Burning desire to create art: What it's like to be a pyrography artist
The ancient art of burning pictures into wood is believed to have been around for centuries.Pyrography, which means to write with fire, was especially popular in the 19th century but it has also seen a surge of interest in recent years.

Self-taught artist Stef Butler first tried her hand at the craft around 13 years ago and now runs her own business creating commissioned pieces from wedding and baby gifts to jewellery, trinket boxes and wall hangings.
“A friend of mine was doing it so I started doing it too as a way to unwind as I had a high-pressured job. It was nice to spend the time being creative.
“Friends started to ask me to make them things and it all grew from there,” she tells Weekend.
As her art pieces became more popular, she was able to go part-time at work before giving up her job completely to concentrate on growing her pyrography business, Agni Prasada Burning.
“I really love it and I feel it is a great expression of myself. I’ve been doing it for so long that I’m now able to do larger pieces which I love doing,” says Stef, who lives in Bridgnorth.
A lot of her work is inspired by nature and the animal kingdom but she also enjoys skull and macabre art as well as mythical subjects too.

To create her intricate designs, she uses a pyrography iron, which is a pen-like device with a metal end through which heat is transferred to a removable tip.