The Innovative Artist: The Art of Pyrography

Into the fray 6, Feel the burn 12, Exploring line and capturing tone 32

Bee Happy Mini burn 48, 3D Butterfly Mini burn 50, Tree Frog Step-by-step project 60, Drawing on inspiration 62, Sketch with fire Mini burn 74, Hibiscus Mini burn 74, Magic of the Moonlight Step-by-step project 80, Tree frog tone Step-by-step project 86, Times gone by Step-by-step project 88, Sidmouth seafront Step-by-step project 92, Colour your world 96, Bringing colour to the jungle Step-by-step project 110, Pyro and the peacock Step-by-step project 114, Gaia Step-by-step project 120, The Midas Touch Adding gold to your pyrography 126, Reed Warbler: Lady of the Marsh Step-by-step project 144, A Final Froggy Flourish Step-by-step project 150

Through the looking glass 154, The final curtain 162, Troubleshooting 168, Safety 172, Afterword 174, Index 176

About Cherry Ferris

Cherry Ferris is a self-taught artist, fascinated with colour, pigment, materials and all things sparkly. Particularly drawn to nature, animals and the detail of botanical artwork, Cherry is particularly potty about hares and owls, which appear in much of her artwork. Equally well-versed in pyrography, acrylics, pastels, watercolours and coloured pencils, Cherry enjoys combining and fusing these media within a piece of artwork to create something exciting and new. 

Words, myths and legends are as important to her work as the paint itself. Her happy place is twirling through the woodlands or sitting by the sea both places draw her like a moth to a flame.

Her work has been shown in Wildwood Gallery on Dartmoor, the Derwent Pencil Museum at Keswick, The Wildlife Art Society International (TWASI), The South West Academy of Fine and Applied Art Open Exhibition (SWAc) and at OXO Tower, London with the Explorers Against Extinction. She is published in numerous national and international magazines, and is a contributing artist to the Earth Pathways diaries & calendars. Cherry runs workshops for pyrographers of all abilities, and also enjoys creating inspirational and innovative community projects that bring together people from all walks of life to create beautiful art. 

Cherry lives in Devon, UK. Email her at fairiewoodart@yahoo.com & visit her website www.fairiewoodart.com or Instagram @fairiewood_art

Jenny Nixon

The book contains a lot of innovative ideas suitable for both the novice beginner and the more experienced in Pyrography. Comprehensive and well illustrated, it provides a good background into the different equipment available and the author has captured all the useful information into one very good book. The techniques used can only add to the inspiration when giving this a go. I am very new to this and have found it to be useful. I have even bought some gold leaf to try out some of the projects. An easy to follow book which will keep you reading if you want to gain knowledge on this art.

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Customer Review

This book is without doubt one of the best books on pyrography I have had the pleasure of reading.

Cherry has written this book with a friendly vibe, being able to pass on the skills that she has without the reader being swamped with the dos and don'ts. Full of stunning art and pure inspiration throughout I would recommend this book to anyone, experienced or beginner.

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Customer Review

Although I have never done any pyrography before, I would be able to follow Cherrys easy to follow instructions on materials and techniques of this method of making art. I think the beginner but also the more experienced pyrographer would benefit from the instruction in this book. As a painter I appreciated the use of mixed media materials, and the section on inspiration for making pictures. I was very impressed by the beautiful production of the book , especially the standard of the photographs. I shall enjoy exploring this book in more depth.

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Customer Review

I was given this book as a present and wow what a fabulous read. I havent been able to put it down and cant wait to have a go at a new skill for me. Cherry describes in marvellous words and pictures how to do wood burning and chapter by chapter how to use different materials to enhance your work. I am particularly keen on the chapters using resin and gold leaf. I would definitely recommend this book to any art lover.

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Artbookreview.net

I would add this to my ever-lengthening list of 2022s innovations, but Im pretty sure pyrography has been written about before, albeit more as a craft, maybe a curiosity, than as art. This is the first book to cross my desk, anyway. Its also worthy of note that this appears in Search Presss The Innovative Artist series, which betokens both a broad coverage and a move of the technique into something more mainstream.

As you might expect, this is not a beginners guide, nor should it be. I think we can accept that those exist and that this is as much a showcase for an experienced practitioner as it is a book of instruction. That said, theres plenty of technical analysis to get your teeth into here. Someone wanting to pursue this as art will find a great deal to occupy and challenge them and the results are simply stunning. The blurb announces that its suitable for beginners too, but they always say that. Yes, Cherry does explain the fundamental techniques as well as what equipment you need and how to use it, but I think Id start with something a lot more basic and with rather more simplified exercises. You arent going to achieve the sort of detailed, coloured work that Cherry demonstrates without a very thorough grounding first and, without belittling the fundamental work done here, I dont think this is the book for it. This is basic techniques for the more experienced worker who mainly wants to make sure theyre on the right track and learn from a master.

Small rant over, this is an astonishing book that will open your eyes to work you probably didnt think possible. The detail and subtlety of shade and colouring that Cherry achieves is remarkable and looks more like painting or drawing. Theres much to learn and this is a book youre going to want to spend a lot of time with Id go so far as to say that, if you price a book by the number of hours spend between its covers, this is definitely well below minimum wage.

Will you ever manage to achieve the same results as Cherry? Well, it wouldnt be for want of trying, on your part or hers.

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Customer Review

Cherry's book is full of the most beautiful works of art. It is such a worthwhile book for anyone, like me, interested in starting with pyrography, but I'm sure that it will also be valuable to those who are experienced in this art.

All the basics are comprehensively covered on a very practical level with excellent illustrations. This book is however so much more than basic pyrography. There are chapters on colour, introducing mixed media, the use of gold leaf is explained so you can add your own magic and even the use of resin.

I have not had time to explore all this book has to offer but I am thoroughly enjoying reading such a beautifully written book which is infused with the author's magic in her writing as well as her works of art.

This is a book that I will treasure.