature setting, graduated packing Third square: medium-hot temperature setting, graduated to white Fourth square: medium-hot temperature setting, solid fill corner

5 1 PREPARING THE WOOD

Begin this project by lightly sanding the board surface with 220- or 320-grit sandpaper to remove any wood fibers or ridge lines left from the manufacturing process. Work the sandpaper with the wood grain to avoid adding fine scratches that may show in your burning later. Remove the sanding dust with a lightly damp cloth.

Lighthouses & Sailing Ship Patterns Sailing Ship Pattern Pack

2 BROWN PAPER SANDING

Brown craft paper or brown bag paper can be used as a fine-grit sanding media and leaves your wood surface with an extremely smooth finish. For this project we are using it as our final sanding media. You can also use heavy brown paper to clean your burning tips without damaging the polish of the tip wire. Crumple a piece of brown paper bag paper. Use the crumbled paper exactly as you did the sandpaper to give your surface an Relief Landscape Patterns extra fine sanding. Remove any dust with a clean area of your damp cloth. Farm Scene Pattern Package

6 3 TRACING THE PATTERN

Print two copies of the Postage Stamp pattern with your computer printer - one for reference during the burning steps and one to use for your tracing pattern. Fold one copy of the pattern into quarters, folding once along the vertical center and then a second time along the horizontal center line. Using a #4 to #8 artist’s soft pencil, rub the pencil graph- ite onto the back side of the pattern paper. Completely fill the area with a solid rubbing. With a ruler, lightly pencil mark the center vertical and horizontal lines of your wood surface. Place the pattern onto the wood surface, printed side up. Match the fold lines of the pattern with the pencil guidelines on your wood. Tape the top edge of the pattern paper to the board using masking tape or painter’s low-tack tape. With an ink pen trace the pattern lines. Remove the paper pattern.

Pencil tracing lines are easily removed after you have completed the wood burning using an artist’s white eraser. Avoid colored erasers that can leave dye streaks on your finished wood burning.

7 PENCIL TRACED PATTERN

8 4 OUTER FRAME BURNING

Using a medium-high temperature setting, and your ball-tip or loop-tip pen, begin your project by filling in the the outer frame area of the design with a tightly packed dot pattern. The medium-high temperature will give you dark tonal value dots without haloing or scorching the background area of the work. The top banner, U. S. Parcel Postage, uses this dark, solid pointillism pattern to make the lettering appear as if it were white colored. This technique is called a negative burn, and is where the background of the element is worked in a dark burn Angels & Cherubs Pattern Package and the primary element is left in the unburned lightest tonal value. Christmas Calicos Patterns Christmas Classics Pattern Package

9 OUTER FRAME BURNING

10 5 SHADING THE OUTER FRAME

Work the graduated shading in the outer frame using the same temperature setting as in step 4 with a loosely packed dot pattern. The loosely packed dot pattern allows some unburned areas of the wood to show through the burning. This mix of light background and dark dots blends to create a mid-tone value range. The darkest areas of the shading are worked at the outer side of the area or where the area comes into contact with another area Grapes Pattern Pack of the stamp pattern. In the sample, below, you can see the Mixed Fruit Pattern Pack darkest area of the corner triangle is worked along the left - outer - side of the pattern area. Oak & Grape Pattern Pack

11 SHADING THE OUTER FRAME

12 6 SHADING THE CELTIC KNOTS

Using a medium temperature setting, burn a loosely packed pattern of dots for the Celtic knots that originate from the bird’s head feathers. Visually break your Celtic lines into small units that begin and end where the line tucks under another portion of the knot.

Work each section of Celtic line as one complete unit by darkly shading the two outer edges, where the line tucks under another line, in a dark, tightly packed dot pattern. Gradually loosen the packing pattern as you near the center point of the line unit. Allow a thin center slice of the line unit to remain unburned. This will give you a graduation of dark, medium, light, unburned, light, medium, dark in each area of the knot pattern. Use this temperature setting and a medium-packed dot pattern to outline the Celtic knot lines.

Western Ranch Pattern Pack Western Town Scene Mantel Patterns Westward Ho! Pattern Pack

13 SHADING THE CELTIC KNOTS

14 7 SHADING THE BIRD’S BODY

The bird’s face and the triangular accent in the wings show the darkest area of the burning on the side of each area that is closest to the center point of the pattern. Note in the close-up below that the lower bird mirrors the shading of the upper bird. To create a few extremely dark tonal value areas in this project, tightly pack two layers of dot patterns to the eyes, nostril, and beak opening. Work the dots of second layer of these area to fill any unburned, white areas left from the first layer burning. The solid-packed dot pattern is also used in the wing lines - see photo below. A solid-packed dot pattern is used to outline the front area of the bird’s face, the eye rings, and around the outer edge of the wing.

