Pyrography - Aracne editrice

A
Carlo Giuseppe Proietto
Pyrography
Translated by
Sarah Silver
Copyright © MMXV
ARACNE editrice int.le S.r.l.
www.aracneeditrice.it
info@aracneeditrice.it
via Quarto Negroni, 
 Ariccia (RM), Italy
() 
 ----
No part of this book may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means,
without the prior permission in writing of the publisher, nor be otherwise
circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published
and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the
subsequent purchaser.
I edition: February 
Dedicated to Mauro Scopece
Contents





Foreword
Chapter I
Pyrography –
Chapter II
Interviews
Chapter III
The History of Pyrography
Chapter IV
Pyrography Equipment
.. Air pump,  – .. The carburettor,  – .. The
tip holder,  – .. Platinum tips,  – .. The alcohol
lamp,  – .. Pyrography, .

Chapter V
Precautions for Using the Equipment
.. General Information,  – .. Pencil,  – .. Geometrical Drawing,  – .. Freehand Drawing,  – .. Perspective,  – .. Decorative Drawing,  – .. To Copy
or not to Copy?,  – .. Colour,  – .. Wood Discoloration,  – .. Gilding,  – .. Maintaining Brushes, 
– .. Wood Degradation,  – .. Finishing,  – .. Wood–Ageing,  – .. Staining,  – .. Woodworm,  –
.. Other Pyrography Methods, .

Chapter VI
Exercises for Creating a Perfect Pyrographic Work
.. Exercise : Images with Lines,  – .. Exercise :
Shading,  – .. Exercise : Silhouettes,  – .. Step–
By–Step Mobile Suit,  – .. Step–by–Step Flowers, .

Contents


Chapter VII
Wood
.. Wood Classification,  – .. The Age of the Tree, 
– .. Natural Wood,  – .. Erasing in Pyrography,  –
.. The Pyrographic Mark, .


Chapter VIII
Textures
Chapter IX
Pyro–incision
.. Printing Techniques,  – .. Original Fine Art Prints
and Reproductions,  – .. The Pyrograph,  – .. Trial
Proofs and Print Runs,  – .. Transferring the image onto the plate,  – .. Mechanical Finishing of the
Plate,  – .. Preparing the Ink,  – .. Preparing the
Paper,  – .. Printing Techniques,  – .. Print Trials,  – .. The Printing Press,  – .. Treating the
prints,  – .. Multi–colour Printing,  – .. Transferring the Image,  – .. Xylography,  – .. Woods
for Woodcutting,  – .. The Camaïeu Technique, 
– .. The Chiaroscuro Technique,  – .. Removing
the Ink,  – .. Signing and Numbering, .

Chapter X
Drawings
.. Drawings for pyrographic works, by Boris Squarcio,
created using the black and white graphic drawing technique, .


Acknowledgements
Bibliography
Foreword
During my work as a printmaker, I studied techniques
using ‘positive’ and ‘negative’ spaces, and the superimposition of images. This experience has allowed me to further
my technical knowledge of pyrography and experiment
with various techniques when creating new works.
In this book, I have presented pyrography and its basic techniques and elementary ideas along with newer,
experimental ideas of my own. These include one I call
‘pyro–incision’, a mark and print–making technique that
uses heated tools and flame. This book intends to provide
the beginner with a range of exercises and suggestions to
help them improve their skills.
By using simple and straight–forward instructions, this
manual aims to help anyone approach and learn this art,
without the need for a tutor.
For those who are approaching incision for the first
time, it is advisable to master the technical basics before
attempting to create a finished work of art. Practice —
and patience — will eventually teach you the possibilities
afforded by incision, and allow you to express yourself
naturally in this new language. Then, it will be possible
to create perfect pyrographic works, using any type of tip,
without the need to adjust the temperature, using a wide
variety of different marks. All this using only the pressure
of your wrist.
The artist who can work creatively after mastering the


