Earl the Mastiff Plate: How the burning is done, In progress pics

[Jeff Myroup]

I was asked by several members to show how I do the burning on my plates. I started a new one today. After the plate is turned and inlay complete, I transferred the image to the plate. I use a good graphite transfer paper. It is important you use the type that can be erased. Other wise you have to sand the graphite off, and re-burn. After the tracing is done, I hand draw and correct the image using the picture on the computer. Print-outs tend to be blurry and pixelated. I have also found that by taking pictures during the process, you can see areas that need to be corrected. After looking at the 3rd pic, I noticed the nose needs some adjustment. It is skewed a little. The eyes and nostrils should lay on the same plane.

First Pic:
I always start with the eyes. If they are not right, the piece wont look right. So the eyes are now set and initial shading is done. I moved on to rest of the image. I start shading from the bottom up. I always do the underneath parts first and build up. just like getting dressed.

Second Pic:
More shading hitting the really dark areas and moving up to lighter tonal values

Third Pic:
Most of the initial shading is complete. I will now start over, building another layer of shading over the last layer. I will also start blending the shading as well in this layer.

[Linda Persoon]

Now that is impressive. How long have you been doing this type of art?
Thanks for sharing, Linda

[Jeff Nicol]

Jeff, Nice work so far, I have been threatening to do some pyro work for a while, but I still am in the process of perfecting my shop built burning tool/tools. Just need to get some more tip material and a bit more time and I will see if I can even come close to your work!

Thanks for the eccouragement,

Jeff

[David E Keller]

Thanks for sharing your process, Jeff. I'm looking forward to seeing this one finished.

[Jeff Myroup]

Now that is impressive. How long have you been doing this type of art?
Thanks for sharing, Linda

Thank you Linda. I first started making these about 3 years ago, as a way for my wife to let me buy a burner. The plan was I would turn little plates and she would burn some images for her charity raffle events. I ended up doing the burning and they have taken off.

[Jeff Myroup]

Jeff, Nice work so far, I have been threatening to do some pyro work for a while, but I still am in the process of perfecting my shop built burning tool/tools. Just need to get some more tip material and a bit more time and I will see if I can even come close to your work!

Thanks for the eccouragement,

Jeff


A shop built unit might be a little hot for this kind of work. I normally burn around the 4 mark on my burnmaster. On softer wood, I would use a 2.

[Jeff Myroup]

Thanks for sharing your process, Jeff. I'm looking forward to seeing this one finished.

I have to be done by the end of the week. That will leave me a week for lacquer. So I will have more pics tomorrow

[Jeff Nicol]

Jeff, The one I am building is nothing like the battery charger units that others have made and will be fully adjustable for temp. I was a radio mechanic in a previous life and have an affinity to never let something beat me! I like to build it rather than buy it, maybe one day I will come up with a new mousetrap!


Can't wait to see your finished piece,

Jeff

[Jeff Myroup]

Jeff, The one I am building is nothing like the battery charger units that others have made and will be fully adjustable for temp. I was a radio mechanic in a previous life and have an affinity to never let something beat me! I like to build it rather than buy it, maybe one day I will come up with a new mousetrap!


Can't wait to see your finished piece,

Jeff

Cool can't wait to see your burner finished.

[Lee Koepke]

Very nice work Jeff.

I dont have the artistic ability to draw / burn anything like that. I tried once to replicate a picture of my dog ... it was OK in a grammar-school sort of way! I am continued to be in awe of the artistic talent here!

[Jeff Myroup]

Very nice work Jeff.

I dont have the artistic ability to draw / burn anything like that. I tried once to replicate a picture of my dog ... it was OK in a grammar-school sort of way! I am continued to be in awe of the artistic talent here!

Lee, my first ones were nothing special. To this day I leave the tenon on the back until I am done, just incase I have to start over. When I first started I removed one image 5 times until I got it right.

[Richard Madden]

I thank you for taking the time to show us the work in progress. It's always nice to see the various and numerous steps involved. It makes me appreciate your work even more. Thanks again.

[Jon Nuckles]

I struggle to draw a straight line, so my opinion doesn't carry much weight, but your work is amazing.

[Bernie Weishapl]

Jeff that looks great and thanks for sharing. I just bought my Optima 1 dual pen so this is great inspiration for me.

[Bob Bergstrom]

I have a feeling you are going to be asked to do a demo either at Illiana or Windy City woodturners clubs. You have a lot to share, and I'm sure even people who can't draw straight lines (me included Jon) would like to know more about pyro techniques. Hard not to love dogs with such strong features.

[Jeff Myroup]

Thanks everyone.

Bernie I hope you enjoy the optima.

Bob, I am sure I can put a demo together for some time this spring.

[Jeff Myroup]

I thank you for taking the time to show us the work in progress. It's always nice to see the various and numerous steps involved. It makes me appreciate your work even more. Thanks again.

Thank you Richard. The Burning takes 15-20 hours. But the time goes buy pretty quickly

[John W Dixon]

Jeff that is awesome. Can't wait to see the finished product! Looks like another classic.

John

[Mark Hubl]

Jeff, Thanks for the WIP pictures. It really helps to get an idea of the work involved and how it progresses.