“Great things are done by a series of small things brought together.” Vincent Van Gogh

As a pyrographer rarely, if ever, do I sit down and start burning a piece without a fair bit of planning. Save the occasional cork trivet or incense holder I will generally follow a pretty meticulous process in order to create. This helps ensure I am working with the right materials to create my vision, reduces the risk of mistakes, keep a clear head while I am working, prevents wasting precious, potentially one of kind, materials and results in the best possible end product I can deliver. 

Why Plan the Art

As an artist you are going to often have deadlines you are going to need to meet. This may be for an upcoming art show, for a commission you took for a customer, or to simply get pieces ready for an upcoming market. Whatever the reason you will often find yourself worrying if you have enough time to finish the piece. Or, you may leave yourself enough time, but you spend too much time working on one component and don’t leave yourself ample time for the remainder. Then, in the worst case scenario, you end up missing the deadline for your show or not delivering to your customer on an agreed upon date.

So, like most things in life, it helps to start planning every project in advance. This series is going to serve as an outline of what you need to do to create a refined piece of pyrography. I’ll explain, in detail, everything from selecting the wood to hanging it on the wall. Then you can work your way backwards from the date you have set for when you project needs to be complete, and figure out how much time you can alot to each of these steps and ensure that you give yourself ample time to create.

Trust the Process

I am very particular when it comes to my process for creating. I need to have all my ducks in a row before I start burning. In this series I am going to go through an outline of how I plan my art:

1. Sourcing and prepping the wood: If you are going to create a beautiful piece of art you have to start with a beautiful canvas. In this section we’ll be looking at places to source wood from. We’ll talk about the advantages of sourcing raw lumber versus finished wood. Finally, we’ll go through the process of prepping the wood if you decide to go with something that is unfinished.
2. Patterning: Before starting my burns I always like to have my pattern ready beforehand so that I don’t risk mistakes free handing the design. This means creating the pattern and then transferring it onto the wood. In this part we’ll go through several approaches to this.
3. Burning & finishing touches: Here we’ll talk about some of the techniques for burning, giving texture, and fixing mistakes along  the way. We’ll also take a look at things you can do to take your art one step further using paints as well as other unique adornments
4. Sealing and framing: Finally, in this last part, we’ll take a look at how to seal your work. We’ll discuss what factors should go into selecting the appropriate sealant. We’ll also go over hardware to hang your pieces and methods for framing your piece.

The First Step

Next week we are going to take the first step into creating our art: Sourcing and prepping the wood. I am currently working on a fairly substantial piece for a show and it requires a good deal of planning because of all the moving parts. This will be my inspiration for this series. If you have steps to how you create that you would like to share be sure to do so and tag @bz_furfur and, as always, stay unique.

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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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