Pyrography Cook Pine Platter with stand "Ying Yang Fern #843" by Michael Patrick Smith

Big Island craftsman Michael Patrick Smith created this stunning vase using a meticulous wood-burning technique called "pyrography." The images are all that remains after he's burned away the negative spaces on a Pine vessel that he first lathe-turned. Michael says that the pyrography technique takes 80% of his time and the lathe-turning of the bowl only takes 20% to finish each piece.

Michael has pursued the art of wood-turning for decades, following a career buying and selling antiquities from Burma, Thailand and Indonesia. With his background, Michael sees wood-turning and pyrography as a crossover of cultures. He believes that wood-turning no longer should be treated as a craft, but as an art form – a sculpture which originates on a lathe.

Pyrography is actually a well-established form of woodwork. That goes to show, when you have a burning passion about something, pursue it!

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