I gave up trying to hide it as my skill level and knowledge at the time I created this was lacking. (example = last progress photo in this group). Notice the prominent “v” on the nose? I did try to fix that, but I’ve found that the only time it seemed to disappear is by turning the wood at different angle so the light strikes it differently. While you can “erase” (to a degree) there isn’t a perfect method for large areas and/or really dark spots that doesn’t leave telltale signs, so I try to avoid it if possible. That’s okay as it is better, and easier, to darken areas up than lighten them. I’ll be going along and decide more contrast is needed, so I rework the area. That happens a lot when I work on projects. Mostly in this step I was darkening areas of the mask I had already burned in. I had a lot of fun trying to hide it – not! Below are some progress photos.Īnother progress photo and, as you can see, the mask is a lot more defined and I’ve started on the raffia that dangles from the bottom of the mask. As you can see there is a big “v” shaped grain line in the nose of the mask. In this progress photo, I have a good chunk of the mask blocked in. Pyrography can be challenging enough and I don’t need to make it harder by maring up my trace lines. I don’t like to start shading in the work if there are still pencil marks as I’m afraid I might smear them. And, again like all my work, I burn in the trace lines. Like all my pyrography, it starts with a sketch or pattern that has been transferred to the wood. In the meantime let me show you how this piece progressed. What did I learn while creating this artwork? I’m going to wait to answer that question until the end of this blog. So, while I this artwork isn’t one of my favorites, I did learn from it. One main purpose of my website is share what I’ve learned while becoming a pyrographer. Yes, I am disappointed with how my artwork turned out, and you might ask why I’m blogging about artwork if I didn’t like that much. Feel free to attempt the artwork yourself, I hope you will, and I also hope it turns out better than mine. Please note that while I’m including the pattern for this piece of artwork, I do not consider the blog to be a tutorial. You can watch a timelapse YouTube video of this artwork being created. My artwork looks flat and it doesn’t convey the width and three dimensional qualities of the actual mask very well. I would have to be very honest and admit that my rendition doesn’t hold a candle to the original artwork. ![]() The mask, by Donald Varnell, was carved out of red cedar and it must of have been around 5-6 feet long and 1-2 feet wide! (1.5-1.8 x 0.3-0.6 meters) I’m not sure if the carving was actually used or just ornamental, but either way it was very impressive. This piece of pyrography artwork is my rendition and tribute to that beautiful mask. It was there I saw this gorgeous and very enormous mask titled: Thunderbird Dance Mask. While exploring Ketchikan we ventured into the Totem Heritage Center a small museum that showcases some of the beautiful work done by native artists. A few years back Todd and I took a cruise to Alaska.
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