I have found over the years that I often have the desire to create something new far after I have run out of space to display the work. I literally have dozens of banker boxes filled with finished projects, tucked away under my work table or in a closet, that are simply stored away. Yet not having space for another pyrography, wood carving, or craft project does not stop me from wanting to create new ideas.
So I have come up with a small solution to my addiction to pyrography wood burning – a Pyrography Junk Journal!
Small wood pieces can be hot glued to my watercolor paper pages to add too my junk journal.
I cut the front and back of my junk journal from scrap, vegetable-dyed leather, then used a leather punch to create the holes for the clip rings. Of course I worked a leather burning on my cover. My journal measures 6 1/2″ x 8″. Next I cut blank pages from heavy weight water color paper. These pages measure 6″ x 7 1/2″. Aligning the left side of the watercolor paper pages to the leather cover I marked the clip ring holes on the pages and cut them with my leather punch.
I wanted to test sample a new set of watercolor pencils that I will be using to add hue to my larger projects. This journal page let me check how well they covered and how transparent the were to allow the sepia shading to show without investing the time into a larger, in-depth work. A fun starting page for my junk journal.
I can work a pyrography wood burning pattern directly on the watercolor paper pages or I can use those pages to mount other media as small basswood squares, chip board shapes, paper mache squares, or leather scraps.
Fun, random, geometric shapes are great when you just want to spend an evening pyrography doodling.
Quick, easy, and so ready to fill with new free pyrography project patterns, experimental texture practice boards, and test sample for the next large pyrography burning!
In this leather pyrography series, you will find the steps for creating the copper, wire-bent jewelry. Plus, how to create 10 quick necklaces out of one pyrography burning that is perfect if you are a craft seller or need a group of Holiday presents this years.
An easy way to get started with leather pyrography art journals is to purchase several scrap bag assortments of leather. This gives you a variety of leather to begin exploring leather burning.
Journaling is a hot hobby today, giving pyrographers a wonderful leather surface for our sepia designs. Creating faux deckle edged paper adds to the unique quality of our wood burning journals. Let’s discover how very easy it is to make your own deckle edged leaves and writing sheets.
I prefer to either use a graphite tracing paper or graphite pencil lead rubbed over the back of my pattern my paper as my tracing media. Graphite leaves a pale to medium gray line on our working surface that has no oil or wax, and therefore is not a permanent marking.
When I began my work with pyrography on leather, my practice board got a touch out of hand. I began my text project with a 10 lb. scrap bag of vegetable-dyed leather from Springfield Leather Co. which contained a variety of weights, textures, and species of leather pieces.
The journal is bound with a very simple lacing pattern that can be opened to remove and refill the journal cover for long-term use. The paper pages, printed using my home computer printer, are laced to the back cover only, which allows the front cover to be fully opened and even rolled over to the back of the journal during use.
Learn in this free, online pyrography project how easy it is to add pyrography burnings to small leather boot belts, leather belts, and leather wrist bands. Step-by-step instruction and free wood burning patterns.
This step by step leather journal project assumes that this is your first wood burning, includes how to trace pattern, basic pyrography techniques, and the instruction for the Griffin Journal.
An easy way to get started with leather pyrography art journals is to purchase several scrap bag assortments of leather. This gives you a variety of leather to begin exploring leather burning. No piece is so perfect that you can’t just throw away a ‘mistake’ or cut it down to become a smaller cover. The textures, distortions, and flaws add to the vintage look of your journal when everything is done.
But you will note when you follow the links above that both packs have irregular edges, some clamp marks and stretch marks, and even a few wrinkles … which makes them even better when you are designing your Leather Pyrography Art Journal. Those pulls, stretch marks and little oddities in the leather surface give your journal cover a wonderful distressed, vintage look.
In the Mayan Leather Journal photo, above, you can see those stretch marks along the right side top and bottom corner.
I chose the Mayan design specifically for this scrap of leather. As Mayan hieroglyphs were worked as stone carvings they did not have crisp, clean, sharp edges to the design. As time, nature, and weather have eroded those same writings the edges have become more distorted. So what could be more perfect than a stone carving design on a wrinkled piece of leather. Those wrinkles give the feeling of the rock face in which the Mayan’s created their architecture.
When you add that as you wood burn your leather you also lightly sculpture the leather surface, our Mayan Priest becomes a 3-d rendition of the pattern. You can see along the left side of the cover how the burn pushes the leather down, leaving the un-burned or lightly burned areas proud of the surface.
Several light coats of a gloss acrylic spray sealer accents the 3-d effect of the leather and design by creating bright highlights along the edges of the pattern work.
This journal sample uses both an edge piece of a vegetable-dyed shoulder and a scrap piece of dark mahogany tanned leather for the back cover – one piece from both of the scrap packages above. Since the mahogany tanned leather is of a higher weight (thicker) than the veggie leather cover, I used my smallest v-gouge wood carving tool to create a simple checker board design directly into the back cover. Those gouge marks let that leather roll more easily as I use the journal. A third piece of scrap leather became the binding edge of the journal where the screw posts join all the leather pieces and hold the inside paper pages.
Journaling is a hot hobby today, giving pyrographers a wonderful leather surface for our sepia designs. Creating faux deckle edged paper adds to the unique quality of our wood burning journals. Let’s discover how very easy it is to make your own deckle edged leaves and writing sheets.
Plaid was kind enough to send me a sample wood burner the other day … like I need another wood burning unit to add to my dozen plus one temperature, soldering style wood burners that I have collected over the 25 years of being a wood burner …
Well, I didn’t know it, but I did!
This is a one temperature burner that is pre-set at the low temperature of 750 degrees – 200 degrees lower that the average pre-set unit, which makes it perfect for leather burning pyrography.
Plus … it has the standard four interchangeable tips that we all know and love that are available with most one temp tools.
I already have several low temperature, soldering style tools that I often use for my leather crafting. Each of those comes in the package with only one, cone point tip for fine line work.
Plaid has included the universal writing tip, leaf shading tip, the fine point cone tip, and the wide ball tip, all for under $17.00.
Plus Plaid’s low temperature leather burning tool has an on/off switch right on the cord and a handy little stand for safety.
I happened to have a sample journal cover that I could grab as a practice board … It has been quite awhile since I have used the soldering style pen and every pen, no matter who manufacturers it, needs a little practice time to get your correct grip, pressure, and movement.
So, here is my first using the Plaid one temperature leather burning tool – feathered green man journal cover. Pale tones are created using the cone point tip and a light hand pressure, wide strokes are made with the universal tip and medium hand movement. The darkest tones were made with the wide cone tip and a simple touch-and-lift stroke. The tip of the leaf spear shader is wonderful for thick-and-thin line work as in his beard.
And then I did this one … a giraffe leather journal keeper with suede cord.
Number three is also a journal keeper made from scrap leather and with elastic cord.
The wide cone tip is so much fun to use it lead to this wood flower journal cover – number four.
And number five is this easy leather journal that has the front cover cut open to show the burning on the inside flap.
My whole weekend got eaten up by a Plaid One Temperature, Low Temperature, Interchangeable Tip Wood Burning Tool … grin!
