Today I want to tell you a little about the ‘other’ side of my business, the wood burning, non-yarny side.
In May last year I accompanied my wife up Snowdon Mountain Railway with a number of pupils from her school and their families. It was a great adventure, despite the cloud being so dense that we couldn’t see anything from the top. When we got back down to Llanberis we had a wander around and, as there was a triathlon happening on the same day, ended up in a small area with seating and a few shops near the slate museum to have our lunch. One of the shops sold lovely wooden items that had been decorated with pyrography. We bought a train whistle and pin cushion. Sue expressed the belief that she could do that and would like to have a go.
On return home we looked into getting a pyrography machine and some wooden ‘blanks’ to experiment with. We both had a go and I seemed to have the steadier hand and the patience for it. I burned some coasters for the families who travelled up Snowdon with us, celebrating our journey and some other items followed.
This led to some knitting related wooden treats that I sold at the Pop-Up Shop and craft fairs I attended, and, inevitably, some Christmas themed ones too. Christmas is coming once more, whether we are allowed to travel to be with our families or not, and I have added a wider range of Christmas themed gifts to my website and Payhip shop. They are all only £3 each and can all be customised/ personalised/ made completely bespoke for only £1 extra, plus postage.
I burn everything by hand, completely freehand. There are no stencils, prints or lasers involved. This does mean that there is variation in each item and a little irregularity on occasion, but they are truly hand decorated. Some of them are knitting-themed, some are not; the bonus of this is that you can support a small business whether or not you are, or know, a knitter! Go on, have a look. Make a one-woman business do a little happy dance. It is my birthday.