MEET: Si Easton of Wood Tattoos

Today we are catching up with the very talented Si Easton of Wood Tattoos.  It sounds intriguing, and here in this in depth interview Si tells us more about the origins of this ancient art, his passion for the craft and his book Wood Burning with Style .........

Ornate Trinket Box

Tell me more about the background of Pyrography…

Pyrography literally means “writing with fire” and dates back hundreds of years. It is also often called wood burning or poker work, the latter due to the metal pokers used in Victorian times which were heated to use as drawing tools. Modern electric pyrography machines allow more controlled results, as well as the availability of shaped metal nibs to create a wide range of marks and lines. Using pyrography to decorate a wooden surface has always reminded me of the way that we adorn our own skin using tattoos, hence the name of my crafts business, Wood Tattoos.

What inspires you?
My main passion and inspiration is the use of texture and pattern. I enjoy making items that make people want to hold or touch them. My creations have always used such embellishment or decoration, right back to my work on my degree in Three-Dimensional Design. I'm inspired by the textures and patterns that occur naturally around us, whether this is through the random arrangement of items on a shelf or through the close examination of a natural surface. Many of my designs use patterns based on microscopic studies of natural surfaces such as coral, plant cells or fingerprints. I also enjoy using both traditional and alternative symbols or patterns, such as Celtic knotwork and tribal tattoo designs.

Symbolic Plate

Describe your typical working day….
I create my pyrography in my spare time. I started wood burning as a hobby back in 2007 to give me a creative outlet when not working at my 'day job'. I joined a craft forum to get information and advice on general issues: before I knew it, I had a website displaying my work and was selling both online and at craft fairs. As a result, I don't have a structured 'working day' but I tend to use any spare crafting time updating my websites and promoting my work on-line, liaising with customers by email to develop commission designs, developing other products to sell and physically working with my pyrography equipment to create the finished articles. I've said it before and I'm sure many crafters would agree... we all need a 37-hour day to fit in what we need to do!

Autumnal Bangle

Do you have a favourite piece that you have created?
My favourite piece so far is definitely a large chessboard I made for a fellow crafter. I collaborated with a woodworker to create the board itself as a bespoke item to fit the specified requirements. It then involved nearly 30 hours of work including the planning, layout and burning of the final design which had an Oriental theme. The creation of the board was turned into a 6-page section for my pyrography book where I discussed the design process for larger pieces. The finished chessboard was a joy to look at, and I am now planning to make my own chessboard to keep myself as the process was so enjoyable!

Chess Board

How did the idea for the book come about?
The idea wasn't mine and came completely out of the blue one day! I received an email from an editor at Fox Chapel Publishing in 2008 stating that they had seen my work and liked my personal style of design. They asked if I would consider writing a book on pyrography: it's always been a personal ambition of mine so I was more than keen to get involved. After nearly two years of hard work and determination, I am extremely pleased with the finished result and hope that Wood Burning with Style will help many budding crafters learn the art of pyrography.

What are you working on just now?
I've been doing a lot of animal portraits recently which are very challenging but rewarding. It can be quite difficult to capture the personality of a pet from a photograph, but the finished result is always so well received once complete. I am also working on a range of decorative wooden bracelets, which I also featured in my book as a step-by-step project. I have also been working on a number of personalised wedding frames which are a popular item I am asked to make: the frame is decorated with the names of the happy couple, details of the big day and other designs which make the frame special to them.

Pet Portrait

Where do you see Wood Tattoos in the next 12 months?
I've got some other book ideas in the pipeline with Fox Chapel Publishing : I think I've been bitten by the writing bug! I would also like to just continue creating unique designs and gifts for customers : I feel that the current financial climate has made people more aware of how they spend their money and what they get for it. The appeal of handmade gifts is rising as people recognise that their money can buy something unique, personal and meaningful to mark an occasion such as a wedding, birthday or similar.

What is on your wish list?
My main wish is to keep making and selling items that mean something to the people that buy them. I also hope that my book inspires other people to take up this enjoyable craft and develop their own personal style of creative expression.

Describe yourself in three words…..
According to one recent book review in an American magazine, I'm “hip”, “modern” and “edgy”! I still can't resist using a tongue-in-cheek description that a friend used to describe pyrography though... “crayons for arsonists”. So perhaps the best three words to describe me would be “a crafty pyromaniac”!

