In today’s digital age, pyrography artists have more opportunities than ever to expand their reach and monetize their art beyond traditional sales. By digitizing your wood art, you can transform physical creations into digital assets, opening the door to a variety of new revenue streams. Instead of just selling a design once, you now have to options to sell it numerous times in numerous ways.

Whether you're creating high-resolution scans or professional photographs of your work, digitization allows you to share, sell, and promote your art on a global scale.

So, how do you decide if you want to take photos or scan your art?

When deciding between scanning and photographing a woodburned wood slice, there are several factors to consider, as both methods offer distinct advantages and disadvantages:

1. Quality of Detail:

• Scanning: Scanners capture very high-resolution images with consistent lighting, making them ideal for showcasing intricate details like fine lines or subtle shading in pyrography.

• Photography: A high-quality camera with proper lighting can capture detailed textures, giving a more three-dimensional look to the woodburned surface. The texture of the wood, shadows, and natural imperfections will be more visible, which can enhance the piece's appearance but might require careful lighting to avoid glare or overexposure.

2. Colour Accuracy:

• Scanning: Scanners generally provide more accurate colour reproduction, especially with flat artwork. However, woodburned slices can be uneven, and the light from the scanner might not capture the natural wood grain or the depth of the burn as authentically as a camera could.

• Photography: Depending on your camera and lighting setup, you might have to tweak settings or adjust in post-production to achieve colour accuracy, especially if natural lighting changes or creates warm or cool tones. Personally, this one was my toughest issue. After experimenting with what I thought was consistent lighting, the photos were not all exactly the same and this drove me crazy! I set up a light in my living room and blacked out the sun, but it was such a hassle and took over my entire living space…

3. Lighting:

• Scanning: The lighting is always even and consistent, which is excellent for avoiding shadows and glare but can flatten the appearance of the wood's texture.

• Photography: Photography gives you full control over lighting, allowing you to experiment with different angles and intensities. This can highlight the texture of the woodburning but requires careful setup to avoid shadows or highlights from uneven lighting. Same with the colour accuracy though… If you're not sure what you’re doing, this is a hard one to get consistent.

4. Ease of Use:

• Scanning: A scanner is easy to use for smaller pieces. You simply place the wood slice on the bed, scan it, and get a high-resolution image. For larger pieces, this can be limiting as the wood slice might not fit properly. However, there are companies that offer large-format scanning services, which are ideal for digitizing oversized or three-dimensional pieces.

• Photography: Photography gives you more flexibility for larger or irregularly shaped pieces like wood slices. You can photograph the piece in natural light or a controlled studio environment. However, it takes more time and effort to set up the shot, manage lighting, and ensure focus. Also, consistency is key and this may be difficult if you do not have a studio set up…

5. File Size and Versatility:

• Scanning: Scanners can create very large, high-resolution files, which is useful if you want to print the image at a larger scale. However, the files might be unnecessarily large for online sharing.

• Photography: A photograph can be just as high-resolution, depending on your camera, but it allows for more flexibility in post-editing for various uses like social media or print.

6. Textural Appearance:

• Scanning: Scanning tends to flatten the texture of the wood, making it appear more like a 2D image. This is great for many uses such as stickers, prints etc…

• Photography: Photography, especially with angled lighting, can better capture the 3D texture of the woodburning and the natural grain of the wood slice. Depending on the look you are going for, this can be a hit or a miss!

Generally, if you're aiming for a flat, highly detailed reproduction (for example, to use in print), scanning might be the better option. However, for a more dynamic and natural feel that captures the texture and shape of the wood slice, a high-quality photograph would likely be more effective.

My art is digitized. Now what?

1. Prints: Digitize the wood burned design and create high-quality prints to sell as posters, art prints, or greeting cards.

2. Stickers: Turn the design into stickers, which can be sold individually, in sets, or as part of themed collections. Here is a great example that Chelsea Glade of @oopschelseaarted (formerly pickleshopcuriosity) made.

3. Digital Downloads: Offer a digital download that customers can purchase and print at home.

4. Merchandise: Create merchandise such as T-shirts, mugs, phone cases, and tote bags through print-on-demand (POD) services. There are tons of options available, always get a sample before selling to ensure great quality.

5. Calendars: Incorporate the design(s) into a calendar, either as part of a collection of wood burned art or as a unique feature for a particular month.

6. Gift Wrap and Tags: Create gift wrap paper and gift tags featuring the wood burned design.

7. Journals and Notebooks: Print the design on the covers of journals, notebooks, and planners.

8. Home Decor: Produce items like cushions, blankets, or tapestries with the wood burned design printed on them. There are may POD services that can do this!

9. Books and Bookmarks: Use the design for custom books, book covers, bookmarks and more, either for personal use or to sell to others. Heidi Clinite of @ember_maypop wrote a children’s book called Sassy Susie Sasquatch Sets Sail and used her wood burned art for the cover, as well as throughout the entire book!

10. Art Prints: Enhance the design with digital art techniques and offer as limited edition art prints.

11. Custom Stationery: Create stationery sets including letterheads, envelopes, and notepads with the design.

12. Wall Decals: Turn the design(s) into removable wall decals.

13. Puzzles: Create custom jigsaw puzzles featuring the wood burned design.

14. Fabric Patterns: Use the design to create fabric patterns, which can then be sold to crafters and designers.

15. Digital Wallpapers: Offer the design(s) as a digital wallpaper for computers and mobile devices.

With the growing technology, the options to make extra revenue with your art are continuously growing. By embracing digital tools, you can scale your creative business while staying true to the craftsmanship that makes wood art so unique.