Finding a Passion

When I decided I was going to start a business I knew it was going to be selling one of my many crafts. I had recently discovered Pyrography and really began to experiment with it. There was something about it that really spoke to me. I got to work armed with nothing but a trusty Walnut Hollow Creative Versatool I purchased decades ago. It was a piece of work. They hadn’t yet added temperature gauges and the tip was a solid nib burner (i.e. a solid piece of brass that has to be screwed in).

So I decided on the medium but now I needed to determine what to make and sell. Coasters are small and relatively easy to make. Drawing from our passion for board games my first collection was Classic Board Games: Checkers, Chinese Checkers, Backgammon, and Monopoly (before you say anything, yes, I have been made aware that the general consensus is that Monopoly is THE WORST). These were great but I wanted to challenge myself. Going to Brian, our resident boardgame guru, suggested coasters based on a tile-laying game where you create a French Medieval City. I asked him to choose the 4 best tiles from that game and those are now our best seller.

Expanding horizons

Brian always gives me many ideas and challenges me. Often times this is by suggesting the things that he, himself, would buy. Given the success of our board game coasters, he suggested a set of Lord of The Rings coasters depicting the map of Middle Earth. He found a map and helped me create the templates. We cleaned up, resized, and cut the map into smaller bits to fit on the coasters and it turned out fantastic. So what was the next, logical step? Burn the entire map of Middle Earth for Brian as a gift.

I started on the piece months ago working on it a little at a time. I would bring it on location to markets as a way to show people what pyrography is. Creating at markets is always fascinating. People love to stop, watch, and ask questions. 

Going Big

As you can probably guess we buy our fair share of board games to play together or with our friends. There is a local place, Your Local Game Store, in Charlotte where we usually pick up our games for our collection. It’s a nice little spot with a good selection of games and knowledgeable staff. It’s a nice atmosphere, and they even have nights where they teach games. 

As you can guess they have plenty of fantasy decor on the walls; posters, models of dragons above the doors, and even a painting of a dragon inside of one of the game rooms. We reached out to the to see if they would showcase one of my pieces on their walls, and they said YES!

I’ll be doing another map of middle earth only this time much larger. I have never done a piece this large, but I love a good challenge. You should never stop growing out of your comfort zone. The piece I am making is 24” high and 36” wide. I am using a solid piece of Sycamore a little over an inch thick for this piece.

I started it today and I can’t wait to update everyone on my progress!

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For the uninitiated, Game of Thrones centers around the Iron Throne. Whoever sits on the throne commands the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros and Essos. The Seven Kingdoms are overseen by noble houses, some of which claim rightful ownership of the throne while others fight for independence from the throne. Throw in an exiled scion thirsty for what they believe is rightfully theirs and a neverending winter fueled with undead and you have what became a story of intrigue, betrayal, coming of age, torture, revenge, and insanity.

The show ran for 8 seasons, to much acclaim, with the final season causing much uproar among fans of the show from season 1. 

What makes Game of Thrones so special is Martin’s ability to world-build. He created an entire kingdom with history, mythology, and conflict. This is similar to what makes many fantasy authors such as Tolkien and Herbert great. You feel immersed in the world. What better way to pay homage to the series than to create a custom, wood-burned image of the map of the known world in 11×16 piece of live edge maple. We made sure to include all the areas of interest calling special attention to the territories that the customer loved the most.

Pieces like this are why I started my business. Creating something that is beautiful, tactile, and something that will be loved for years. Hopefully, we’ll have many more commissions like this to come.

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