Supplies:
- Scorch pen
- Heat gun
- Optional: stencil
I decided to give this wood burning pen a try. I thought it would be an interesting craft. The way this pen is supposed to work is any wood surface you draw on with it will look burned once a heat source is applied. You are supposed to use a heat gun, but I do not currently own a heat gun. I decided to try this with a very strong hair drier and a flame. Please be careful if you try this at home. I believe you may be able to do a similar thing with lemon juice, but I am not sure about that.
I saw a few reviews of this scorch pen and they all seemed to work well for them. If you are interested in purchasing or learning more about the scorch pen I purchased, then you can check it out here. I noticed in one video the person determined the exact temperature the piece has to reach in order for the scorch pen to work. It really had to get extremely hot in order to work. So, I think using a good quality heat gun for this would be best.
I started out by making a design on my computer, then using my Cricut to cut out my design. I cut my design out on Cricut stencil vinyl. This vinyl did not stick the best to the wood, but it worked. You could also use premade stencils or just hand drawl your design. I then colored in the stencil I made with the pen. The first attempt I used the pen side of the scorch pen, which came out pretty clear. Please note you may need to pump the pen a few times to get the liquid down to the tip of the pen.
weeding out my stencil design 
laying down my stencil 
applied the solution 
Before heat was applied.
I used a very strong hair drier without a diffuser to act as my heat gun. This gets very hot, but it was not hot enough for this. I then decided to try an open flame, a lighter. The direct flame on the piece also was not enough to activate the solution to create the burn marks. All the heat being applied to my piece of wood made the edges of the wood start to crack.
Hairdryer 
Results after hairdryer 
lighter 
results after using lighter 
edges started to crack
I had a smooth piece of scrap wood sitting on my desk, so I decided to give this piece a shot. I marked it with the pen side, and used the direct flame on it. I skipped the hairdryer altogether. Within a few seconds the burn look appeared. So, the scorch pen did work, and just using a lighter was enough.
I thought maybe I dried out the solution with the hairdryer, and that is why the direct flame did not work on my disc. So, I reused the stencil on the back side of my wood disc, and applied the solution again. This time I used the brush end of the scorch pen. This came out a pink/red color. Maybe it needed to be shaken up more. I then went straight to the lighter and applied the direct flame to the piece, with very little success.
with stencil 
before heat 
after heat. You can see a few spots that started to look burnt.
I wonder if the scorch pen only works on smother wood surfaces, or there was something applied to the wood discs by the company I purchased them from. I will have to use these wood discs some other way. I think a heat gun would work the best so you do not get real scorch marks on your wood by applying an open flame to it. I may also try to sand the wood down first before trying this again. I currently do not have any more project ideas for this burnt affect, but I am sure I will use it again. It was fun to play around with it though. If you like the burnt effect on projects, then I would recommend giving it a try. Let me know if you have better luck with this and what projects you make with it.
I rubbed my fingers over the wood disk a few days later, and realized the areas I applied the scorch pen solution almost feels like a sticker. You can feel where the solution was applied.
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