Burning B's, Baby

I woke up with some sudden inspiration today - B for burn! What if I could burn out the shape of my letterform somehow? It's definitely something that I can't perfect or control - of course, I can guide the shape I want but the ultimate outcome will be a collaboration with a natural force - fire, which would make it authentically organic.

Since it was the last class of graphic design, I only had a few hours before class starts. I had to use whatever I had...

• lighter
• scrap paper (copies of my old working holiday visas, ha!)
• 230gsm and 160 gsm black paper (from the matauranga design project)
• portable camping stove

I also ensured I had a bucket of water beside me in case I had to put out any sudden fires. Which was a pretty smart move, because my first few attempts did not go so well - I panicked and dumped a lot of water onto my tests.

My failed attempts!

Tried circling the paper with water at first to 'guide' the flames.

Spoiler alert: it didn't work.

As you can see.

I always tried to start with the counters first because I felt that would be the trickiest to get right. It was actually really hard to make a hole because I was so afraid when the paper caught on fire. After a few attempts, I realised that if I stop being afraid and just blow it the flames out with a big puff, it'll be extinguished whereas the edges will smolder a little bit which would eat away at the paper, and I'll still be able to get the shape I want. 

It's a bit hard to explain - but I basically got the hang of controlling the flame. I also realised it's better to start with thicker gsm paper when you're starting out - it catches fire less easily. And once you're confident enough that you can control the way the fire eats the paper, you can move on to thinner paper.

After awhile I realised that I would need a smaller fire instead of a camping stove for more control - so I rushed out to buy some candles.

With that, I definitely had more control over my artwork.

I burned a whole bunch of Bs. Some with counters and some without.

Moved on from thick black paper to thinner white paper because I feel that the contrast would be better with white. So far, I prefer the one in the middle - that's the cleanest of the lot.

After burning a few Bs, I realised that sometimes, there's this beautiful smoky texture created at the edges by the soot.

So instead of burning the paper, I tried to use the soot to 'draw' the letterform instead.

If you use the paper to go close enough but don't stay for too long till it burns. You can see the light through the paper which would help to guide you.

A few of my attempts.

I like this small one on the right.

My favourite by far - but sadly my fingerprints ruined it a little :(

Here are the scanned results. Some of them already have smudges cause I had to bring them all the way to school and it got smudged in between the papers :( But it kind of adds to the texture (that's what I try to say to convince myself)!

Aaaaand that's just me having some fun with scanography.

Overall, I was really pleased with the results, and thank goodness I didn't burn down anything in my place :) Some of these will definitely be going into the zine, and I will choose one of them to be in the poster as well.