For those of you who don’t know what Pyrography is – it’s basically burning (drawing) designs onto leather or wood with a heated pen that works and looks like a soldering iron. In this post we will take a look at what tools are required for burning leather (pyrography)
List of tools required for pyrography:
- Vegetable Tanned leather
- Water & cotton cloth
- Tool for burnishing the leather (can be a smooth glass or wood)
- Pencil or pen
- Tracing paper
- Adhesive tape
- Picture or design
- Pyrography Pen
Ok so most of you should have most of the items listed above. Let’s take a closer look what each is needed for:
Vegetable Tanned Leather:
Only Vegetable tanned leather should be used for Leather Pyrography. Veg tanned leather is made by only using natural non toxic tanning agents and is not toxic when burnt.
Chromium tanned leather is not recommended for burning leather as toxic chemicals are used during the tanning process. These toxins could be inhaled when the leather is burned.
Leather Thickness: It’s important to use thicker leather that won’t warp when heat is applied. Leather of 3.5 – 4 ounces is fine to use.
Water & Cotton Cloth:
Dampen both sides of the leather with a Cotton cloth before you trace your design onto the leather. Allow sufficient time for the leather to dry before continuing. Dampening the leather helps to firm up the surface.
Burnishing Tool:
Burnishing leather can be done with a special tool or you can use a glass or smooth piece of timber or plastic. The plastic, glass or timber needs to be rubbed over both sides of the leather in order to make it nice and smooth and ready for burning. Here is the link to my post on leather burnishing.
Pencil, Tracing paper and adhesive tape:
For this step there are 2 options:
- drawing freehand directly onto your leather with a pencil. This is a quicker option only if you are used to drawing freehand or have some artisitc skill.
- Use Tracing paper to transfer your design onto your leather. This method will take a bit longer but will result in an accurate sketch on the leather. First trace your design onto tracing paper. Then reverse the tracing paper and trace the design onto the leather. It’s done this way so that your picture isn’t mirrored/ reversed on the leather surface.
- Carbon paper is also an option, but this can leave unsightly marks on your leather. Use the adhesive tape to keep the tracing paper in place when transferring your design. Make sure the tape doesn’t mark your leather.
Pyrography Pens:
There are different Pyrography pens and kits available online or at Amazon. There are a few things to consider when buying a burning tool kit and depending on your experience and level of skill will affect your choice of kit you wish to purchase. I cover a whole range of pen kits in my post on Pyrography – the art of burning leather. So please check out that post where i discuss the types, cost, safety and how to use pyrography pens.
And that’s the list of what tools are required for burning leather or pyrography most of which you should hopefully have lying around the house.
Conclusion
So that’s the basic summary of the tools/ items that you will need in order to get started in pyrography. It will take a bit of practice and trial and error, but it’s definitely a lot of fun. Once you get use to the pen and the pressure required for different line affects it’s really quite enjoyable too. All the best!