Burlington

I suppose I do have a minor form of the travel bug. I was sitting at home for the past week and when the opportunity to come up to Burlington for a few days arose, I leapt on it.

When the sun sets on the other side of Lake Champlain this town gets cold. This morning you couldn't see it rise; flake by giant flake snow floated to cover the ground in a thin coat that would survive in the shadows but slowly be swallowed by the sun as it moved in its usual way.

The last time that I was up here I came up on the first sunny/warm day since winter descended on Vermont. Turned out yesterday was also the first warm day of the year. When I stepped out of the car at UVM in my down jacket Mike Brandon met me in short sleeves.

Officially my road trip has ended, but my pursuit to blacksmith in the foreseeable future has not.

Friday

Jim Thorpe is an old coal town in the Lehigh valley, once called the Switzerland of the US for it's idyllic mountain setting. It turns out that it also has a sizeable St. Paddy's day parade. Standing in line at the atm in town, the person in front of me and behind me started talking in true Irish brogues. It was legitimate.


Out in Hamburg, David Fisher's propane forge was running hot and his apprentice was busy brushing up a piece by the time I walked in at 7:45. The pieces that David was working on today were actually for a show tomorrow at Cabelas in Hamburg, PA. The reason he was able to work on these pieces today was because work is slow. The economy is slowing down and this little shop has felt it. Well, the shop isn't little at all. It's actually one of the larger shops that I've seen.

In a stark comparison I also stopped by the stained glass shop of Nic East. Nic East worked as a blacksmith in a fully staffed shop for thirty some years and then called it quits to retire in historic downtown Jim Thorpe, PA. Even though he had a considerable background in metal-working, it was clear that he had moved on. When I brought up blacksmithing, he introduced me to his current work, glass jewelry...

This one's for Gaskin.

A Dragon's Head and Gettysburg

At 7: 40 I woke up and put a new ticket on my dashboard in the parking lot across from the apartment. From 8-10 I gained a new appreciation for the West Wing, then from 10 till 11 I cleaned up and packed up my side of the apartment and left for Frederick, Maryland.

In Frederick I met Tim Beachley. His shop, much like others I have seen, was well outfitted and relatively comfortable. By putting money that he has made from jobs over the past eight years to tools and equipment, he's been able to work around having to get a loan for equipment and then having to find work to supplement his payments.

Even though he's only been smithing for eight years, his work is off the charts. He got into blacksmithing after taking a welding class and wanting to do more than work with well polished and machined metal. One thing led to another and he started to attend his local blacksmithing guild meetings and started putting out well-crafted work in no time.

One of the things that he has excelled at is creating dragon's heads. He's put them on the ends of fire pokers, fire-place brooms and shovels, bottle openers, door handles and now he has created a smoke stack for a grill that will be auctioned off at the next meeting of his local ABANA affiliate.



He started out with pipe, narrowed it at one end for the head and then started forging. His piece probably includes just as much welding as it does forged work. I believe he said that he had to punch out two hundred scales, which were eventually welded on. For the eyes of the dragon he used ball bearings inside of a few sheets of welded metal. He explained to me the way he created the definition on the lower jaw, but it is escaping me at the moment.

After talking for a long while and looking over his portfolio, we parted and I set on my way. My next destination was a hostel, but on the way a sign displaying, "Gettysburg 8 Miles" ultimately changed my course.

After parking at the old visitor's center I walked over a knoll and looked over the battlefield. The sun, low in the sky behind a curtain of clouds, managed to break through, illuminating the fields of Gettysburg in a lighting befitting of pastures where our ancestors fought and fell to one anothers' gun and sword. Walking over the cold, crunching grass of Cemetery Ridge I could only think of the lives of the Union men who were once there. Where I walked men fought; where I walked men died; where I walked men bled into the ground and grass, the same grass that grows today.




The wind was strong in the valley and as you looked out towards the mountains it would hit you like a wall of rushing soldiers. The magnitude of the thoughts and feelings I had was equalled by the breadth and depth of the landscape, the wind and monuments standing at once together and totally alone.

I left the fields of Gettysburg, wound my way through the Pine Grove Furnace State Park to where I find myself tonight.

Savannah Take Two

I drove down on 17 from Charleston to Savannah yesterday with my windows open. Today I am wearing shorts and shorts sleeves and already, it feels like 60 something.

Yesterday was not nearly as nice, warm in the sun and cool in the shade. The park is already green, the flowers are flowering and the spirit feels somewhat lifted not to have the burden of a slow transition from late winter to spring to summer:

Savannah has it, the perfect layout. Victorian houses surrounding beautiful square parks. And if you don't live on Forsythe Park or another one, you're only a small walk away. I can see myself spending some time on a bench today.

