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!