Pyrography by John Adamson

John Adamson shared his experience of Pyrography.

In 2017 he was asked to carve a memorial plaque for the founder chairman of The Bunbury Watermill Trust.   The requested image of the mill was far too complicated to carve in low relief, so John suggested using pyrography. 

For this he invested in a very good quality pyrography set.

This year John purchased a beech cheese board in a charity shop because the  markings on the wood reminded him of the sky. 

Once again his excellent artistic skills came to the fore. He decided to balance the cloud scene on the right of the scene by burning a view of Stoodley Pike with its monument on the left. John then explained his thoughts of how to create a middle scene and a more detailed foreground.

John demonstrated how to set up and use his pyrography equipment, In the photograph you can see he had a test piece upon which he practised the depth and thickness of his “pen” before using it on the finished article. The markings were governed by the heat of the wire and the pressure used.

The very interesting meeting finished with a question and answer session and the opportunity for anyone to try his equipment.

Report by Gillian Smith