I looked into SCAD yesterday and found that they have a penchant for taking over old religious buildings and turning them into student work space (i.e. the Scot Rite Temple and the old Synagogue). But truthfully, its like the RISD of the south. After my tour I set out to talk with Prof. Huang of the Architecture department. A case of bad directions and thirty minutes later I found the architecture building, a security officer who is going to pray for my acceptance into the college, and a realization that architecture might not be for me. A fact that was disclosed to me was that most Architecture majors who graduated last year have been laid off. I suppose that makes sense seeing as how the housing market has been having a few ups and downs.

I should get off of this coffee-house couch and see Savannah.

A Smorgasbord

Even though I have been blogging everyday I feel as though I am behind on what I want to share. This blog and the next few might be somewhat of a smorgasbord of pictures, captions and thoughts.

Finding myself under the weather in Savannah, literally (it was raining, gusting wind and cold), I hiked up to Charleston a day earlier than had planned:


While at the John C. Campbell I had the chance to collaborate with Anne, a clay sculptor. Anne was from Florida and was building a miniature bird house and needed a plant hanger for the outside of her house. The hanger that I made is barely visible but if you look closely it is to the left of the doorway.


Our class created a lot of plant hangers as a way of practicing the fundamental techniques of making a sharp corner, scrolling, tapering, and attaching by using strap hinges. This is the second of my two hangers. In my next post you will be able to see some of my classmates'.

Traveling from the mountains of North Carolina to the lowlands of the Georgian coast I decided to swing into an antique store (an antique junk-yard might be a more apt description). Sitting there in the open were three blacksmithing/post vices. The proper vice for blacksmithing has a leg that extends to the floor so to allow the shock to be absorbed not only by the "latch" attaching it to a table but by the ground. I believe this vice is of English make and is about three to four feet tall. I haggled this puppy down to fifty dollars..

A Moment to Spare

I've caught the blacksmithing bug. I'm here writing but would rather have a hammer in my hand, an anvil to my right and a forge to my left. Today has most likely been the most productive day in the shop. Early on Paul, the resident blacksmith (a job smiths would die for), came in and helped me with my hammer grip. He and Susan, my instructor for the week, both trained with Uri Hoffi, an Israeli smith. Uri not only patented a way of striking, but makes his own hammers. Every now and then he travels to the US, teaches classes, and visits smiths. I looked into his classes but was somewhat swayed by the hefty price tag..

Last night while talking to my parents they suggested I make a new coat rack for the basement, so I did. Rather, I should say I have been building it and hope to finish it tonight. My coat rack is based off of Francis Whittaker's. From what I've gleaned, Francis Whittaker was the head smith while the Folk School was being put together. You can see his coat racks in the dining room down the hall where one drops off his plates.

I've just finished the hooks and need to brush the scale (the flaky stuff that forms when the steel oxidizes). If I want to finish tonight, I must get back to the shop..

Getting Closer

I'm finally putting together finalized pieces. The tongs that you're about to see aren't complete, I still have to put a rivet through the flat pieces behind the "jaws."

The heart is held against the hanger with strap hinges.

Hooks

Tongs

This is another heart, actually the heart that I placed in the plant hanger.

John C. Campbell

I arrived yesterday afternoon around three, and was into the forge by eight. Susan Hutchinson, my teacher, stood five-foot-something-small and was maybe just as or more excited than we were. In all there are seven people in my class coming from as far away as Illinois, California, and Alaska. Joseph, the guy from Alaska, has been here for one week and is going to be staying for three more. He is a boat builder by trade and wants to be able to incorporate traditional techniques in his craft. He showed the class oar locks he made last week, and they were something else. While we practiced making points and hooks he blackened his pieces which is a process where you heat up the metal to a black heat and apply a wax. When it cools down the metal and wax harden and its given almost a matte black finish.

I don't have any pictures just yet but should have some tomorrow. The only place with wi-fi here is the main lodge, it has a name but its escaping me at the moment. I'm not sure whether I'll be blogging in the mornings or the night just yet, it all depends on how much. time I can spend in the forge..

The District's Best

Even with the Potomac churning in the winds of the District, Jefferson and his words stood eternal.


This afternoon Kat took me along the waterfront and bought shoes at BCBG. We viewed the million dollar shacks in Georgetown and had a classic Italian dinner at the Paper Moon.

Seeing what people can do with glass makes me wonder how it can be incorporated into metal. This piece was in the Renwick Gallery. Sadly, Paley's Portal Gates had just recently been returned to the museum and weren't installed yet.

Fifth Floor of the Adams Building and in the Cathedral's Crypt

Today I woke up early in order to go read the Library of Congress. Stepping into the crisp D.C. air I joined the throng of suits, yuppies and aspiring politicians on the train inbound. Even the subways are utilitarian, built with nothing but reinforced concrete.

