Pyrography

"Wood burning" redirects here. Not to be confused with wood fuel.
The King Wolf, pyrography on olive wood by Roberto Frangioni Piroritrattista Framàr

Pyrography or pyrogravure is the free handed art of decorating wood or other materials with burn marks resulting from the controlled application of a heated object such as a poker. It is also known as pokerwork or wood burning.[1]

The term means "writing with fire", from the Greek pyr (fire) and graphos (writing).[2] It can be practiced using specialized modern pyrography tools, or using a metal implement heated in a fire, or even sunlight concentrated with a magnifying lens. "Pyrography dates from the 17th century and reached its highest standard in the 19th century. In its crude form it is pokerwork."[3]

Pyrography is also popular among gourd crafters and artists, where designs are burned onto the exterior of a dried hard-shell gourd.

  1. ^ "Wood Burning Art-Pyrography". Retrieved 10 March 2016.
  2. ^ Marianne Podgorski; Before You Pick Up That Nib: Wood Burning 101, p. 7 ISBN 978-0-557-05114-4
  3. ^ "Pyrography." Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. London: Chambers Harrap, 2012. Credo Reference. Web. 2 Mar 2015.