Getting to Know You

During my first couple of years working on products for BZ FurFur I did work mostly independently. My husband, Brian, would help with the business, the marketing, and the markets but, the process of creating was me, my Razortip, and a blank piece of wood. That was, until, I met a few of my now dear friends. Renee and David of It’s David and Renee and Jessica and Drew of Crowley’s Crafty Creations that I realized how much collaborating on pieces can enrich the things you create.

David and Renee produce wood canvases specifically for pyrographers. They are not the only producers of these. Companies like Walnut Hallow sell blank slabs specifically for artists such as myself. Products from a distributor like WH, however, are standardized and produced in volume. This leaves very little in the way of customization. Having a small, independent shop like It’s David and Renee allows me to discuss with the specific individual who is creating the canvas and explain to them what I am trying to create. We can bounce ideas off each other and come up with truly unique designs.

Jessica, who does Lichtenberg, collaborates with me by creating designs in the wood using high voltage electricity. (warning: Creating fractals using electricity is a dangerous technique. If you do not know how to safely perform this technique I strongly recommend you avoid this and leave it to those who know how to do it safely). By collaborating with Jessica I am able to pitch ideas to her for etching that will blend in with her fractals and she can create designs that integrate seamlessly with my patterns.

Better Together

Over the course of the last several years I have worked extensively with both It’s David and Renee and Crowley’s Crafty Creations. We have created dozens of collaborative pieces. This provides a few unique benefits that I wouldn’t otherwise be able to provide if I simply worked independently on my pieces:

1. Uniqueness: Unlike my earlier pieces that I designed using the standard blanks you would get from Hobby Lobby or Michaels, the foundation of my work are truly one-of-a-kind. Every piece has a specific look to it that can only come from a hand-made canvas.
2. Intrigue: Nothing draws a customer into my booth at a market better than a piece that is on a hand-crafted cherry wood slab or an etching that is centered around a Lichtenberg fractal. It starts conversation, people take time to look at all the different pieces, and, as they say, nothing draws a crowd like a crowd. The more people in my booth appreciating my work the more people who want to come see what the excitement is
3. Value: Any piece that is created collaboratively with other artists is going to be inherently more valuable. Each individuals contribution to the piece adds something extra that makes the piece more desirable and distinct. As such these pieces can be more profitable to you and the artist you worked with and more valuable to the person buying it.

Next time you are at a market, look around at the other vendors around you. Think about how your work can enhance their work and vice-versa. Consider ways to create things together and make something new that people may never has seen before. What is your favorite story of collaborating with another artist? Tag us with your story @bz_furfur and, as always, stay unique.

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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.

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For the uninitiated, Pride is an annual celebration of diversity and inclusion. It started back in the 70s as a way for gay men and women to express themselves and has grown to include anyone who identifies as LGBTQ, people of color, and allies. If you support equal rights, even if you are not one of the aforementioned LGBTQ or POC, you can still be an ally and participate in these spectacular events.

Pride parades and festivals take place in cities all across the country and around the world. When I lived in NY attending Pride was an event. There was so much excitement and energy from the performers, the crowd, and the passersby. Now that I am a transplant to Charlotte I have grown to embrace the community here by setting up a booth every year along with our friends Jessica and Drew of Crowley’s Crafty Creations. We’ll be prominently displaying some of our collaborative work that combines their super cool fractals with my etchings and painting. We are hoping that the folks attending Pride will be as excited about our work as we are.

If you are going to be in Charlotte this weekend, Aug 17-18, and you want to be a part of the festivities come by Tryon Street in Uptown. We’ll be between W 3 and W 4th Street. Come check us out, and enjoy the music, the activities, the drag shows, the parade, and all the stuff that makes Pride so wonderful. Happy Pride and, as always, stay unique.

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I spent years in retail selling other people’s products in big box stores and, to be honest, I was pretty good at it. Promoting the things other people create was “easy” for me. This was especially true if I knew about the item and felt strongly enough about it that I could back it.

The one thing I am not comfortable promoting or selling, however, is my own creations. 

“Impostor syndrome, also known as impostor phenomenon or impostorism, is a psychological experience of intellectual and professional infraudulence.”

Imposter syndrome is “the subjective experience of perceived self-doubt in one’s abilities and accomplishments compared with others, despite evidence to suggest the contrary.” Truth be told, I know I am good at what I do. My pieces are beautiful, the lines crisp (so much so that it is often mistaken for machine-made), and the painting is clean and vibrant. There are some pieces I am more proud of than others, especially on my more intricate works, but somehow when talking about myself something gets lost. Promoting my work feels so much like boasting and bragging. I subconsciously fight with the voice in my head telling me that being proud of my work is “wrong” and that humility is what I should be striving for. 

