I brought my woodburning stuff to Sirius Rising, in the hopes of being able to do woodburning in the woods, surrounded by nature, maybe in a campsite surrounded by trees with a cool breeze blowing.  It was a great idea.

So here’s what I learned.

-First off, all the sites that had electricity that were still available were not in the woods, so I was in an open area.

-Second, when a cool breeze blows on a hot burner, it cools it off, so suddenly the burn is no longer consistent.

I was able to burn indoors, and that was nice, but I didn’t go camping to spend my time indoors.  So as a result, not much burning got done.

I have to finish varnishing the surprise project so I can send it out.  When I get paid I will ALMOST have broken even for my expenses for the work.  However, considering that I started this whole thing in February, and it’s going to be August 1st tomorrow, I think I’m okay with that.  Most people don’t break even at all for their first year, and to do so in the first six months is pretty good.  Of course, I produce much slower than other some other businesses, as the art takes time.  I just have to accept it for what it is.

Meanwhile, the Sekhmet box is taking more shape.  Speaking of which, let me get back to design work on that.  I’ve also been asked to make a divination/scrying board for stone throwing.  I’m VERY excited about that…there’s so many ideas I have!  Can’t wait to get on that!

I’m off to a lovely festival called Sirius Rising next week.  I’m trying to arrange to get a campsite with electricity so that I can do burning there.  It’s going to be awesome, if I can.

In addition to the large chest, which I’m working on lid designs for right now, there’s also a new project.  I have a friend who is trying to get back in touch with her witchyness, but who is having trouble with that.  She’s a crafter, and makes miniature jewelry of food…tiny little salads, mocha lattes, sushi (with little rice grains!), she’s really amazing and works these teeny little works of art.  As we were talking, we came up with the idea of a miniature altar, so she could make these tiny little tools for it, and gradually let magick back into her life in a way that she could cover up and put away if she needed to, or put on display if she wanted, or take with her.

I’m picturing a lovely little box in mind for her, something around 4 x 7 with a height of about 3 or 4 inches, but I have to find it.  I’m going to decorate the fuck out of that thing.  lol!  I thought I had it in the house, but apparently I do not.  I have some other items that would work, a good square one which would lend itself very well to a balanced elemental theme, so that might actually be better.  I have to think about it some more.

The surprise box is almost done.  I’ve tested a new technique just to be sure.  I drew a circle with a line through it in varnish on some wood, waited for it to (mostly) dry (because I’m impatient) and then painted the whole thing with cherry varnish and wiped it down with a paper towel.  It came out looking like this:

As you can see, the circle with the line didn’t stain very much, but it DID stain a little, so when I work on the real image, I’m still going to have to be careful with my staining brush.  It just won’t be disaster if something overlaps.

The burn above it is testing how a cloudy burn takes stain.  I have a cherry stain and a golden oak stain on it, and it did, indeed, stain the burn.  I thought it might not, because sometimes the burn seals the capillaries in the wood a little.  Either way, it looks okay.

I’ve done two or three layers of thick varnish on the inside of the surprise box, (You lose track after a while and just go by how it feels when it’s dry) and I’m ready to start the outside.  I really wish I could show you, it’s gorgeous.

Meanwhile, back to work on Sekhmet!