The Iron Rosette I

This rosette design is the first of a paired study in opposites from the Fire+Steel collection. A many-layered ranunculus unfurls across a birch panel, surrounded by an intricate border of leaves and smaller blooms. Here, the flower and foliage are built from richly burned positive forms against the pale birch, giving the piece the character of an old woodcut or carved botanical print. A handcrafted steel surround completes the work, bringing the warmth and organic detail of the burned wood into contrast with the strength and simplicity of blackened metal.

Original hand-burned pyrography on birch
with handcrafted steel surround

PICTURED PIECE
Dimensions: 19 × 25 x 1 inches (W x H x D)
Weight: 5 lbs
Burn time: 20 hours

Limited handmade edition of 10
Please allow 4-6 weeks for your piece to be created.

$650
Complimentary shipping within contiguous U.S. included

Ready to hang
Finished with securely attached hanging wire.

Purchase

⚜️ UNDERSTORY: The idea for Fire+Steel began with my gouache paintings. I found myself wondering what some of those same designs would look like translated into woodburning — stripped of color and rendered instead through fire, texture, and the natural warmth of wood.

Then came a familiar dilemma: should I burn the design itself, or the space around it? Unable to choose, I decided to do both.

My original plan was to mount the finished birch panels simply, without frames. But something never felt quite right. They lacked the presence of my woodburns made on natural slabs, and for several weeks I kept turning the problem over in my mind without finding the answer.

Then one evening, while washing dishes, I happened to glance at a set of forged steel brackets I had bought for a floating shelf. And suddenly I could see it: A dark, handforged steel surround would give the pale birch exactly the weight and structure it needed. Better yet, my husband already had a welder, grinders, a vise, and most of the other bits and bobs required to make the idea possible.

It took several more weeks to work out the details, including finding a local source for the steel I had envisioned. But when the first piece finally came together, it exceeded what I had imagined.

The result felt like a natural marriage of three wonderfully primal materials: wood, fire, and steel — each leaving its own unmistakable mark on the finished work.

Closeup of the handcrafted steel surround on The Iron Rosette I

Closeup of The Iron Rosette I showing the dark burned flower petals, fine repetitive marks, and pale birch lines between the forms.

The Iron Rosette I displayed above a sofa, showing the scale and presence of the birch woodburn and dark steel surround in a living room.

Each woodburn is created entirely by hand using a fine-tipped burning pen. In Ranunculus I, the flower and foliage themselves are burned, building the image through thousands of small marks and allowing the pale birch to form the spaces between them. Pattern, texture, and the natural grain of the wood become part of the finished design.

In my Fire+Steel pieces, the woodburned birch panel is paired with a steel surround made by hand in our workshop. The steel is cut, welded, ground, and finished to create a dark, substantial border around the pale wood. Rather than simply framing the artwork, the surround becomes part of it — bringing together the elemental character of wood, fire, and steel.

All artwork prices include complimentary shipping within the contiguous U.S.

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