After registering and becoming an "official researcher" I traveled through the underground tunnel to the Adams building to read in the Science and Technology room. The reading room lay on the fifth floor. With vaulted ceilings held up by pillars of concrete and marble, the room was spacious enough to give the feel of a library; however, if you took away the cherry reading tables and the shelves holding the encyclopedias, the room might easily pass for a common room in a prison, except for the fact that they tend to put windows in prisons.

For quite a few hours today I indulged myself in The Contemporary Blacksmith by Dona Z. Meilach. As I read I came upon her description of a certain blacksmith by the name of Albert Paley whose work actually resides in the lower level of the National Cathedral. Pictures and descriptions are all fine and good but to lay hand and eye upon a piece is an irreplaceable experience. I packed my belongings, put my books on hold for another day and made my way through subway and over streets.

Prof. Beatty at Holy Cross mentioned Paley before. At the moment Paley might be one the of preeminent metal sculptors in the United States. The way that the metal in his gate wraps and weaves makes for a piece that is at once in discord and harmoniously in sync. Your eye is drawn to the vacant space in the middle of the sun and the aptly placed bronze and then your eye follows the rays of light as they play and undulate throughout. My pictures don't do it justice; however, you can see his process on his web page.

Across from Paley's piece was another intricate gate. The sheer detail in these pieces is amazing.

I was surprised by the gate that you see above. For the most part gates are one static fixture. What the artist did with this piece was to make the inside sections fluid. The artist joined the pieces in such a way that they were hinged off one another.

According to Dona Meilach, there is one more Paley piece I need to see tomorrow at the Renwick gallery...

From Paper to Production

With the help and guidance of Matt at Falling Hammer Productions I created my first fully conceptualized piece.  The piece that you see above took six hours to make.

To create the four leaves I used a band saw to make four 3/8 "fingers" out of a 3/4" bar.  To achieve the "gold" finish the steel was brushed with a brass brush while the bar was in black heat (1000 or so degrees).

I've spent the last few days at Trinity in the insurance capitol of the world and will be moving on to the big apple tomorrow.

4 am

I'm just waking up from an epic nap, realizing I haven't blogged.  

Yesterday, which was four hours and fifteen minutes ago, I went to talk with the smiths at Falling Hammer Productions in Oakville, CT.  Their shop was tucked away in an old factory building that had been converted to retail space.  With layers of dirt petrifying on the windows, the factory looked as though it had been out of commission for quite awhile. It seemed fitting that a blacksmith shop would take residence in such a building, a place that was once useful and productive now reinventing itself to become pertinent once more.

Falling Hammer Productions is a modern day blacksmith shop. This means they do a lot of installation pieces on pre-fabricated railings and gates.  Every time the job calls for custom pieces that can be forged, they'll forge, but times call for a lot of methods of modern smithing that are less expensive and less time consuming than taking hammer to steel.  

Even with spring like temperatures outside, the shop remained cold, insulated by rock walls and literally tons of scrap metal lining the floor.  Peter showed me around and explained to me every tool and piece of equipment in the place.  Falling Hammer Production was started three years ago when three blacksmiths found that they could produce more and better work if they worked together in one shop.  Not being able to get in contact with Mr. Spademan of Iron Fire art and Mr. Brown of Lightning Fire I inquired whether I could work on a piece with Matt or Peter. They were free and I'll be returning tomorrow (read: today) and will have a new piece (or two) to show for it.  

Hartford

I find myself on the campus of Trinity College located in Hartford, Connecticut. The lights are on in Northam tower and the continuous building looming over the quad. One can only imagine the windows being lit by candles in the summer time, flickering with the whims of the winds caught in the trees on the lawn..

As I explained in a letter to a sculpture professor at RISD, the thing that draws me most to blacksmithing is the ability to create organic form out of something so static as steel. To be able to create a leaf or even a fluid natural structure out of a square piece of 3/8th stock is exciting. What allures me is the challenge and the process. Already I am beginning to draw more, to put those processes from mind to paper.

I am staying with a friend, Kat. She's the one manifesting light in her hand. No big deal.

Lay-over

It's been a day at home. I've worked on applications and prepared myself for a month and maybe more of travel.

Time and time again people keep telling me that joining my local affiliate group will help me in my pursuit of all things blacksmith. So today I can officially say I am a member of the Artist Blacksmith Association of North America and have my paper work en route to make me a card carrying member of the New England Blacksmiths. The New England Blacksmiths do meets every so often. As described by Mr. Glaser, everyone and anyone who dabbles in blacksmithing shows up. I'll be missing their meet in February but hope to make the next..

Tomorrow, life on the road begins.

Those In Maine

Its something about Maine. Something about Portland and Bates and genuine people.

Willa Wirth invited me into her studio this evening and showed me her work. For that hour in her hill top shop she spoke from the heart on everything from facing choices to the benefits of using a hammer with shine...

I'll be returning to Maine, hopefully sooner than later.