Burnt Offerings for Outpawed

Today, we’re speaking with Ngaire from Burnt Offerings, based in the Wairarapa (NZ). Ngaire creates unique, practical art pieces for everyday living by etching glass, mirror, stone, granite, tiles and burning onto wood.

Tell us a bit about yourself, Ngaire!
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“Hi, my name is Ngaire, and I live in the beautiful Wairarapa.  I have two gorgeous daughters with a wonderful husband, and a loving extended family who have all encouraged me to take my “art” to the next level.
Each item is hand done, there is no computer laser. I use a pneumatic pencil grinder with a diamond tipped tool, which I use to draw onto the glass, stone and tiles, and I use a hot wire to burn the design onto the wood.
​Most of my items are second hand finds, that I either etch or burn to give them a new lease on life.  This also means you won’t find them elsewhere – they are unique, one-off pieces.”

​Ngaire has donated a beautiful, etched mirror, worth $150, as the centrepiece for the Outpawed fundraiser raffle at our August market.

Here’s the story of how it was made:

“The process starts with the mirror, which I normally put next to my work station. I leave it there for a couple of days until an idea comes into my head.  This idea came about when my daughter wanted to colour in a kitten!  I then draw it up and transferred the outline onto the mirror with carbon paper. Then, I put on a mask, gloves, a heavy over coat and ear muffs, to prevent the glass dust getting into places it shouldn’t!  The noise is quite bad, as the diamond tip bites into the mirror to create the design.  It is easy to miscalculate where to etch as it’s all reflected back at you!
Most of the time involved in creating one of these pieces is taken up with designing and thinking about what to etch. Once the plan is created, to etch this mirror probably took 30 minutes.”

Find out more about Burnt Offerings here:
https://www.burntofferingsnz.com/
www.facebook.com/pg/burntofferingsnz
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Tickets for the raffle will be available at the August Petone Winter Market, 10.30am to 3pm, 19th August, at the Petone Baptist Church, 38 Buick Street, Petone.
www.facebook.com/PetoneWinterMarkets
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The Petone Winter Markets are the place to buy locally made creations, snack on tasty treats, and fuel up with coffee from Ripe. Drop off the kids at the fully fenced play area while you browse our 30+ indoor stalls and take in the stylings of some local entertainers. There will be all kinds of winter woollies, magpie treasures, tasty treats, and fantastic gift ideas for all! Bring a carry bag – we’re a plastic-bag-free event.

In the weeks leading up to each market, we will be running a gold-coin-entry colouring competition, featuring poster artwork by Cat Drayer from Copper Catkin. Proceeds from the competition will help local charity Outpawed with the care and management of stray and feral cats (and KITTENS) in the Wellington region. The prize is a fantastic play-date with some Outpawed kittens. KITTENS! 

Join us and help brighten these wintery weekends with some family-friendly handmade goodness!
​And did we mention KITTENS?

Enter our colouring competitions or buy some tasty treats on the day to help raise funds for our chosen cause, Outpawed!

​“Outpawed is a NZ-registered charity dedicated to the care and management of stray and feral cats in the Wellington region. 

We provide shelter for wild cats and kittens, and aim to desex, socialise, vaccinate, microchip and find homes for as many of these cats as possible. We are also involved in trap-neuter-return (TNR) for cats that cannot be integrated into a household environment. Where TNR is necessary, cats are released into managed colonies where they are fed and monitored.

We aim to work with local government and other animal welfare organisations to obtain the best outcome possible for the feral cat population. Our goal is to reduce this population over time through desexing and adoption.“