Glass Pyrograph by Etsuko Ichikawa

Etsuko Ichikawa – The glowing material is molten glass. She gathers really hot glass onto pipe and makes drawings on paper. Paper that she uses is extremely thick, almost like a slice of plywood, so surprisingly it doesn’t get burnt so easily.

My work is a continuing investigation of what lies between the ephemeral and the eternal.
I work with a range of materials, in particular glass, paper, and thread, and in various scales including large installations. – Etsuko Ichikawa

Pyrography is the art of decorating wood or other materials with burn marks resulting from the controlled application of a heated object such as a poker. It is also known as pokerwork or wood burning.

Pyrography means “writing with fire” and is the traditional art of using a heated tip or wire to burn or scorch designs onto natural materials such as wood or leather. Burning can be done by means of a modern solid-point tool (similar to a soldering iron) or hot wire tool, or a more basic method using a metal implement heated in a fire, or even sunlight concentrated with a magnifying lens.
This allows a great range of natural tones and shades to be achieved – beautiful subtle effects can create a picture in sepia tones, or strong dark strokes can make a bold, dramatic design.

Varying the type of tip used, the temperature, or the way the iron is applied to the material all create different effects. Solid-point machines offer a variety of tip shapes, and can also be used for “branding” the wood or leather. Wire-point machines allow the artist to shape the wire into a variety of configurations, to achieve broad marks or fine lines.

This work is time-consuming, done entirely by hand, with each line of a complex design drawn individually. After the design is burned in, wooden objects are often coloured, sometimes boldly or more delicately tinted.

Main Photo from Dodge called Pyrograph