When I sat in on the pyrography summit a few weeks ago, I learned that many pyrographers use watercolours when adding colour to their projects.

Up until now I have tried pencil crayon, permanent markers and acrylic paint. I didn’t have any watercolour paint so I bought a crayola set from Walmart to give it a try.

My first attempt was on these three hearts.
I added the colour after I burned in the words.

I like how the burning doesn’t absorb any colour and still stands out.


Next I decided to paint one of my larger hearts.
I cut it in half, drilled some holes and stole my husband’s idea of weaving copper through it.
This wood took on the colour in different shades and gave it a more abstract look.
It matches the cupboards on my island so I think I will hang somewhere in my kitchen.


I love our firepit area but feel like it needs some colour.
I took one of my larger pallet signs, burned in some words then used watercolours overtop.
I love how the grain is still visible especially on the yellow board.

I used an outdoor water-based finish and we’ll see how the colour holds up hanging outside.


I can definitely see why pyrographers like watercolours over acrylics.

The watercolours allow you to clearly see that the background is wood but still adds enough colour to make the burning pop.

There are some issues with the colours bleeding easily so you do have to be more careful than with acrylics.

I am not sure what I will use watercolour on next but I like them enough to definitely use that type of paint again.

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