October 20th, 2025
Old School Raven Illustration Pyrography
(This article contains affiliated links.)
Free Raven wood burning pyrography pattern and template
I love the look of the limited palette color illustration that were popular in the 1900’s vintage school books and old postcards. This Raven – Black Bird wood burning uses that style of art by incorporating white acrylic pen, fine-point black permanent pen, ocher yellow and pale moss green colored pencils to the sepia tones of the pyrography work.
This free Raven pattern is worked on a 1/2″ thick, 10″ wide by 12″ tall, live edge basswood slab. The pattern, sized to fit 8 1/2″ x 11″ printer paper, allows a 1″ border on the top and sides of the slab. Below the pattern there is space to add a 1/2″ dowel rod, supported by two brass corner brackets that will hold my wire-wrapped cabochon leather bracelets.
Supplies: Amazon.com
10″ x 12″ x 1/2″ live edge basswood slab
320-grit sandpaper
6 – 8″ square of brown kraft paper (paper bag scraps)
graphite tracing paper
1″ wide, low tack, painter’s tape
variable temperature wood burning unit
loop tip, flat shader tip
fine-point white acrylic pen
fine-point black permanent marking pen
ocher or golden yellow colored pencil
pale moss green colored pencil
gloss acrylic spray sealer
2 small brass angle brackets
4 small brass decorative corners
4 large decorative copper tacks
1/2″ x 9″ dowel rod
1/2″ wide leather bracelets
1″ wide leather bracelets
How to Wood Burn
- Begin by sanding your slab with 320-grit sandpaper. Work the sanding with the grain of the wood to avoid creating fine cross-grain scratches. Remove the sanding dust. Crumple the brown kraft paper into a ball. Use the crumbled paper as if it were sand paper. This polishes the surface of the wood, removing any fine fibers that can affect your burning.
- Align the pattern along the top and sides with a one inch margin. Use the painter’s tape to secure it to the top of the wood. Insert a sheet of graphite paper under the pattern. Use an ink pen to trace the design.
- Use painter’s tape protect the top and side outer edges of the wood from any burning strokes. The tape is laid 1/2″ from the outer edges of the Celtic knot pattern. On medium and lower temperature setting you can burn over the edge of the painters tape without affecting the wood below. This gives you a crisp, clean line that stops the burning on the background area.
- Work your burning using both the loop tip and a flat shader tip on a low medium to medium temperature setting for the background of the raven scene, the shading in the Celtic knot lines, and along the outer edges of the Celtic knot pattern. Fade the outer edge shading from medium tones to extremely pale tones as you move down the slab.
- Dark tones in the bird design and inside the Celtic knot design are worked on a high temperature to reach those wonderful black tones.
- The moon behind the Raven is created by not burning the moon, but instead shading around the circle and adding a few fine dots close to the circle.
- Early illustrations had areas of heavy, bold black shading. To achieve that look use a fine-point black marking pen in the shadow areas along the lower neck, on the belly along the edge of the wings, at the base of tail where it touches the belly, and in the eye. Accent the under side of the main branch with several thin, black marking pen lines.
- Use a fine-point white acrylic marking pen to accent the raven feathers, vine branch and vine leaves. Add a few fine line branches that come from behind the raven rectangle and reach across the Celtic knot work.
- Use ocher or golden yellow colored pencil to fill in the Raven’s rectangular frame and the four corner Celtic patterns. Use pale moss green colored pencil on the Celtic circle lines where they touch the Raven’s rectangular frame.
- I decided at this point to add a small leaf pattern to this design. Please see below.
- Spray seal the work with an acrylic gloss sealer.
- Measure 2″ from the bottom of the slab for the line to install your brass corner brackets and dowel rod. My brackets hold the dowel above the surface of the board by about 1/2″ to give space to add my leather bracelets. Add the brass corner decor and the large copper tacks.
Free Raven Black Bird Pyrography Wood Burning Pattern
Additional leaf pattern
For more great patterns and templates to use with this pyrography wood burning project, please visit my pattern website at ArtDesignsStudio.com.
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Great Book of Wood Burning, 2nd Edition
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Little Book of Pyrography
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Pyrography Style Handbook
ArtDesignsStudio.com is Lora Irish’s wood carving, pyrography, and craft pattern, templates, and tracing images warehouse for you next craft project. Over 3000 line art designs and .jpg images, in 149 theme pattern packages, ready for immediate download.
Adding Color to your Wood Projects for Wood Carving and Pyrography – Basic Techniques
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CRAFTING
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Great Book of Tattoo Designs, Revised Edition
Modern Tribal Tattoo Designs