Pyrography
basics will never merely reproduce other people’s work
but will become an independent engraver, capable of creating new and interesting pieces. The manual also contains a
DVD with step–by–step tutorials to illustrate the evolution
of a pyrographic work in a practical manner.
My greatest desire has always been to raise pyrography to the same status of any other art form. Today, my
own pyrographic works have finally been recognised as
contemporary works of art and exhibited in several art
galleries around the world, including New York.
****
In this book, I have included historical information
on pyrography, gathered in southern Italy. In places such
as San Giovanni Rotondo, Palermo, Panni and Monte
Sant’Angelo, I interviewed a number of artisans who use
the technique on wood, fabric and leather. For me, the
inclusion of this chapter was fundamental to find out what
has been created in the past. This precious documentation has contributed to furthering the information and
knowledge of this marvellous art.
*****
I will never forget the great fervour, my constant research into pyrography, which led me to purchase every
single book on the subject that has been published since
 to the present day. However, in these books, I reluctantly found significant creative limitations.
It is my hope that, within a short space of time, the
suggestions provided in this book will allow the beginner to acquire a certain practicality in pyrography and
pyro–incision, not only making the work process more
pleasurable, but also allowing them to savour the personal
satisfaction that the art jealously holds in store for its passionate enthusiasts.
Foreword

Figure . Carlo Proietto, Alle spalle (Looking back), watercolour,  x
 cm, .
Chapter I
Pyrography –
Figure ..
Pyrography is a procedure that uses flame to draw by
means of a heated tip on different materials, such as wood,
leather, bone, ivory, cardboard, fabric, etcetera. This process has numerous artistic and industrial applications. In
the same way as engraving, painting or drawing, pyrography has its own originality, needs, difficulties and special
applications.


Pyrography
The enthusiast will find this way of decorating extremely interesting and, through its application, will be
able to savour all of its charm. Objects engraved with
flame have been found that prove how man has practised
this decorative technique since distant times; rudimentary procedures that consisted of heating pokers and then
applying them to objects to decorate.
Before the invention of thermocautery, it was very difficult to undertake important works because the tips had
to be heated on a brazier and cooled down too quickly.
These issues have now disappeared. The tools available today will allow the enthusiast that follows the instructions
in this guide to decorate various types of objects without
too much difficulty.
A perfect knowledge of drawing, particularly ink drawing, is essential for working on more delicate works of art.
Ink drawing is very similar to pyrography, both in terms
of process and the results.
I would advise you to carry out a serious study of this
type of drawing if you wish to produce original and perfectly executed works. So what I am saying is that only a
draftsman can use pyrography.
The precise aim of this book is to allow the enthusiastic
beginner to practice the use of heated tips to successfully
create beautiful decorative effects. All you need to do is
follow the instructions that I provide later on as a guide
for executing the work, which will not only require care,
patience and great deliberation, but above all aesthetic
taste.
If you are not an able drawer, you can copy your own
templates. You will find a wide range on the market and in
the numerous magazines that deal with artistic pursuits.
Pyrography can be carried out on any combustible
. Pyrography –

material. It is mainly used on wood, leather and velvet.
These materials lend themselves to extremely beautiful
decorative effects; however, each one has its own particular
properties and must be treated differently. A landscape or a
figure produce excellent results on fine grain wood, but it
is not advisable to try this on leather or velvet. Therefore,
the subject needs to be adapted to the material that is
being used. The shape of the object and the surface area
to be decorated must also be considered: the panel of a
door will require a much larger ornamentation compared
to a jewellery box, for example. Finally, through the use
of colour, all you will need to do is clearly pyrograph the
outline of the design, without focusing too much on the
details.
Leather and velvet are fragile materials that can burn
very easily in pyrography. To begin, choose the simplest
templates to work on and you will achieve good results.
You will be able to move on to more complex works when
you are more familiar with the process.
The desire to pyrograph is principally due to its ease of
creation and at the same time the simplicity of the materials required. These techniques will provide the enthusiast
with a pleasurable pastime, whilst allowing them to create
beautiful objects  .
Pyrography can be considered an original or applied
art for both beginners and professionals.
The pyrogravure and pyrography of Venice are quite
well–known and, due to their original execution, have become considered as a strictly Venetian art. I believe that
. Extracted from the Italian translation of La Pyrogravure Decorative
(Claudia Baldassarro, Trans.) by J.A. Cassignol, Librairie J. Bailliere et Fils,
Paris (). Pages —.

