Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Going Pro.

Most of you will know that I don't mean Professional in the horse world. Or competitive sport world. I mean in the "Pyrography" business. Pyro...what? Wood burning. Specifically, custom woodburned stall signs.

Shortly after moving to W's barn I discovered that there's a real appeal for custom stall plaques and my style of woodburning had some appeal out there. I imagined that I might be able to make a couple extra dollars to fund Moon's show career while meeting more fellow horse-folks. Plus, it meant trips to tack stores and horse barns to promote my goods. Really, seems pretty win-win.


I've been working hard to keep up with my current demand, which I hope doesn't even begin to tap into the market. I had quite a few orders on tap, until the most unfortunate thing happened...my ancient spare woodburner kicked the bucket, only two weeks after my new (as in burned less then 5 signs) woodburner died on me. These are non-repairable devices, meaning I was suddenly toolless.

With a couple of large orders due for Christmas, I knew I needed to buy a replacement and FAST. The BF watched me scour online for the best deal hoping for something that would last a little longer. Replacing these things sure cuts into our show fund.

Longer story shorter, he comes upstairs and hands me one of my Christmas presents early. A PROFESSIONAL woodburning kit. This thing is amazing. Replaceable pens (of which there's over 600 styles), dual pen capabilities (just flip a switch), heats up crazy fast, way more comfortable to use...

I'm in love. I really enjoy woodburning, but it's always been a bit of a painful experience. The tools get really hot, my neck and shoulders get a cramp from how hard you have to press at times, you're waiting often for the tool to reheat and you can't do really precise detail due to the design of the pens.

Until now. Gone are the days of thick block text and bulky silhouettes. We're talking ART now.

Yesterday, cold or no cold (which I believe has finally broke and I'm just in the wonderful draining stage, ew, gross), I tried for the first time to actually sketch a horse and burn it with detail. Give me some leeway here. I haven't actually sketched a horse like this in YEARS, I did it quickly and I'm brand new to the woodburner. My shading needs work, but for a first go, it could've been worse...

("Tumbleweed", the beautiful mare at the barn who's up for adoption...thought if it's not too ugly of a woodburn, I'd give it to her old owners as a momento)

Anyway, with our new capabilities, we're officially PROFESSIONALLY in business. I'm booked solid till Christmas, but tell your horse friends that January orders can be placed! I wanna have some more fun creating more unique, detailed and creative signs (though I'll be holding off on the custom photo-based ones until I've master it!). This is truly the best horse-related non-riding thing I can think of!

Remember, it all goes straight to Moon'er and getting him into that show ring. He deserves to show off the star that he is!

11"x7" signs are just $35 (wood supplier raised prices on me, but I haven't the heart yet to raise prices!), and can be shipped anywhere (CanadaPost is saying $12 within Canada...and $10 if you're in the USA...huh?!).

(blurred owner's last name in this example)

Examples can be found on my little webpage: www.wix.com/royal_alexia/canteringcustoms

And please pardon my shameless self-promotion of a business on MoonSox's blog. : ) We all know he'd rather I didn't sell any and instead of showing, he gets to spend the summer with his friends, grazing and getting fat again. : P

Tomorrow, I should be back out to visit with him, and hopefully we get a ride in this weekend. : ) I miss my boy!

9 comments:

  1. I might possibly put an order in for Orion later. These sound awesome, and while he doesn't technically have a stall, I would love to have one for someday when he actually does. :)

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  2. Your signs are so gorgeous!! If only my pony had a stall that I could hang on one. She's only in a stall during the day and lives outside the rest of the time. Still, I'm going to put one of your signs on my Christmas list. I can always hang it over my desk...

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  3. I love them! I may be ordering one eventually :) I saw the link to your website yesterday, so I've already checked them out!

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  4. These are so beautiful! I may be ordering one soon! They would make great Christmas gifts for barn friends!

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  5. I will definitely be ordering one soon! Beautiful!

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  6. They're beautiful!! Lilly's stall front is metal, but I'm trying to think of a way to hang one for her... maybe above the door on the beam? :)

    (this is in2paints... can't comment again for some reason. BOO!)

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  7. Your BF is too sweet. What a great guy! Your signs are absolutely beautiful, Sand. Have you thought about hocking your wares on Etsy? It's quite a large art community and it seems like horse-related items (bridle tags, braided browbands, etc.) are quickly growing in popularity.

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  8. You are definitely extremely talented. We just started getting into pyrography and wood burning a few months ago after making wood burned signs for our own wedding. Question: Where did you get your professional wood burning kit? It looks way cool.

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  9. Thanks guys! : ) I'm really glad you think they're attractive and I can't wait to burn some more!

    And WoodBurnd, it's a "Razertip" and you can purchase them from a place in Saskatchewan. I'm sure google can help with their contact info (the BF purchased it for me, so I'm a little out of the loop).

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