Unfortunately, being unable to promote myself is not conducive to a profitable business. Being able to promote yourself in order to attract buyers or customers or patrons is critical to success. Fortunately, I have Brian. He truly is my biggest supporter, advocator, cheerleader, and partner. We work very well together at markets because I can sit on the side and quietly burn, while he engages people. Networking events are a different story. I can’t go hide in a corner and wait for someone to approach me. I have to leave my comfort zone and engage with people myself. This is definitely a work in progress.

I met a metal worker, Jill (@JillMelyssa) at a coffee networking event hosted by The Guild Of Charlotte Arts (@guildofcharlotteartists). She makes unique, beautiful jewelry pieces. She asked me to attend a fashion show with her recently. As I work mainly with wood, it isn’t really in my scene, but I had never been to an art fashion show. The artist Jonay Di Ragno (@jonay_di_ragno) is a mixed-media artist, who works with canvas, acrylics, glass, clothing, and other media. It was a fun night, the art was beautiful and the fashion so unique. It was out of my normal networking circles, but I spoke to a few people and made some connections. I did not think I would be able to do that, because to me fashion and pyrography are in two different worlds. But I soon realized by talking with attendees that I was wrong. I burn on cotton and leather, which is wearable. Bags and purses can be made of wood which, also, I can burn into. I realized that there could be opportunities for collaboration. If I had allowed my self-doubt and fears to be dominant I would not have had the opportunity to expand my horizons and think about where that could take me.

Do you struggle to get out of your comfort zone? What is your success story. Tag us @bz_furfur and share it with us and, as always, stay unique.

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As a crafter, I have taught myself many different skills. Various forms of fiber crafts: knitting, crochet, embroidery, Tatting (creating lace), and macrame. Jewelry making, watercolor painting (I am not so good at this one), diamond painting, and of course Pyrography just to name a few.

When I started the business in 2021, I knew I couldn’t do all the things I knew because it would be way too much, plus many of those crafts take time to make. Realistically, I also knew that the market was over-saturated with many of those crafts. So I had to think about what I wanted to focus on, what did I want to do? What would be my focus. I have always been someone who immerses themselves in whatever craft/art I have decided to teach myself. I had been wanting to try wood burning for a while. I had a pyrography pen for years and never really tried it. I knew if I wanted to give it a go, I needed to leave my comfort zone and try a new medium. I would have to step out of my comfort zone. Never one to back down from learning a new craft, I did some research, watched some YouTube, bought a book, and some wood blanks, and dove in!

3 years later, it’s 2024 and I know I have grown so much. In my art. So much so that I am trying to move into a fine art realm. I started with SVGs, and simple pictures – essentially coloring books/pictures on wood. I sold many pieces this way at markets, many of which prompted people to want custom orders. My goal, though, is I want to do fine art. I see the work of people I look up to and I strive for the realism, crispness, and emotions it evokes as well as the prices they command. So I have been practicing with more realistic pictures, practicing the patience and techniques required for a piece that will take hours if not days rather than a few hours. It’s uncomfortable for me as I like to “be done” with a project. I have in my head that I want to be done in 20 hours or fewer. It’s a conscious practice to focus on the current project, each line, and think about THIS project and how it needs to be created rather than the next one after this project. But I have started the transition and it feels less and less uncomfortable each time. I am confident at some point it will stop being uncomfortable altogether.

What have you taken on that was uncomfortable at first? Tag us @bz_furfur and, as always, stay unique.

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The Wood

If you are making fine art, you should select a panel to match. A fine art panel is made of perfect wood that doesn’t have any knots, cracks, dips, or physical imperfections. Look for a canvas with clean, straight edges and sanded to buttery smoothness. For a pyrographer, the smoother the wood the easier it is to burn because the tip glides easily over the surface. You should also consider the species, and color of the wood, as well as the pattern (or lack of) in the wood. I prefer lighter-colored wood with less grain, like Clear Poplar. Choosing a pattern for a fine art panel can be easier because there are no imperfections to consider when choosing a pattern. 

But a piece does not need to be fine art in order for it to be art. Art evokes emotions, art can be imperfect and messy. Wood is a natural medium, which means it has an intrinsic beauty that can make a beautiful canvas.  Your canvas doesn’t need to be symmetrical, it may have live edge (loose bark still attached), holes, loose pieces, rotted parts, dark lines, and water damage that may make it unsuitable for fine art. Freshly milled wood can reveal knots, dips, bumps, and exciting imperfections. Consider the shape, and the interesting patterns in the grain. Sometimes a knot or a crack can be incorporated into your design.

