Today we’d like to introduce you to Jade and Skylar Rockburn.
Hi Jade and Skylar, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstories.
The two of us, Skylar and Jade, make up this fast-growing business and it was all because Jade wanted a geometric art piece for her home office. A few months later we were officially dating and four years later we were married. In 2020 we started a new adventure that is now known as Rockburn Woodwork. The two of us, Skylar and Jade, make up this fast-growing business and it was all because Jade wanted a geometric art piece for her home office. Skylar has always been interested in woodwork, ever since childhood when he took some woodworking classes during summer camp. Jade was born crafty and artistic and could tackle anything she set her mind to. The pandemic allowed us the time and push we needed to combine efforts and fall in love with the craft. We’re self-taught and have learned a lot by following other makers on social media and soaking in all the tips and tricks they share. Before starting we only had a small box of hand tools. The moment we knew we wanted to start our first piece we invested in a simple miter saw and were eventually gifted Jades papas scroll saw from the ’80s. It made everything for our business come together. We combined the geometric art with scrolled words, designs, and icons from our hometown and surrounding areas. Once we nailed down our designs, we started participating in local pop-up events and eventually started taking custom orders. We’re currently doing primarily home decor items as well as kids’ name puzzles and nursery signs. We each have our niche with every item we make, for example, Jade does all of the hand painting and Skylar has perfected the spray painting. Our favorite part of this adventure is learning and trying new things for our customers.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
There is nothing smooth about starting your own business, especially with your significant other, but we would not trade any of it for the world. Since we are self-taught there have been plenty of mistakes, materials and time wasted. With each mistake though we have been able to learn from it and better our business and products. We recently took on a custom order that included making rabbet joints, which we had never tried. After some research, trial and error we made a pretty awesome champagne box meant as a wedding gift. On top of figuring out our new craft, we’re also trying to discover how to have a good work/life balance, which we think is something every small business owner struggles with. Trying to fit time in with friends, family, and self-care while still meeting deadlines and having our own date nights seem impossible sometimes. Also, as our business continues to grow, we are also learning how to keep up with inventory. We are selling out of product at events a lot quicker than when we started as well as receiving more custom orders than ever before. All of this is worth it, the good struggles and the bad. We get to work together while doing something we both love.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
We specialize in scroll saw wood art. Our process starts with Jade drawing our visions up in procreate and then creating a stencil for ourselves. We then take turns cutting our designs on the scroll saw and then they are shaped with a rotary tool. After that, Skylar takes over with the 3–4-day painting process and then we’ll assemble everything together. One of our most popular items would have to be our home signs, in which we replace the O with a towns landmark or state fruit. For example, for our hometown of DeLand, the O is replaced with our iconic old courthouse clock tower. We also do one with the Lake Eola fountain for Orlando. We think what sets us apart from others around us is that we like to keep our work old school in the sense that we do everything by hand. We do not own or use a laser or CNC for any of our work. People at events will often ask us what laser or CNC we use and when we tell them we use a scroll saw they are blown away. We’re definitely proud of each and every product we’ve made but more than anything we’re proud of our own growth within the business. We’ve only been doing this for a year and a half now and seeing how much our product has improved in such a short time is wild.
Can you talk to us a bit about happiness and what makes you happy?
Having a customer trust us with their vision gives us butterflies each and every time. Knowing they’re going to have something we created for them for years to come is a wonderful feeling that fills us with pride and joy.
Contact Info:
- Email: rockburnwoodwork@gmail.com
- Instagram: Instagram.com/rockburnwoodwork
- Facebook: Facebook.com/rockburnwoodwork