Flying Ducks Pattern Pack Waterfowl Pattern Pack Puddle Ducks Pattern Pack

15 SHADING THE BIRD’S BODY

16 8 SHADING THE TAIL & FEET

A medium temperature setting and loosely packed dot pattern is used to create the pale tonal values of the bird’s leg, foot, and the three tail feathers. The base of the tail, where the tail tucks under the back wing, uses a medium-hot temperature and a graduated tightly-packed dot pattern. The inner crescent-shapes of the tail are left unburned, and the American Eagle Patterns outer crescents are worked as a solid-packed, dark tonal value. Proud to be American Patterns Work the pattern outlines in a medium to medium-hot temperature setting with a tightly-packed dot pattern. North American Wildlife Patterns

17 SHADING THE TAIL & FEET

18 9 PERSONALIZING YOUR STAMP

Part of the fun of creating your own postage stamp design is that you can add a personal touch to the work. In our sample I have added, in a vertical line, along the left edge of the design area my name and “Made in the USA”. Just above the 1 cent banner I have added the name and state for my home town. This same pattern could easily become a wedding plaque by exchanging the newly married couple’s last name where the pattern has U S Parcel Post. The bride’s first name could go into the left-side number oval with the groom’s name in the right-side oval. Replace the word “cents” with the marriage date, and the home town personalization with the name, address, or location of the church, temple, or synagogue.

19 10 FINISHING

When your project burning is complete, unplug your wood burning tool and allow it to cool before storing it away. As a habit I clean my pen tips at the end of every burning session with either a leather strop and rouging compound or with heavy brown bag paper. Using a white artist’s eraser clean the surface of your burning to remove any remaining pattern lines and dirt that has built-up. Wipe the wood with a clean, dry cloth to remove the eraser particles. Using the brown bag paper, lightly rub the surface of your burning to remove any remaining rough fibers left from the hot temperature burns. Wipe the surface with a clean cloth. At this point in the project you can add coloring to your postage stamp using watercolors, artist quality colored pencils, watercolor pencils, or water-based fabric dyes. Seal your burning using several light coats of polyurethane or acrylic spray sealer, following the directions on the can.

BONUS PRACTICE PATTERNS

20 Postage Stamp Pyrography Pattern

21 Practice Board Pyrography Pattern

22 ABOUT THE ARTIST

Join Lora S. Irish, internationally known wood carving, pyrography, and pattern book author, as she teaches the basic steps, techniques, and practices to Pyrography.

Explore the different styles of wood burning units, the burned strokes made with each pen tip profile, ArtDesignsStudio.com and how tonal values are used in your wood burning. Learn how the tool profiles, line density, and stroke Digital Patterns textures of pyrography can be used to create specific Ready for Download burning styles.

Lora will show you how to work a basic texture stroke Pattern Package Discount Codes practice board with over 50 different fill patterns. Because of Lora Irish’s teaching style, this book is Any 3 Packages @ $25 perfect for the brand new beginner that wants a 3packs strong foundation in this craft and has many specific, advanced techniques for the long-time pyrographer Any 6 Packages @ $45 to bring their wood burning to a new level. 6packs You can contact Lora S. Irish directly through her free Any 10 Packages @ $60 projects blog at LSIrish.com and visit her line art 10packs pattern website at ArtDesignsStudio.com. Lora Irish’s Complete Pattern Collection by Download 138 Pattern Packs/Over 2500 Designs On Sale thru 8/31/2015 $99.95

23 Art Designs Studio Digital Craft Patterns by Download

CP138 Postage Stamps Pattern Package 90 Patterns, Ready for Download By Lora S. Irish

Do you want to create your own Postage Stamp carving, pyrography, or quilt panel? This pattern package gives you 21 stamp layouts in which you can add your own country, postage value, and inner stamp design. Mix and match the inner patterns with the stamp frames or use the stamp frames with any Art Designs Studio pattern package to make a topical stamp collection of your own. 21 stamp layouts with complimentary sample stamps and inner patterns, 17 accent banners 14 cancellations patterns 4 number banners 3 stamp frame borders 5 finished idea samples Only $10.95

24 Art Designs Studio Digital Craft Patterns by Download

CP007 Just Grizzles! Pattern Package 17 Patterns & Drawings, Ready for Download By Lora S. Irish

Bears Pattern Package features full facial portraits, full bodies, and complete landscape scenes with Grizzly Bears, Brown Bears, and Black Bears. You will discover bear cubs in trees, a salmon fishing Grizzly, a paper wasp bee hive Grizzly, and waterfalls Grizzly sow and cubs. With the high interest in wildlife themes today, this Lora S. Irish package is great for those looking to carve jewelry boxes, gun chests, or just a present for your nature lover. Carving patterns for wood carving, wood burning, and painting. Great for Wood Burning! Only $10.95

25 Art Designs Studio Digital Craft Patterns by Download

CP137 Sampler Pattern Package 198 Patterns & Drawings, Ready for Download By Lora S. Irish

Sampler Pattern Package By Lora S. Irish 126 line art patterns, plus 72 complimentary shaded drawings, for easy tracing and easy wood carving, pyrography wood burning, and craft work. Patterns include Wood Spirits, Wizards, Dragons, Greenmen, Celtic, Wild- life, Landscapes, and much, much more. Our biggest pattern pack yet! This pattern package contains a sampling from our most popular packages – a lit- tle bit of everything. Another Art Designs Studio, Lora Irish exclusive! Only $10.95

26 Copyright, 1997 - 2015 by Lora S. Irish, 2015 Celtic Birds Postage Stamp Pyrography Project is an original work, first published in 2015 by Lora S. Irish, LSIrish.com, and Art Designs Studio and fully copyrighted, All International Rights Reserved and may not be distributed in any manner. The patterns contained herein are copyrighted by the author. Readers may make copies of these patterns for personal use. The patterns themselves, however, are not to be duplicated for resale or distribution under any circumstances. Any such copying is a violation of copyright law.