Bernadetta - pyrography(discontinued)

[PogArtTi]

I just have this strong feeling that the downward slope of the top of the left-hand eye is really important to her happy face.

I know you mean Mike
Lets see if I manage to do it properly...
I'll post an update late evening I think, so you can have a look at improved nose's curve and shape - if you'd like to in your free time
It does look much better now, not as broad as previously.
I was worry why it is so wide, but at the same time I was scared to attempt any correction to avoid ruine what I've achieved, if you know what I mean...
But your kind advice did encourage me to make this step forward, and to feel brave enough to fix it...
Thank you!

[Mike Sibley]

I was scared to attempt any correction to avoid ruining what I've achieved, if you know what I mean...

That got me thinking. I'm just curious: As long as a line or mark isn't burnt too deeply... can you fade it by lightly sanding the wood? And if you sanded something away completely, could you burn it again (but differently) in that same area?

[PogArtTi]

... if you sanded something away completely, could you burn it again (but differently) in that same area?

The Poplar plywood is made of few thin sheets bonded together by the glue, which most certainly is based on chemicals.
For obvious reason it's not recommended to heat the glue, because those toxic fumes aren't friendly for our lungs

So gently scratching the top of the surface is ok, but to avoid scratching deeper into the wood, where the glue might get exposed to the heat.
Obviously it doesn't matter if you burning on natural piece of wood

The yesterday's correction I did by gently scratching off that softly burned area, using fibreglass pen, and I went over it with equally gently burn, to correct the shape and curve of the nose.
The fine sandpaper would will do the same job as good.

I did it with extra care, and the fibreglass pen is adequate for that purpose, it's allowing gentle and precise scratching on the surface.

There's no problem to burn over the scratched area, because it was softly and smoothly scratched off.
Deeper scratching could be compared to indenting, which may become more tricky to cover with equal burn to mask those "indented" marks...

Softly shaded areas by hot tip is obviously easy to scratch off, and correct.
The hotter the tip gets, the burned mark goes deeper, which is making correction more difficult, as the scratching will also have to be forced deeper the surface.

The Poplar plywood is light in colour and it's soft panel.
I do prefer it, because the darker the wood, the less visible the burning effect.
Also the wood is getting darker by itself after longer period of time, so the burned art is fading away too - not good at all.
Not to mention the varnishing is already darkening the whole equally.

You might not be aware, that the burned areas are getting lighter in few days time...
So too dark areas becoming lighter in few days, and soft shading is fading away,much less visible then...
In pyrography matter it's kind of a *habit to go darker for the above reason.

The above effect and a dark wood are not good match at all

The fading effect is making me go darker than I usually would like to, it's also making me go few times over the same area to adjust the faded shade tones.

Bare in mind then Mike, every time when you going to comment the pyrography art that was posted straight away after the session - the *too dark areas you can see, will fade away later, so it is not issue, it will get lighter.
They are burned darker - for purpose.

Well.
I wanted reply with few words only, and I have written half of the book already

[Mike Sibley]

I wanted reply with few words only, and I have written half of the book already

...but it's a thoroughly interesting book!!!

Thanks. I hadn't thought of it being plywood. I was assuming solid Poplar. And I had no idea it faded a little with time, so I'll definitely bear that in mind in the future.

[PogArtTi]

And I had no idea it faded a little with time, so I'll definitely bear that in mind in the future.

I guessed that you might not be aware of this fading effect

Anyway here it comes the promised update

My wife has made me a bit busy with shopping this afternoon, and I have tomorrow morning shift as well, so I didn't spend as much time on it today as planned...
Therefore I did focus on blocking in the rest of the flowers only.
Once I have the full shape of the portrait done now, I can carry on improving the shading, tones and everything else I find necessery to focus on.

I'm interested what you'd say about the nose Mike...
I hope I managed to correct it following your keen suggestion
Thank you for your time and attention Mike, and everybody else who's watching the progress.

[Mike Sibley]

Much better! As I said, it's a minor change but I think it has a lot of importance. Her nose looks less broad now too.

I'm passing on this idea - not necessarily to you

If you lay the edge of a strip of card, or any straight edge, along any curved edge, such as the base of the nose or top of the eye, and then look at the negative space between the edge and the card... that gives you an instant report on what it actually looks like, rather than what you think it looks like. And it's a good way of noticing the most subtle of changes in that edge.

Sometimes those subtle changes are far more important to the success of the drawing than you might have believed.

[PogArtTi]

Thank you VERY MUCH!
I'll try the *edge trick for sure!
I have just learnt a very unique lesson - to put more attention to the subtle curves, which are so easy to miss, but play a crucial role to compliment the whole art, which may lead then to the full succees of the art...
Thank you Mike.