Don working on wolf

don-at-work-non-electric

Don with well known weatherman, Dick Goddard, with a burning of two of Dick's dogs.

A self-taught artist, Don has been experimenting with various approaches to wood burning for well over thirty years. He began with a little woodburning tool many school children use and a few smooth pieces of wood. Soon he was out of wood, and began a search that's ultimately led him to basswood as his preferred surface (It is the same wood that many wood carvers prefer.)

Soon after discovering basswood, Don burned out the little tool he had been using. At that time there were few, if any, woodburning tools on the market. At the suggestion of a clerk in a craft store, Don went to a hardware store and bought his first Weller 25-watt soldering iron. It has been his tool of choice since that time. He also uses a heavier, 40-watt Weller for background and some shading. 

Searching for appropriate subject matter led Don to calendars, post cards, greeting cards and photographs. Favorite subject matter includes old bridges, lighthouses, ships, homesteads and a wide variety of subjects drawn from God's creation, including flowers, birds and animals, both domestic and wild.

During the past thirty-three plus years, Don has exhibited in shows in Ohio, California and Kansas. He has taught wood burning classes in adult education programs, and has given demonstrations to several woodcarving clubs and wood working groups. 

For many years he has specialized in doing homesteads and other special orders. These have included replicas of business cards, castles and old family homesteads for many people. These range from St. Basil's Cathedral on Red Square in Moscow, Russia, to old castles in Germany to a replica of Nantucket Island. While many house or homestead projects have been of buildings from a bygone era, some have been of very modern structures.