This is Carl West and he's a blacksmith. Carl discovered his love of blacksmithing in college but only recently acted upon it. After what he calls pushes from fate, he started Prospect Hill Forge with a college friend, Michael. On the subject of blacksmithing and art in general he offered some wisdom: Any art has a language. Learn the language. Do not let the instructor set you free before you know what you're doing. Know sentence structure, where to place emphasis, how to bring together the verbs, nouns and modifiers. This is so when you have something to say, you can express your thoughts clearly and fluidly.
Last year a blacksmith by the name of Charles Lewton-Brain stopped by Prospect Hill Forge and taught Carl and Michael the techniques of fold-forming. Fold-forming works with the properties of the metal in order to create shapes. Fold forming is revolutionary primarily because it has greatly expedited the process of forming metals into certain shapes and textures.
Working off of Carl's in-class demonstrations I made the following practice pieces:
I like your practice pieces. Looks like you're off to a good start. Looking forward to reading about your travels!
ReplyDeleteVery cool! It appears well suited to forming objects from nature. Something about bi-lateral symmetry.....
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