To see Simon’s range of products visit:-

Wood Tattoos

Wood Tattoos Facebook Page

Wood Tattoos Flickr

Simon's book Woodburning with Style is available via his website or from Amazon

MEET: Paul of Free Range Designs

UK Handmade is pleased to introduce Paul Bullen of family run furniture business Free Range Designs. Paul uses recycled, reclaimed and ecologically sound materials to create gorgeous unique pieces of furniture. We caught up with Paul to find out more about him and the family business.

Can you tell us a bit about yourself and how you got started?
I am a South African born artist who found his way to furniture making by accident. At school I studied art instead of woodwork and have never had any formal woodworking training. After school I took Multi-Media studies in Cape Town, but was disappointed with the narrow remit of the course (no drawing, sculpting or dancing!) and ended up becoming a graphic designer by default.

I first started making rustic furniture with my older brother Nick over 12 years ago, when we were living together in Wilderness, South Africa and continued working with him, and my younger brother Tim, when we came over to the UK 9 years ago. I think my lack of formal training has helped me to view furniture making as an art form, and not as a learned craft only open to the professionally-trained and has encouraged me to experiment and take a novel approach to designing and making.

Driftwood Bed Frame

Driftwood Four Poster Bed

What is the ethos behind your work and why did you choose the name "free range designs"?
I take my inspiration from the natural world around me and believe in using only low impact, locally-sourced and sustainable materials. I strive to show the beauty of these materials through my furniture, allowing designs to be guided by the natural shape and form of the woods I use, and hope to encourage a respect for nature and engage people with environmentally friendly products. The name Free Range Designs symbolises my way of working, which is born of a desire to create without constraints and take a fresh approach to design and construction.

Slate Coffee Table

What kind of formal education, training or experience do you have that applies to what you do?
I have a degree in Multi-Mediai Studies from South Africa and have worked alongside design professionals in the UK, but my woodworking skills have been largely self- and family-taught, with a prevailing can-do attitude.

What inspired you to start making handmade furniture?
By brother Nick...he was the first furniture maker in the family: he inspired me and my younger brother Tim, and even my dad gets involved sometimes these days.

You have done an amazing commission for the Centre of Alternative Technology (CAT) in Wales, how did that come about?
CAT had a big revamp of its visitor display circuit about 5 years ago and I begged the Displays Designer to give me the chaise longue commission. The concept was a 'retail therapy couch' which was to question the idea that spending money makes you happy. It was part of a new Waste and Recycling display at CAT, challenging people to reduce their consumption and questioning the role shopping plays in terms of our well-being. The chaise longue was the first woodworking commission I did alone, without my brothers, and it took six months to complete, working part time. It is made from 100% recycled wood from skips.

Funky Chaise Longue

What do you love most about what you do and what do you find the most frustrating?
What I love most is finishing construction of a new design that has been in my head for ages, stepping back and thinking, "wow, that works and looks good". The most frustrating part is the time it takes to get to that point.

What is your favourite piece you have ever made and why?
The chaise longue is my favourite piece - it's not often that you get the opportunity to make such an exciting commission. It did take me a long time to make, but it's definitely the most stunning piece I've made so far.

Is handmade a lifestyle choice for you and if so why?
I live on a beautiful isolated farm, halfway up a mountain, completely off-grid and run entirely on renewable energy. Handmade is a natural part of how I choose to live my life.

Baby Highchair

Can you tell us a bit about where your collections are made, can we take a sneaky peak at your workshop?
The farm where I live has a large old barn, which I have been steadily converting to a workshop with my other farm mates, two of whom are also carpenters. It is in a very inspiriting location, surrounded by forests and with beautiful views of the lush countryside. Renewable-energy powered furniture!

How do you balance your work and home life, what do you do to wind down?
Living and working so close together is great for spending time with my wife and baby, but it also means that I can find it hard to switch off. To wind down I enjoy working in the vegetable garden at the farm, but what I really love is the ocean and being on the water. I've made a couple of canoes and love paddling and fishing along our local coasts.

Do you ever experience periods of creative slump and if so what helps you through?
Having a variety of different projects on the go helps me to not get bored: if I'm feeling physically tired one day then I might stay home and do some graphic design; or if it's sunny I'll go down to the beach and collect driftwood. Mixing and matching keeps life interesting.

Love Chairs

If you could give an aspiring maker one piece of advice what would it be?
Do it. If it works, great. If it doesn't, then try it again differently, until it works.

Who or what inspires you most in your work?
My wife - she constantly wants new things! Just kidding, our bed is actually made of old pallets. I don't know what inspires me I would say I'm more driven, but by what I don't know, "the need to create".

Story telling Chair

If you had the time to learn a new skill what would it be?
Probably metal work. I think that both metal work and woodwork go hand in hand. You can't have one without the other.

