Shou Sugi Ban: Japanese Wood Burning Technique

Shou Sugi Ban is a simple, beautiful wood burning technique designed to naturally preserved wood and historically used in Japan for wood siding. 

Wood begins raw, as with the in-progress rings below:

Then you apply flame with a torch, clean and sand the wood as desired, and treat it with linseed oil. I like to use lacquer, sometimes, too, to seal the ring and reduce the lovely but agressive burnt-wood smell. 

Here's a before-and-after:

And the final product:

I like using Shou Sugi Ban because it's a natural finish, and one that mimics the self-preservation of a tree in a forest fire: it's the last line of defense, and the particular way the wood burns creates a barrier between the flames and green, live wood. 

It's this kind of natural strength I like to honor in my work, through my materials and processing, whenever I can. 

This particular ring is part of the AD IDEM series. 

Want to translate this technique into a home project? Check out this Apartment Therapy tutorial!

Planning for the American Craft Exposition (ACE) 2014

I love the American Craft Exposition, because it gives me a local opportunity to connect with artists from all over the country. So much of a show is talking to other artists, getting ideas, feeling dynamic.

And the ACE show is also awesome, because proceeds support breast and ovarian cancer research and care at the NorthShore University HealthSystem. And doing anything to contribute to support a cause like that feels really important.

Though the show isn't for another few weeks -- August 22 to 24 -- I'm already preparing for what's sure to be a great event: updating the catalog, making new statement pieces, and hauling out the display gear.

Below, find some shot of in-progress work. Then, come visit me at ACE to see the finished product!

The details:

American Craft Exposition
Open to the Public

August 22 to 24, 2014

The Henry Crown Sports Pavilion Northwestern University
2311 N. Campus Drive, Evanston, IL 60208

Head to the site to purchase entry tickets. 

raw materials for the AD IDEM series

AD IDEM rings waiting to be worked

the edges removed to make the Oval Cuff
become a statement necklace in-progress

#TBT

Here's an older shot from back in the day when I was doing puzzle-inspired organic-shaped necklaces. I would create lines using my iPad and then lay the design on a grid, sectioning them and then using those section as a guide for my wood cuts.

Looking at it makes me think that I may go back and pick up that project again in the future. Art practice is constantly evolving, but it's always fun and useful to know where you've been and where you're going.

New AD IDEM Rings: Installment #3 - BURL Edition

Sometimes a tree grows in the regular way. And sometimes it grows a burl. For the most part, it happens in response to some kind of trauma: the tree's cells divide in a wild manner, making beautiful aberrations. Like humans, trees can emerge stronger after the slights of the world.

These new AD IDEM rings feature slices of burl: let's always have room in our lives to honor the special, the weird, the unexpected. As artmakers and as people we must open up to the world's possibilities!

New AD IDEM Rings: Installment #2

The oak tree stands
noble on the hill even in
cherry blossom time

(a haiku by Basho)

All AD IDEM, all the time, as of late. These three one-of-a-kind rings are made of hickory--the remnants of bent wood from my bracelets--inlaid with purpleheart and rosewood. 

These rings honor the joining, the ethics and honesty of woodworking. I look to the tradition of Japanese joinery, particularly: elements measured, cut, planed, and sanded in a precise manner. Here I'm celebrating the idea of this elegant function as minimalist adornment. 

New AD IDEM Rings: Installment #1

Lately in the studio I've been focusing on these one-of-a-kind AD IDEM rings, which incorporate the hand worked scrap of Norm Sartorius, who sends me boxes of same from time to time.

These rings rely on the idea of Norm's mark-making, of connecting our practices and honoring the material and the hand that makes the marks. 

Joan Didion said something surprisingly relevant:

"Writing nonfiction is more like sculpture, a matter of shaping the research into the finished thing. Novels are like paintings, specifically watercolors. Every stroke you put down you have to go with. Of course you can rewrite, but the original strokes are still there in the texture of the thing."

We are all makers, together, negotiating the physical world with the grandness of the abstract in tow...

MORE FRESH WORK: FUMED OAK BROOCH

Here's another new one-of-a-kind brooch.

It feels very Richard Serra or Robert Smithson: something about its curves feel "large scale" though it's only about 4" across.

Sometimes the bent wood, processed but still very much "of" the earth, takes on the quality of a sweeping landscape--the kind you could spend a whole day walking across.

I'm not sure exactly why that is. However, as Smithson himself wrote: "Establish enigmas, not explanations."

Personally, I like both. 

Just like a landscape, the curves seem to shift as you change your vantage. 

Want to see more of my work? Check out my gallery, or the Facebook account.

FRESH WORK: Hickory, Shed Antler & Silver Brooch

Getting back into the studio has been exhilarating. I've been working on some one-of-a-kind pieces for galleries, and some new rings for the upcoming American Craft Exposition show, which is open to the public August 22 to 24.

This brooch is rich and bleak, a Cormac Mccarthy of a brooch, warm wood colliding with the memory of a great beast, set in a brushed silver and sculptural as all get out.

More new work will be posted in the coming week! If you're interested in your own one-of-a-kind piece, visit the shop, or contact me.