For my upcycle project i had decided on doing something with a fractal burn/rustic aesthetic. I decided to pursue this aesthetic on a popular Nintendo character, Kirby, I chose this because I have always liked the rustic aesthetic mainly because it gives a warm and cozy feeling to things. I also noticed that the rustic aesthetic seems to be a lot of upcycling as well and imagined it would be the perfect aesthetic for this project.

Materials Needed:

• 6 scraps of 2×4
• Wood glue
• mixture of water and baking soda
• Files

Machines Used:

• Planar
• Bandsaw
• Lichtenberg machine
• Wood burning pen

To begin my project i grabbed scraps of 2×4 that were left over from a house project and sent them individually through the planar to get them all even in height. I then glued every piece together and clamped them for about 5 days to make sure the wood glue had fully cured. After making sure the glue cured properly i sent the slab of wood through the planar. I did this because the wood absorbs the moisture of the glue and caused it to warp a bit. Finally with an even slab i was able to draw the image of Kirby that i wanted to cut out. I used the bandsaw to cut it out and then had to file the edges of the pieces to make them even and smooth. With the final piece of wood I wet the star with a mixture of baking soda and water to make sure the wood becomes conductive. Finally i am able to connect the positive and negative ends of the Lichtenberg machine to the wood and turn it on. This took a couple tries to figure out how to properly work the machine and get it to work. I learned that the wood can’t be too wet or too dry. With the right amount of mixture on the wood the burning happened pretty quick.

I really like how the final product came out. For the future I am thinking of painting Kirby in its original colors. I am also thinking of filling in the burn marks with yellow resin/epoxy to give them more of a color. I am still unsure if i want to do this because it might take away from the Rustic aesthetic. I am excited to know what everyone else thinks and what i could change if i try to to do this again.