For Emily

The Classic Wood-burned Blanket Chest (front)

This panel, like the hundreds that preceded it, fits like a favorite pair of jeans for me. Measuring 18" x 36", it and a handful of its sister pieces will become the front panels of blanket chests within the coming weeks. I will revisit these chests and post their pictures once they are completed. I have been involved in building these chests, almost consistently, since April of 1990. Nowadays my buddy, Farmer Dave, is building my old chests, leaving me to focus on the pyrography. It is a convenient relationship. That Dave builds these chests better than I used to would be a matter of some chagrin were it not for the fact that he's such a talented craftsman that it would be siliness for me to feel anything but immensely pleased.

I've decided to share this panel while "in the raw" as I feel it well illustrates a point I've touched on in my last couple posts, that of woodgrains and wood-burning. As with the Sleeping Fawn, you'll notice that the grain announces itself rather prominently through the finished burn. This panel is made of a fairly densely-grained pine. While pine generally burns very well, often the grain likes to act fussy. This is especially evident in the background trees and foliage and how they have a rather striped aspect. In the end result, I feel this is of little consequence.

We are working with wood. Rather than canvas or paper, our images rarely obliterate the surface beneath. The wood always manages to assert itself. With this in mind, a pyrographer always recognizes that his vision must coexist and balance with its underlying surface.

We are always looking for that harmonious relationship. Seeking and achieving it is often what helps fuel our love for the craft.

Woodland Morn, Sleeping Fawn

"Woodland Morn, Sleeping Fawn"

Scott Antworth, 2009

18" x 18"

Marilyn

"Marilyn"

Scott Antworth, 2009

(based on Ballerina, Milton H. Greene, 1954)

24" x 30" *


*These dimensions are not final as this piece remains to be framed. It will likely be framed in oak.

Pyrography and the Art of Painting with Fire

Since the Stone Age, men have been using flame and heated tools to ornament the corners of their lives. Thousands of years later, fully evolved into a crafter's hobby, it remains a somewhat obscure art form. I stumbled into pyrography accidentally some years back, whilst doing the grunt work for a fellow woodworker. He opened his locker, waved at the dizzying array of tools and equipment and asked if I recognized any of it. "That," I said, pointing to a standard Hot Tool. My father had kept such a burner in a kitchen cabinet for branding certain items for personal identification. At the time, it was all I knew of woodworking tools.

I found myself immediately fascinated by the possibilities of creating art with wood and hot metal. More than two decades on, I find myself still a student. The wood will always be our teacher. It tells us what it wants to be and guides us to that end.

It is now the end of August and if for no other reason, I'm launching this blog to chronicle the process me and my longtime road-dawg, Farmer Dave, will be experiencing as we prepare for our first formal craft shows this fall. Dave and I have been selling our crafts for years through such places as Wood To Goods in York, ME (!!!), though this fall marks a new phase for us.

We invite you to share our journey.


Among the pieces coming out of the studio right now...

Franco-American Woodcarver

The Smith




Dark Harbor Fishermen (from N.C. Wyeth, 1943)