For more information on Free Range Designs check out the blog: http://www.freerangedesigns.co.uk/blog/

MEET: Bodrighy Wood

Bodrighy  is a stunning collection of handcrafted Goblets, Chalices, Platters, Buttons, Boxes and much more, made from wood using a traditional hand-turning method.


Based in Truro, Pete uses mainly locally sourced materials and specialises in 'rustic' work which leaves a combination of the turned wood and the natural wood and bark. We caught up with Pete to find out more about the man who turns unloved wood into stunning, functional pieces.....

Oak Burr Bowl

Tell me what inspires you…..

I trawl other turners sites and also do image searches for glassware, pottery and such like, as I have found that for most things there are only a few basic designs that are then adapted. Aside from that, a lot of my rustic work is inspired by the wood itself as I turn it. I try to work with it, not just chop it up into a preconceived shape.

How did you get started?
I did a bit in school a few years ago…well a bit more than a few, then didn’t touch a lathe until I was given an attachment for a drill. It took me a couple of weeks to get fed up with the limitations and so I smiled sweetly at my better half who bought me a lathe for Christmas about four years ago.

Wedding Goblets - Sold as a pair, made to order

Whose work do you admire?

There are so many turners out there who are worthy of mention. Too many to mention them all. Some like Binh Po for his exquisite artwork, Cindy Drozda for the delicacy of her work and Nick Agar for the sculptural work he does.


Describe your typical working day….
I wake up and check my e-mails first then have a check on what commissions I have. Any I have in stock I will pack up ready for posting then it’s straight out to the workshop. I usually have several pieces on the go at once as I try and have something I ‘want’ to do as well as things I ‘have’ to do.

The pieces I like doing most are the rustic pieces.  These can take a while and don’t sell as much as my crafting items so I can play with those in-between commissions. My biggest problem is disciplining myself, as I can easily be distracted by a piece of wood with unusual markings or grain. If I am not careful and end up working on that instead of on what someone has paid me to do.

Rustic Bowl - made from unknown reclaimed wood

What is your favourite type of wood to work with and why?
Yew is probably my favourite wood for turning as its lovely to turn and you can get some fantastic colours and shapes with it. To be honest any wood that someone else would throw out is a challenge I find hard to resist.

Do you have a favourite piece that you have created?
I keep changing my mind on what is my favourite piece as the longer I have a piece the more faults I see in it. I am often really pleased with something at first then as time goes by I find fault with it.

What traditional methods do you use in your work?
Apart from the fact that I use an electric lathe, I suppose most of my methods are pretty traditional. I use  fairly few tools instead of having loads of fancy ones. I cut my wood up to a basic shape using a chain saw and axe and I sand the wood by hand. I also use traditional finishes such a beeswax and ordinary vegetable oil as my main finish. Many of the crafting tools and equipment that I make are traditionally handmade and so I research those and try to remain faithful to the originals.

Drop Spindles

Where do you source your materials from?
Garden pruning, hedgerows, storm damaged trees, old thrown out furniture, in fact anywhere. My main store for wood seems to be Freecycle at the moment. It's surprising what you can get. I do occasionally buy Beech and Sycamore if I have to for food related items, as you have to be careful -  but I can count the number of times that has happened on one hand and still have fingers left over.

Mandarin Box - Made from an old unwanted dresser

What is on your wish list?
One or two tools and a really decent workshop.

When work is done, how do you relax?
As I am fortunate enough to enjoy what I do, I rarely get wound up when working so it doesn’t really apply. I read a lot, at least 3 or 4 books a week and once in a blue moon watch something on the TV, usually gardening or self sufficiency type programmes. I have been told that if I was any more laid back I’d fall over.

To see Pete’s range of products visit:-

Bodrighy's website 

Bodrighy's Etsy Shop

Bodrighy's Folksy Shop

MEET: Wudwerx

Introducing Mike Rankin; the creative force behind wudwerx - handmade wood and driftwood home and garden accessories... 

driftwood candle holder

Tell us your name and a bit about what you do.

My name is Mike Rankin, and I work in my "real" job as a commercial diver, travelling all over Scotland fixing boats and piers. In my spare time, I'm an amateur woodworker, making various items for your house and garden from the small workshop in my garden, that I sell at wudwerx.

Between the two things, I'm pretty busy. One of the bonuses of working on the coast is that I can go hunting for driftwood for my shop quite easily!

the ibee hotel

When did you realise you wanted to do what you do now and how did you get started?

