Artist Cleverly Focuses Sunlight Through a Magnifying Glass to Engrave Portraits Onto Wooden Canvases

Artist Hye Sea of MagnifytheSUN very cleverly uses a magnifying glass to focus the light of the sun to engrave beautiful portraits onto wooden canvases. The artist was inspired to do this work by her older brother, who would burn leaves with a magnifying glass.

We refer to this art form as solar engraving, which means to focus the energy of the sun to a concentrated beam and then guide that beam of light, thus creating a permanent design. Hye Sea first discovered this technique as a teenager in high school. Her older brother and she would sit outside with magnifying glasses, setting fire to leaves, paper and anything in arms reach.

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Lori Dorn
Lori Dorn

Lori is a Laughing Squid Contributing Editor based in New York City who has been writing blog posts for over a decade. She also enjoys making jewelry, playing guitar, taking photos and mixing craft cocktails.