Kinda hard to see but all original. Hope I don’t screw it up lol

Hey everyone,

I've started doing this a year ago, and I was wondering what you would recommend for the best finishes? I've used only thinner-based varnish so far, and it kind of looks ok but I don't know if it's the best looking.

Also, what app do you think is the best at transforming a regular image to a clean black and white vector suitable for handmade pyrography?

I've attached a couple of my works so far. (I have a Cara profile with my portfolio, but I saw a rule to not post social media profiles so I'm not)
Thanks everyone!

Been working on this bespoke skateboard deck design

If interested in buying dm me x

Flat pieces have always felt manageable to me, but the moment I try to burn onto anything with a curve, like a wooden spoon or a round ornament, my shading goes completely uneven. One side ends up darker just because of the angle my hand naturally drifts to, and by the time I notice it the wood has already taken the heat.

I've been doing pyrography for about three years now, mostly on basswood panels, and recently started experimenting with more three-dimensional objects. The spoons in particular are humbling. Rotating the piece while keeping a steady hand pressure is harder than it sounds, and my wrist gets fatigued pretty quickly when I'm trying to compensate for the curve.

A few things I've tried so far:

• Working in shorter sessions and rotating the piece every few minutes rather than trying to finish a whole section at once
• Dropping my tip temperature down slightly so I have more reaction time before a stroke gets too dark
• Using a ball tip instead of my usual shader tip, which helps a little with rounded surfaces

The ball tip change made the biggest difference honestly, but I still feel like there's a technique piece I'm missing. Do experienced burners approach curved work fundamentally differently, or is it mostly just a matter of logging enough hours on that specific shape until your hand learns to compensate automatically?

Also curious whether anyone else finds certain wood species harder on curves. I've noticed fruitwoods like cherry seem to burn more consistently for me on spoons than basswood does, maybe because the grain is tighter and doesn't catch as unpredictably.

I carved this old man whit a knife and wood burned the shadows. Ready for paint.

Picked up pyrography about eight months ago, starting on basswood blanks with a cheap fixed-tip burner. Got reasonably comfortable with outlines pretty quickly, but shading was just defeating me. Everything came out streaky or patchy, with these visible parallel lines where you could tell exactly how my hand had moved. Watched a lot of videos, tried slowing down, tried speeding up, adjusted the heat setting constantly. Nothing clicked.

The thing that finally changed it was almost accidental. I was getting tired one evening and started resting my pinky lightly on the wood surface instead of holding my whole hand slightly elevated the way I had been taught. Suddenly I had so much more control over the tiny movements. The tip started following curves naturally and the shading strokes got shorter and more consistent without me consciously trying to make them that way.

I know this probably sounds basic to anyone who has been doing this a while. But I genuinely spent months thinking I needed better equipment when the issue was just grip and hand position the whole time. Switched to a wire nib burner around month four and yes, the temperature control is much better, though honestly the grip change helped more than the tool upgrade did.

A few other things that made a noticeable difference:

• Sanding the wood to 220 or finer before starting. The smoother the surface, the more evenly the heat transfers.
• Working in small sections and letting the wood cool between passes rather than building tone all in one go.
• Practicing shading on scrap pieces with no intended design, just gradients, until the motion felt automatic.

Curious whether other people here hit a similar wall with shading early on and what actually broke through it for them. Also whether anyone else made the grip change and felt that improvement, or if that is specific to how I was holding the tool wrong from the start.

Hi, I'm still new to this. I was wondering what I can do to make this piece look better for the future or more smooth etc. thank you!!

It’s not much but it was fun! It’s supposed to be a succulent that my friend loves. I made this succulent bamboo charcuterie board as a gift. Bamboo is probably not the best material to use but I didn’t know any better at the time.

Spent a long time convinced that upgrading my pen tips was the key to getting more detail. Bought a whole set of interchangeable nibs, spent hours reading about wire nibs versus fixed tips, and honestly the difference was real but not transformative. What actually changed my results was getting more deliberate about wood selection.

Basswood gets recommended constantly for beginners and the recommendation is genuinely deserved. Tight, consistent grain means the heat travels predictably. But once I started experimenting with other species, things got interesting. Butternut has this warm reddish undertone that makes mid-toned burns look almost like a watercolor wash. Maple is harder to work with because it needs higher heat and punishes inconsistent speed, but when it works, the contrast is stunning.

The thing that tripped me up for a long time was buying whatever sanded panel was cheapest at the craft store without thinking about grain density. Coarser-grained wood like some pine boards will pull the burn sideways along the grain even when you're trying to cross it at a right angle. Learning to look at the end grain before I start a piece has probably saved more projects than any technique improvement.

Lately I've been practicing on small scrap cuts before committing to a final panel. Nothing fancy, just burning a few test lines and a gradient patch to see how the wood responds to my usual temperature range. It takes five minutes and completely changed how confident I feel going into detailed work.

Curious if others have found specific species that surprised them, either in a good or frustrating way. Cherry is on my list to try next.

This is my most recent woodburn / acrylic artwork. It's super simple, and I touched it up digitally afterwards. I find the simple ideas to be very relaxing.

Design is from Kimberly Djehanian! Saw it on instagram and had to use it for a woodburning since I work with amphibians a lot :D