Pyrography
these pyrographic works, which although they are reminiscent of Moorish wood carvings, or Persian or oriental
mortise and marquetry — an original and noble art for the
knowledgeable stylisation of their own or unknown models — are typically of the Renaissance. They could not be
otherwise, seeing as the art history of Florence or Venice
is the likely mother of the revolutionary child known as
the Renaissance, which invaded Europe and reached its
apex in France.
Modern French pyrography is strictly industrial and is
carried out on wood, leather and canvas; the French companies produced finished works. It is easy to find them on
sale: frames, small ornaments, frivolous stools and musical
instruments with engraved motifs. The latter, which are
invariably flowers, fruit and animal faces, are reproduced
over a period of many years.
Despite the fact Germany has, by large, industrialised
pyrography, they generally use it as a decorative art and for
the embellishment of reproduction furniture. With regard
to the production of pyrographic materials, they are one of
the biggest producers in the world. The German platinum
nibs, or heated tips of the pyrograph are the most suitable
for working on hard woods or deep relief work.
Among the major artistic events of those ancient and
wonderful populations of North Africa and Southern Asia
are the rudimentary bas reliefs created using flame: nonetheless, they clearly show us the ancients’ heart–felt sentiments for these primitive artifices and the desire to express
their beauty.
In Medieval times, woodburning was used by the monks
to decorate furniture, pulpits and apses in convents and
cathedrals.
In American countries, there is an interesting history
. Pyrography –

in relation to this art. The natives of this land sculpted
their idols onto hard wood using flame, and the people of
Central America and the Antilles islands used it on boats
or canoes, hollowing out enormous trunks by means of
combustion.
With these ancestors and the enormous quantity of
national materials that lend themselves wonderfully to
pyrographic works, we must cultivate this art that can become a rich and satisfying source of economic and interior
wealth, as well as a fun and useful pastime  .
. Extracted from the Italian translation of La Pirografia (Claudia Baldassarro, Trans.), by E.D. de Fernandez, Casa Jacobo Peuser LTDA, Buenos
Aires (). Pages —.
Chapter II
Interviews
Figure ..
M D M
San Giovanni Rotondo, Italy
First you work with the ‘spillo’ [branding iron] — we
called it the ‘iron needle’ — preferably a tempered one.
The shepherd would go to the blacksmith with a piece
of soft iron: by gradually heating and cooling it down in
water, then passing it in oil, the iron became unyielding
and hard. Then you heated it up again and when you
placed it on the wood it engraved. If the iron was soft
when it was reheated it would bend.


Pyrography
The shepherd would go to the blacksmith and ask for
a piece of iron from which he made a ‘needle’. They had
them in all different sizes. I have four or five: a thin one
and a large one, depending on what you need to do. If you
want to make an eye you need to use the thin one.
Now, with the electric irons, it’s so much easier because
the tip is made of steel and creates a continuous line.
I can work on an entire walking stick and still maintain
the natural colour. I remove the bark in a special way and
the background colour remains.
Someone asks: “How do you bend the walking stick?
Do you put it in the fire?”, and I reply: “The wood blackens
in the fire.” If you bend it in the fire it blackens the wood.
The crook must be made in boiling water.
Once, we even used buttermilk, but today you can also
use milk: you boil it and put the stick in it.
Milk is an excellent fixative: the fat in the milk fixes
the substances in the wood. That’s how you preserve the
curve. If you put it in the fire it burns.
I’m talking about [how we did things in] San Giovanni,
even though I know the artisans of Monte (Monte Sant’
Angelo) very well. I used to make the puppets. At thirteen,
fourteen years of age I created a puppet theatre, and I used
to go to Monte to make the puppets, engrave helmets or
other work.
They also gave us the shaped branding irons. They did
everything, because Monte had a vast artisanal market.
In San Giovanni, they were nearly all shepherds. There
were a few master carriage makers, who built the wagons,
and there were the blacksmiths. The blacksmiths did not
make works in wrought iron; a few people knew how to,
but most of the blacksmiths shoed horses. Ninety percent
of the inhabitants were farmers or shepherds. There were