The Fractal Woodburns are create by Tectract as a fun hobby and sort of as a party gag, because it's sparkly and cool albiet somewhat dangerous. We do NOT recommend attempting to make your own fractal woodburns! Only experienced professionals should work with high-voltage electrical equipment!

Tectract learned to build HV electronics and plasma devices from lab techs at the UNM Computer Engineering College, and during his time working at the UNM Plasma Fusion Research Lab, where he build the high-power "pulser" that powered the plasma chamber. The high-voltage transformer used to make these Fractal Woodburns is an old, used neon-sign transformer (NST). The result is the beautiful lightning or fractal "lichtenburg" patterns that you see burned into the wood.

The electrodes are attached to wooden planks (or any wooden object) in two or more places, where positive and negative terminals are connected, so every terminal connection (nails in the wood) acts as either anode or cathode. The electrical current is driven by the 60Hz high-voltage oscillations emanating over the surface of the board, through droplets of electrolyte (saltwater) that we spray over the boards. It's a rather chaotic process, which you only have loose control over with the spray-bottle, and every piece of wood seems to have it's own characteristic burn-patterns. So every Fractal Woodburn is hand-made, and completely unique and non-reproducible.

Check out our Youtube Channel, for videos on how some of the artwork is created, and how the plants in the gardens are grown, and how the botanical products are made. Please feel free to Contact us at any time regarding products, or questions about an item or sale. Cheers and happy shopping~