It can feel like a little bit of a “chicken or egg” situation. Do you choose your design and find a piece of wood for your canvas, or do you pick a piece of wood and select your design.

Wood Color

In addition to the shape and pattern you should also consider the color of the wood itself. If your design requires light lines and shading a darker piece of wood is not a good choice. Shading will blend into the natural wood especially if you seal it. If the pattern requires thick, dark lines a darker piece of wood might be a better choice. Be careful, though, there is still a chance that it will blend into the wood.

I don’t prefer one of the other. Just like The Beacon, I saw the wood first and chose the pattern in my head. But I have also found patterns that I absolutely loved and searched for the perfect wood for it. Most artists I have spoken to use both methods in creating their pieces.

Wood Shape 

You also need to consider the shape of the wood. When I look at a pattern I look at it as a whole as well as it’s individual parts. The composition of your piece may require certain parts to draws the eye of the viewer. The wood should accommodate these things. You can resize a pattern to suit the wood, but sometimes that’s not possible. The shape of the wood should suit the pattern and vice versa. It should not cut off important pieces of the pattern. 

Sometimes the shape of the wood can inspire a scene. I saw an artist who used a crack in the wood in her art. She burned bees around the crack as if the bees were coming out of the crack. It was lovely. Another artist created an underwater scene with her canvas. You can get wood cut into shapes that would suit a pattern. I used wood shaped like a flying eagle to create a patriotic scene with the American flag, mountains, and wildlife.

To color or not to color the pattern

Some pyrographers do not color in their art, rather they use shading alone to color the piece. Some use texture such as stipling to create depth and interest. When I choose the wood and the pattern I think about whether I plan to use color and what color medium I want to use. Darker and medium woods need opaque mediums like acrylic or gouache in order to see them. Lighter-colored wood can accommodate most color mediums.  Think about how the medium reacts with the wood.  Watercolor paints are usually more translucent and you can see the wood grain through it; gouache and acrylic is opaque and can be used on most woods with very few layers; India ink is vibrant but can also be translucent; handmade watercolors can have mica and glitter that would sit on top of the wood while the color gets soaked into the wood (if you are using porous wood or end grain).

What are some of your tips for choosing the right wood?  Tag us @bz_furfur and let us know and, as always, stay unique.  

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At the end of the day, though, I am lucky that I live in a country where someone such as myself, a woman and a minority, can start a business and be successful.  For that I am thankful.  How about you: what are you proud of this Independence Day? Tag us @bz_furfur and, as always, stay unique.

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“Don’t think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it’s good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art.”

I am an artist.  It took me a long time to admit that to myself.  Before making this realization I would describe myself as crafty. Even after doing pyrography professionally for three years, it is hard to call myself an artist.  As an artist, I struggle to to decide if I should focus on making what I love, or what I think other people will love. If I make what other people will love I have to sacrifice my own desires, but if I make what I love I don’t know if there will there be a market for it.

“There is only one boss. The customer. And he can fire everybody in the company from the chairman on down simply by spending his money somewhere else.” 

–  Sam Walton

I will often find myself trying to follow trends. Trying to understand what the customer wants and creating something that will satisfy them. At the end of the day making art is ultimately appeasing the customer.  This often means walking around markets and seeing what others are making or searching trending hashtags on Instagram to see what people are excited about. The problem is trying to follow these trends often means that my products are carbon copies of what is at everyone else’s table at the shows or what everyone else has on their website.

“Know what your customers want most and what your company does best. Focus on where those two meet.”

– Keven Stirtz

The best thing I’ve found to do is determine what you are good at that. Do your absolute best to create a unique product and talk to customers to adapt your style to match what they love. This may mean making some concessions to your particular style. This is not a bad thing.  If you can learn to adapt to your customers, ultimately, you will find a place where your talent and what he customer wants meet.

“To practice any art, no matter how well or how badly, is a way to make your soul grow, for heaven’s sake. So do it.”

– Kurt Vonnegut

At the end of the day, it is important that you are making art that both you, and your customer, will love.  And, as always, stay unique.

“Ignoring what sells doesn’t make you a better artist, it makes you a starving artist.”

