New pyrography work and a tribute

It's been a while since our last post, however we have been quite the busy couple! Not much is new on the carving side, but quite a few novelties on the wood burning side, and a beautiful tribute to a dear friend. Check it out!

First, let us give you an update on Pedro's tendinitis... It's better but not good! Pedro's tendinitis has evolved into something that we can't know what it is until he makes another exam, that is scheduled for early September! Until then, he'll try to carve just enough to feed the habit, but just a little at a time since the pain and numbness get really bad!

The wood burning on the Mandala Box is finished! We think it turned out very good, but we'd also like to know what you think. It's Pedro's turn to take it and work on it some more. It will have some cool features inside and it will be varnished on the outside.

Even before we finished the pyrography on the Mandala Box, we received an order for an Om and Lotus Flower Hair Fork, which we completed and sent and hopefully will be received by the customer very soon.

As you probably know by now, Pedro is a Firefighter at Lisbon International Airport. His Chief has just retired and Pedro made this box from scratch to carry the Chief’s Service Sheet. We brainstormed the design and Cris woodburned the Lisbon Firefighter’s Coat of Arms, the Chief’s name in a beautiful font, and a text honoring and thanking him for the 34 years of exceptional service and dedication. It was with great pleasure that we made this heartfelt piece to honor a great man, an amazing human being, a natural leader and a true friend! 

 

We also made a new wall clock, but we'll leave that to the next post!

See you soon!

Tendinitis and a Work In Progress

Hello there!

We believe everybody is creative, in one way or another, however some people pursue that creativity much more than other, and those are the ones usually regarded as "creative". There's this quote found all over the web that we love:

 "Being creative is not a hobby it is a way of life". We find this to be very true for us! It is exactly how we think. We are naturally creative, we have this need, this urge to make things, to use our hands and to be creative. Anything can trigger this: a sound, a smell, a picture, a movie or a tv show, something we see on the street or on a garden... 

Anything and everything can get the creative juices flowing and our mind starts racing with ideas and designs and things-to-do and we have to write it down or sketch it before it vanishes in the mists of memory. Sometimes, we even stop whatever we were doing and start working on the new idea. We have to! It's right there!

However, life has a way of stopping us on our tracks, sometimes, and that is just what happened to us this week... 

As you know, Pedro does all the carving and Cris does the wood burning. It's been a while since Pedro started experiencing some pain in his right hand when carving. We though it could be attributed to the long hours of carving, or to the fact that he had been carving hard woods more often, but with time it became more evident that something was not right. We decided we needed further advice and Pedro went to the doctor. It turns out he has a severe tendinitis on the thumb of his right hand. This is the finger that pushes the knife through the wood and the one with the hardest work. By doctor's orders he should not carve, he must not carve. Heck! That hand should be in full rest for a complete and as-speedy-as-possible recovery!

So... Pedro will try to stop those creative juices from taking over and he'll rest that pretty hand of his, or else!... Cris will nag him until he does! 

LOL

In the meantime, Cris has started woodburning a new box. She has been strongly attracted by mandalas, finding them both beautiful and mesmerizing. Mandalas are timeless masterpieces, very rich with tradition and symbolism. Each mandala is unique and incredibly versatile since they convey different meanings, depending only of the creator and the observer.

It has been a while since Cris wanted to wood burn a mandala and now the opportunity presented itself. This box measures roughly 8 inches (20 cm) wide, by 4 inches (10 cm) tall. We started working on it several nights ago, but the pyrography work it self only started last night. Here are some photos of the work in progress:

This photo was taken just after transferring the design onto the wood.

Here's the first teaser photo we published on Facebook.

"Let the wood burning begin!"

After two and a half hours of work we decided it was time to go to sleep... This is how it looked then.

We're looking forward to keep working on this box. Follow each step of the way as it happens on Facebook, as it it much easier to post there on the go, than here! ;)