In many pyrography circles laser is a four-letter word. I think you need to look at these like any other tool, not as the mortal enemy of the pyrographer, but as a tool that can be used in ways to assist your work. Sure, you’ll always have know-it-alls at your markets claiming that your beautiful, hand-burned statement piece was done with a laser engraver. Yes, you’ll have to compete with the guy who booked two tents four stalls down and packed it to the gills with cheaper, machine-burned cutting boards. But, if you have access to a laser engraver, I am going to give you a couple of ideas that can help you to create new and interesting things without compromising the integrity of your art.
The Shape of Wood
I am a big fan of creating wall art on beautiful, reclaimed slabs of wood or artisan cutting boards. Unfortunately, the cost of materials and time drives the cost of my products up significantly. Don’t get me wrong, there is a market for these high-end products and I make sure that at every market I go to I have plenty of these gorgeous pieces on display. These are the pieces that drive customers into my booth, these are the pieces that, one sale, can make your total profit for the day. That being said: I run a business and I cannot limit myself to just these big sales. Posting up at my local farmers market or putting items up in my local boutique shop I am not getting customers who have hundreds of dollars burning a hole in their pocket.
So, how do you market your beautiful, hand-burned products to these folks? Well, sometimes you have to make compromises. I have started using my laser engraver as a tool to cut thin pieces of wood into earrings, bookmarks, dog tags, and other “tchotchkes” so that I can make some smaller items at lower price points. By using higher quality blanks at a cheaper price point, hand-burning original images, and using quality paints to adorn them I am able to create something that has the same look and quality as my larger pieces at a more affordable price point.
Tricks of the Trade
One of the other clever little shortcuts that I like to do to help keep costs low without compromising quality is to do a light etching of the imagery to use as a starting point when I burn. I often like to create my designs digitally using an image manipulation tool such as Procreate and then transfer that onto the wood as a sort of jumping-off point for my burn. I’ll usually do this with heat transfer but, given I am already using the engraver to cut out the designs, I can add the digital design and have the laser engraver “draw” my pattern as an outline to work with.
There are a lot of ways to use tools to our advantage and still make beautiful, hand-burned artwork. It doesn’t need to be us versus them. If we can learn to use tools and talent together we can learn to make a range of products to suit everyone’s style and budget. Do you use laser engravers to assist in your workflow? Let us know and tag us @bz_furfur and, as always, stay unique.