– Marie Forleo

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1. Communication is paramount. Our job is to create something that you will love and cherish for the rest of your life. To realize your vision I am going to have questions. This could be timely feedback on a mockup, questions about the dimensions of the piece, or information about where it is going to be hung. Timely responses to emails and text messages help me tremendously in the creative process and help to get your custom piece in your hands as quickly as possible.
2. Be realistic about your budget.  Hand-burned pieces can take hours, or even days, to create. You must be realistic about the price you are willing to pay. Chances are, if you are expecting prices comparable to factory-made pieces you are going to be disappointed. Be honest about your budget and, if the price is too high, maybe hand-made isn’t the best option for you right now.
3. Start with an idea. It’s ok not to have your idea fully fleshed out but you should have a general idea of what you want.  Think about where it is going to go and how much space you are looking to fill so you know the right shape and dimensions. Think about the concept and what you would like to see brought to life. It is ok to not know the specifics of the final layout, color palettes, fonts, etc. That will be brought to life in the design process, but a good foundation for your artists to start with is key.
4. Trust your artist.  Remember, you chose this artist because you love their work, they evoked some emotion or feeling, and you are looking for the same in the piece they are creating for you.  Let them bring your idea to life. It is important that you are happy with the final product but, remember, a happy artist is going to enjoy working on your piece which means they are going to put that extra bit of love into it and it will show through in the final product.

Creating a piece with your artist is a collaborative effort and, although the artist is the one putting the heat to the wood, your input plays as significant a role in creating the best final product possible. Trust your artist but also trust yourself and you’ll create something beautiful together.  Do you have your own thoughts on what goes into making a great custom piece? Tag us @bz_furfur and let us know and, as always, stay unique.

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The B in BZ FurFur

Here at BZ FurFur HeadQuarters, there are two sides to the coin. The artist (Zona) and the man behind the curtain: Brian. Brian does not like the spotlight (he was not in favor of being the subject of this week’s blog), but I feel like he needs to be in the spotlight. He deserves my gratitude because truly, without him and his support, this little dream of mine would never have existed.

Brian wears several hats behind the scenes at BZ FurFur. There’s “The IT Guy”, creating all our digital content and our website bzfurfur.com.  Then there’s “The Wordsmith” helping me to write our blog posts and IG posts. I assist with ideas, and facts, and sometimes I write them, but he always goes through and does the final edits. Sometimes he’ll simply ask me questions, note down my answers, and then turn them into a blog post. Lastly, there is “The Executive Producer” of PyroToasty Talks, the podcast we started with It’s David and Renee earlier this year. (Subscribe on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Episode 003 releases on Wednesday, June 12 to hear about how BZ FurFur got their start. Wink, wink, nudge, nudge).

The Person

Outside of BZ FurFur, he is an amazing person. His a full-time job, a Senior Software Engineer, has his days filled with writing code, debugging, working with his teammates, and problem-solving. This is the culmination of a career that has spanned over 20 years, steadily growing after receiving his B.S. in Computer Science from NYU back in 2003. His next scholastic ambition is to get his Master’s with a dual concentration in Information Security and Software Engineering from UNCC. 

Brian is a self-proclaimed “nerd” with a love of board games, 8-bit animation and music. In his free time he likes to create pixel art (he’s pretty good at it), play guitar, and draw. He also has a good heart and volunteers every chance he gets by helping non-profit companies with their websites and other IT-related things.

The Dad

If you asked him what his greatest achievement is, though, it would be being a father. We have two teenage boys 16 and 14, who are a full-time job all on their own. Raising them has had it’s share of ups and downs and busy weekends. Brian is a leader in the Boy Scouts and has been since they were cubs, and his love of nature, self-reliance, and perseverance serve as an inspiration to the boys. Over the years he’s taken them on many adventures: Climbing and repelling, camping, hiking, kayaking, horseback riding, and countless other excursions. His favorite memory is taking them to Battleship Cove in Falls River, MA where they stayed overnight on a WWII-era battleship in the same quarters that the crew stayed in when it was deployed. 

A huge part of his life is his strong connection to music, always going to concerts, and teaching himself both guitar and piano. This love of music has been passed on to the boys, one who’s developed a love for musicals, the other loves everything from Hip hop to Classic Rock. When I asked Brian what he felt the best part of being a Dad is he said: “Knowing that in no small way, you have been able to shape someone’s life in a meaningful way”.

To all the dads, the granddads, the uncles, the big brothers, the stepdads, and the father figures who make teach us, praise us, and push us to be the best we can, thank you. Thank you to my dad, God rest his soul, for teaching me to be the person I am today. Happy Fathers Day to you all. 

Do you have a special man in your life you want to share a story about? Tag us @bz_furfur and, of course, stay unique.

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