Sun-burned Art
Use a magnifying glass, the sun and a block of wood to make a woodburned design.
July/August 1979
By the Mother Earth News editors
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CLOCKWISE FROM UPPER RIGHT: Pencil a sketch on a light -colored piece of wood.. then-using a hand-held magnifying glass-focus the sun's rays on your outline.... Move the lens along, sun-burning your masterpiece.....And-with the addition of some varnish and perhaps enamel paint-your solar artwork will be complete.
PHOTOS BY JIM AND MELANIE HARLESS
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As more and more people realize that our planet's safest energy source is actually its nearest star, folks are beginning to use direct sun power to heat homes, distill fuel . . . and more. In fact, we recently learned that Jim Harless of Oak Ridge, Tennessee has developed an ingenious method of putting the clean "celestial" energy to work. Jim's clever idea has provided him with hundreds of hours of soothing, creative recreation. Yet we here at MOTHER can't help but think (without in any way meaning to criticize J.H.'s hobby-time habit) that the Tennessean's brainstorm could also be expanded into a nonstrenuous, profitable home business!
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And exactly what is this "hot off the fire" potential pocket-stuffer? Why, it's the fine craft of solar woodburning!
Jim's been carving art objects with sun power for over a year now . . . and his "natural" etching has turned out to be the most relaxing and expressive craft he's ever tried. Mr. Harless has found solar woodburning to be so pleasurable an activity-for its own sake that he's just beginning to realize he can turn a nice profit by selling his artwork! (Some of his sun-burned scenes-which only took an hour to complete-have been snapped up for $8.00 apiece at various craft shows.)
Best of all, anyone can afford to try his or her hand at this solar-age art idea (for fun and/or for money!) because the Volunteer Stater's imaginative pastime requires absolutely no significant investment. Jim's entire "equipment set" consists of odds and ends of light-colored wood, a can of varnish, a soft lead pencil, a pair of polarized sunglasses . . . and an inexpensive hand-held magnifying glass!
HOW SOLAR WOODBURNING WORKS
As Jim describes it, the process of sun etching is simplicity itself. Just find yourself a sunny location . . . possibly some area where you can copy an attractive natural subject. Then sketch the outlines of your artwork-in pencil-on a block of lumber (the "canvas" needs to be one of the paler woods, like pine or fir . . . so your dark etching lines will stand out by contrast), put on your eye-protecting sunglasses, and hold a three- to four-inch-diameter enlargin' lens above your wood piece so that all the sun's rays which pass through the glass disc get focused on one part of your sketch. Before long, a faint trail of smoke will begin to rise . . . as the concentrated beams burn a smoldering "dent" in your wood block. When that pinpointed spot has been "carved" as deeply as you wish . . . simply move the lens slightly to "groove" more of your sketched-in line.
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