This is a really cool idea!
I was contacted a few days ago by a local Portland dad who was looking for a pyrographer who could burn the first names and year of his son and daughter-in-law-to-be’s wedding with a little leaf-work around the edges onto a large (36.5″L x 17.5W x 2″H), natural-edge cedar plank they had purchased. And what are the groom and bride-to-be going to do with this plank? They plan to use it as a Guest Book, of sorts, for their wedding attendees to sign in Sharpie! Isn’t that an AWESOME idea? I’d never heard of anyone doing something like this before! They then want to hang the piece on a wall or place it on a mantel as decor/art in their new home.
Of course, I told Kevin (the dad) I’d be more than happy to do this work for them! He emailed me the original artwork created by the couple themselves and I worked out an initial estimate based on the approximate length of time I figured it would take me to complete the piece.
Yesterday Kevin and his wife, Teresa, stopped over with the wood and we had a great visit! We talked about placement, size, and I also asked him about how he wanted the piece finished. He mentioned he was planning to seal the surface with lacquer and I advised him that he might want to wait to do that until AFTER all of the signatures are on the piece in order to ensure the signatures adhere properly and permanently to the wood. Also, I mentioned I recommend using a spray-on lacquer rather than a brush-on type because…even though it’s permanent marking pen…you just never know for sure how the sealant might interact with the ink and they wouldn’t want to risk any smearing when applying with a brush.
I spent some time resizing the artwork and placing it on the wood this morning, followed by these photos I sent over to him for approval before I move forward with the actual art transfer to the surface of the wood.
I’m super excited about this piece and especially about the concept! I think it’s a great idea for this use, as well as potentially creating address markers with family name and address to prop against the front of a house or attach to a post in the front yard, etc. Lots of great possibilities here!
And the cedar smells GREAT…so it’s a real pleasure to work with!
More to come,
Tracy