I've always been quite creative, so although my shop is fairly new, I've sold a few bird boxes over the years. I think the first were made with the help of my dad about 20 years ago and we sold them to neighbours. Since then, my career got in the way for a few years but now I've moved back to Edinburgh I have more spare time to create. I bought a saw and a drill press and got stuck in!

Tell us about the first thing you made.

The first things I made for my shop were two sets of three candle holders from a piece of driftwood I found on the beach at Cramond, north of Edinburgh. I cut them to different heights and drilled them to take tealights. When I listed them on Etsy they sold quickly to a customer in the USA. I packed them up and sent them off - and they disappeared! They are the only thing I've ever sent out that didn't make it, so that was a really disappointing start to my business. Luckily things have got a lot better since then!

driftwood frame

What do you love most about what you do?

There are many things that I love about working with wood. I love the smell of all the different types of wood as I walk into my workshop. I also love the feel of the wood as I work with it. It's always warm to the touch. Seeing things come together is always great. It's so cool that a plank of wood can be transformed into a bird box where new life is born. I have one of my bird boxes in my garden which is being used by a family of Great Tits so it's great to see them in use.

What's the ethos behind your work?

I love making items that either re-use things like driftwood, or make it possible for things to grow.  My whole family is fairly green. My Brother sells Solar panel systems; my parents run a plant nursery that sells rare and unusual plants; so I think there is a strong sense of Nature in me. It's great to be able to express it in the way that I can.

bird box

What sort of things inspire/motivate you?

It's really motivating to know that a piece of driftwood I found can be turned into a beautiful frame or candle holder that will look fantastic in a room; or that a plank of wood can be turned into a feeder to help feed a family of birds. I enjoy the act of making things too. It's great to be able to take something and turn it into a good looking, functional item.

Where do you sell your work and how do you promote yourself?

I sell my items both online and face to face at various outlets. I also have a couple of wholesale customers. My online presence is quite large with shops at Folksy and DaWanda, and my main shop at wudwerx. I sell at various markets around Edinburgh and the Lothians, and have items in shops in Prestonpans, Castle Douglas and Penicuik. I rely on word of mouth for most of my promotion, though I do put flyers out at other markets that I don't actually sell at. I'm fairly low tech, and don't promote on Facebook, Twitter or any of the others. It's something I will look at in the future but at the moment I am quite busy with all the orders I have at the moment.

set of 6 wooden labels

What sort of business goals do you set for yourself and what is the next milestone for you?

I would like to expand my custom order business. At the moment I am working on an order for over 200 Silver Birch candle holders for a wedding in July. It's a big job and has presented me with some problems that have been hard to crack - Like where to find 35 metres of Silver Birch branches that are the right thickness, and where to get them kiln dried. I think there is certainly potential for more custom orders and wedding orders, and it's great to know that candle holders that I make can help bring a bit of joy to a couple on their big day.

What one key piece of advice would you give to someone just starting their own 'handmade' venture?

Network! It's tough to get yourself known, which in turn makes it difficult to sell things. What I've done is joined several online groups, talked to market stall holders and gallery owners, printed off flyers, told friends, family and work mates,(several early sales of mine were to friends) and spread the word in any way you can.

bird feeder

Who are some of your favourite artists/designers/makers?

I've got a few! My favourite has to be my partners site! He is a Aboriginal from NW Queensland in Australia who I brought back with me on my return from Down Under. He paints contempary Aboriginal art that he sells at maiawalliart  You will also be able to see his art featured at Gardening Scotland  on the 4th, 5th & 6th of June. Another one of my favourites is EquilibriumDesigns   It's very simple, but useful stuff. My final shop is woodguy32 who's got the perfect store for me, combining iPhones and wood! The genius!

the lizards - group of 3 original paintings by Mike's partner, maiawalliart

If you had time what new craft would you like to learn?

I'd love to learn Cabinet Making. My Grandfather was a Master Carpenter and made some stunning pieces, including a bureau that my parents now own. To be able to make something so beautiful and skilfully crafted, and that still works so well and looks so good after so many years would be amazing.

Is there one special thing that you would like to make for yourself?

At the moment with the nice weather we've been having I'm sorely tempted to make myself a table and chairs for the deck! I think for the long term I'd love to find a big tree root on a beach somewhere and turn it into a  big seat, or a funky shelf type unit.

small bee hotel

If you happen to be in or around Gorebridge, Midlothian this Sunday 30th May, you can go along and meet Mike at his wudwerx stall at the Gracehounds Charity Dog Show & Spring Fair at Vogrie Country Park near Gorebridge. The Fair is open from 11am to 3pm and is well worth a visit if you are planning a weekend outing :D