Hi, I’m Samarah
and I’m a pyrographer!
Photo courtesy of Foyetography - www.foyetography.co.uk
Based almost exactly in the middle of Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire, (thought I have to say my home city is Nottingham) I have a little home studio - where my chief quality control comes from my two cats, Jiji and Maru, and my chief support comes from my husband, Joe.
In addition to creating professionally I am an avid crafter where I have dabbled in and enjoy illustration, needle felt, embroidery, needle punch, knitting, crochet, paper crafts… you name it, I have probably tried it - or want to!
When I’m not creating you will likely find me drinking coffee, going on walks looking for flowers, or cooking and drinking wine. We have a garden veg patch along with a small allotment space and it’s amazing to eat something you’ve grown yourself!
I am also the other half of Joe’s upholstery business - Halcyon Furniture. It makes for an interesting mix, but definitely keeps us both busy as I also drag him to my various events!
All in all, it is a busy, simple, but wholesome life.
About me…
About my work…
I love flowers. I love nature. And I love love! So it seems that pyrographing flowers and wedding artwork is the perfect job for me!
I work primarily on both wood and leather, occasionally bringing in other materials, and enjoy adding colour to my work. As a bit of a contrast to my detailed botanical work, I adore things that are cute and have a small range of silly little cute designs which really make me smile!
My current set up is a Razer Tip machine which is fantastic piece of kit!
How I discovered pyrography
Examples of some of my earlier pyrography
If you’re unsure - pyrography is the medium of creating art from burning. I usually burn on wood or leather.
I first tried pyrography in 2018 when I was asked to do a wedding board. Someone lent me their pyrography machine to try it out and I absolutely fell in love. I have never taken to a medium so easily - I loved the technique, the feel, the texture, and the effect.
After doing some small signage work, I wanted to develop my skills in the medium - to be able to pyrograph not just lettering, but artwork too. I absolutely love flowers and nature, so drawing inspiration from botanical drawings I tried pyrographing flowers - and again, I just loved it.
Pyrographing flowers became my thing, and Burnt Bouquets was born!
Launching Burnt Bouquets
Early 2024 I was told I was being made redundant from my full time corporate job. When I first got the news there was so much to think about… What do I do, where should I go, what did I want (what could I afford?!) and after a long hard think I decided it was time to go for it.
Being an artist had always been a dream of mine, but always seemed so far away - I would keep getting snatches of it and then losing it again, simply to the busyness of life. What I needed was more time. Time to create, time to focus, time to build. And time is the one thing you can never get more of, so the time had come.
I decided to take the plunge and fully launch Burnt Bouquets, committing to my artwork and my business
I haven’t looked back and I’m enjoying every minute!
