This is a custom made hand carved wood home decor sign, inspired by Brandon Sanderson’s Epic Fantasy novel “The Way of Kings: Book One of the Stormlight Archive”.
The graphic is my own vision of the main character Kaladin and his spren Sylphrena (Syl for short). The words on the banners are known as the First Ideals of the Knights Radiant. An ancient order of protectors whom defend the world of Roshar against ancient invaders.
I designed the picture on my computer using Affinity Designer, graphic design and illustration program for MacOS. Then I simplified the picture for printing on a laser printer. Laser printers use a thermal transfer process to put toner (not ink) on to paper.
After printing the designs on paper you can transfer them from the paper onto another surface using a special flat tip on the end of a wood burning tool. You place the graphic against the surface you want to transfer it to, in this case the wood surface, and rub the heated tip against the back of the paper. The heat then transfers the toner to the wood. Uneven heating can cause the picture not to transfer.
The main background is made of Poplar (Populus alba) and the banners are crafted from Red Oak (Quercus rubra). No power tools were used in making this Design. It was done using hand tools with blades and Xacto knives. The piece is coated in Polyurethane.
I tweeted about taking it to the 2018 Placer County Fair and got a response from Brandon Sanderson about it! Here is the tweet and response.
Now I have to wait until Thursday June 21 to find out how I did at the fair. This is how I did last year…
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