Luna And River Run Wylde With Resin Art

VIDEO AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS PAGE

On June 1st and 2nd, River Wylde and Luna Wylde‘s Studio Wylde will be stop #7 on the 2024 San Juan Island Studio Tour. Their guest artist will be their bestie, Susan Hughes of Seaglass Obsession.

Portland’s loss is San Juan Islands’ gain. Covid-driven remote learning enabled these two career teachers to finally realize their dream to move to the island they’d been visiting once a month for years. A common interest in vintage camping trailers brought Hughes and the Wyldes together, and they’ve been fast friends since.

River Wylde told CNL2 in the video interview below, “We knew we needed to be here.” She said moving here immediately uplifted their creativity. They were able to build a dedicated studio on their property, which allowed their creative energies to run wylde. And River was thrilled to be working with beautiful local Madrona wood.”

They make art that is functional and art that is decorative. Art that is as large as a dining room table, and as small as an earring. They make “lazy susans,” flight trays, occasion tables, cocktail tables, coasters — and their charcuterie serving trays are top sellers.

They hit the ground running, perfected their craft, and have rapidly sold hundreds of pieces. At last year’s Studio Tour, they sold their entire inventory, as they often do at farmers markets.

Virtually all of their work is the melding of wood with resin. Art resin is a polymer sold in liquid form which can be tinted virtually any color, then poured into a mold. It cures hard and bonds tightly to wood. It can be sanded, and even turned on a lathe, and polished. (Note: resin does not make a good cutting board, as it can pick up scratches if not handled with care.)

The Wyldes harvest scraps from local mills and woodworkers, and they comb beaches for driftwood treasures. Luna was thrilled when she somehow found a piece of driftwood walnut. They find maple; they find everything washed up on the shores, which they make into tables, trays, and cheese knives, and jewelry.

They look for scrap wood and driftwood with ragged edges (also known as “live edges”) with character, with beveled edges, with holes. River said she can take advantage of wood other people can’t use, even partially rotted wood (the rot is frozen in time by the resin). She said, “The more interesting the wood, the more interesting the pieces.”

Always extending their artistic offerings, the Studio Wylde is now offering cheese knives featuring local woods and driftwood melded with resin and turned on a lathe (pictured left).

The cheese knives (pictured right) go well with the charcuterie serving trays and are their newest creation.

Luna prefers to work in a smaller format, making earrings with fine metalwork. Using “a tiny drill.”

The Wyldes complement one another well. Where one is weak the other is strong. Luna seems to do a lot with marketing. She had the most to say about Studio Wylde’s website. She said their website presented a challenge because web orders were in such demand that they were depleting inventory for shows. So now web orders are special order only.

River said they could probably make even more pieces, but they don’t want to be a manufacturer. Mass production might diminish the art quality, she believes. At least it wouldn’t be as fun and freeing.

Their pieces are residing in homes all over the world — they mentioned The Netherlands, Mozambique, and Australia.

Their creativity seems boundless. Luna is a winemaker and an artisan bread baker. She credits her Missouri Ozarks roots — life on a 10-acre farm, where her Dad built their house, gardened, and made wine and beer.

And they’re musical! River is a drummer with a great voice. Luna plays the bass. They expect their new group UGAIA — along with band members Mosa Baczewska and Laura McKee — to debut soon at a gathering at Aurora Farms.

This CNL2 video is approximately 25 minutes in duration.