When you open a box of squirrels, they tend to all come out at once. Some of them you can put back away, but some of them will just refuse to be put back in the box. The usually find some place to roost where they’re visible, just waiting to be picked up and finished, while they mock you for not being completed the first time. In the same box with the fat bottomed white oak piece was a small piece of mulberry that at some point I had turned into a bowl and wood burned large squares into the side. I remember making it from a cut off, remember making the squares, but got side-tracked and didn’t start doing any of the zentangle burning that was planned.

As luck would have it, the day I picked the piece back up, three things had different events aligned to form a perfect environment for finishing the piece. First, I had just sprained my ankle and was trying to NOT stand on it or walk much. Two days of ice and probably more ibuprofen than I should have taken and I was feeling better, but didn’t want to push it out of fear of re-injury. I had also just subscribed to a new podcast and was looking at just over a hundred episodes to binge-listen. Doing something repetitive like wood burning is a really good excuse to put on the headphones and just zone out. Finally, it was also a beautiful day! High 70’s, sunny, nice breeze blowing, the kind of day that makes it you want to just sit, veg out, and enjoy the first moderate day of summer. within 30 minutes, I was sitting on my back porch, had the woodburners heated, and a cold drink making rings on the table as the ice melted.

Zentangle is like doodling. Each square is a different pattern, but the patterns repeat, so once you do one, the rest are easy. The only hard part is coming up with patterns that are different form the others. The internet is a wonderful resource for patterns that can be either copied or used as a starting point. In all, it took about 4 hours to do all the burning. By the time I was done, my hands and forearms smelled like a campfire, my right hand was threatening to cramp up into a claw, and I’m sure the couple walking their dog in the public area behind my house was wondering why I hadn’t move since the three trips they had made with their new puppy.

Here’s the final project. All that remains is a couple coats of finish to keep the burned smell hidden and to protect the wood.