Sun-burned Art
(Page 2 of 3)
July/August 1979
By the Mother Earth News editors
And that's it. You'll soon burn in your complete penciled pattern and have a beautiful, "natural-looking" work of art. The attractive design will combine the rough and rustic quality of a broad, sunburned line (close detail work is pretty much impossible) with whatever interesting form you've chosen to depict. Then you can put a couple of coats of varnish on top of your project, to help the finished piece endure and to prevent carbon smearing. ( You may also wish to accent one or two areas of your graphic art with some colorful enamel paint.) By the time you finish your first scene . . . a new sun-carving idea will no doubt have popped into your head, and you'll be eager to start in on your next piece!
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KNOT GOOD
One very nice feature of solar artwork is that the material you need-wood-is easy to obtain . . . because a lot of folks discard pieces which you'll be glad to use. Mr. Harless has often gotten permission to collect board scraps at construction sites, or bought inexpensive damaged wood sections from building suppliers. And-conveniently enough some of these lumber rejects can be turned into the most interesting sun-etched art objects of all. For instance, Jim always incorporates any "bothersome" wood knots he finds into his animal and plant designs.
ANYTIME THE SUN SHINES
Admittedly, solar woodburning is no rainy day pastime. However, the enjoyable enterprise is definitely not limited to the sizzlin' summer. Any sunny day-even in the dead of winter-packs plenty of wood-singeing wallop. Simply bundle up in warm clothes when the weather is chilly. Or better yet, if you have a raycatching south window in your home, just sit indoors and work in your shirt sleeves. Heck, Jim's even done woodburning in his car! (He did have to keep one window open for adequate ventilation, though.)
You don't have to "burn up"-along with your etching-during the "dog day" months, either. There's no reason why you can't wear a wide hat, set up an umbrella shield, or even sit in the shade yourself . . . so long as you hold your work in the sun.
MOTHER THROWS DOWN THE GLOVE
Well, that about sums up the simple-yet creative-art of sun etching. As you can see in the accompanying photos, Jim Harless turns out some mighty fine-looking objects ... yet (since solar woodburners can "sketch" as quickly as folks who use store-bought burning tools) each piece-from block to varnish-takes him no more than an hour. Yep, Jim's developed a beautiful, inexpensive hobby that gives him plenty of artistic challenge. And his quiet, soothing pastime has all the potential of evolving into an unusual, lucrative means of income as well.
