Blacksmither Radio

I recently attend my first SOFA Quad State Round-Up conference in Troy, Ohio and I wanted to give you guys a little summary of what went on last weekend, Sept. 22 - 25.  I’ll be interviewing 4 people who also attended; Rick Barter, Phoebe Anne Graham, Colin Fung and Jeff McCrady, an accumulation of different experiences. Guest appearances on this episode: Rick Barter from Kentucky Phoebe Anne Graham from Indiana Colin Fung from McHenry, Illinois Jeff McCrady from Parkersburg, West Virginia A Big Thank You to today’s sponsor – Southern Ohio Forge and Anvil, www.sofablacksmiths.org If you enjoyed this episode, I would love it if you would support the show by: telling your friends. sharing this episode using the social sharing buttons below. subscribing to the show and leaving a rating and review in iTunes.  Not sure how?  Just follow these simple steps here or watch the short video tutorial, http://youtu.be/rq4OCyRGjHc?list=UUH3MfNZLXlKgionAs6kMT_Q subscribing to the show in Stitcher, http://www.stitcher.com

Bruce Beamish is an industrial-trained blacksmith in Australia, his passion for blacksmithing started when he was 15 in school.  He took a metals class that included forging.  After school he decided to continue learning the craft and work as an apprentice, he was offered a job with the Australian Navy as an industrial blacksmith.  What We Talked About Bruce tells us how his ABANA 2016 experience was as an attendee and an Anyang Rep, demonstrating some the Anyang Hammers onsite. Being a faraway Australian member of ABANA for many years, he recalls the first five years of ABANA and how Dick Quinnell visited one the early conferences and was inspired to start the British Artist Blacksmith Association back in the UK. Australia has many state based blacksmith associations, though it doesn’t have one large association that covers all of Australia, such as ABANA. Bruce’s passion for blacksmithing started when he was 15 in school. He took a metals class that included forging metal.  After school he decided to conti

Toby Druce is making a mid-life career change to become a blacksmith.  He is from the Toronto area in Ontario Canada and has been a social worker with the City of Toronto for the past 29 years.  He has decided to change career paths and learn to become a blacksmith by attending the Fleming College Blacksmith Program over the next 15 weeks. Toby and I will be doing a 4-part podcast series, 4 interviews while he is going through this transition in life and through the Fleming College Blacksmith Program over the next 15 weeks, starting September 2016, by the time this podcast is released he will have been in the program for one week.  This episode was recorded a week before Toby starts the program, which is in Haliburton, Ontario, and we are talking about why he chose blacksmithing and what he plans to do with it at the end of the program. What We Talked About Toby Druce has been a social worker and grants administrator for the past 29 years working with municipal homeless and street outreach programs for the C

Heather and Kevin Harvey from South Africa, they are both Master Bladesmiths with the American Bladesmith Society. They attained their M.S stamps in 2003 making them, at that time, the only married couple Mastersmiths. Heather was the second lady Master Bladesmith. I think now there are four ladies that have their MS stamps  and one other married couple Mastersmiths worldwide. They are the only Master Bladesmiths on the African continent. Both are also members of the Knifemakers' Guild of Southern Africa and founder members of the Southern African Bladesmiths Association. Both are authorised instructors in Bladesmithing with the ABS. Regular classes are presented at their Heavin Forge Bladesmithing Studio and School in South Africa. The two will be travelling here to the Us and demonstrating at the SOFA Quad state round up.   What We Talked About The couple met each other at a historical theme park, Gold Reef City, a re-creation of Johannesburg as a mining town 100 years ago. Heather was the blacksmith on si

For today’s episode, I have Delyth Done from England, her hardworking and dedicated efforts are indispensable in promoting and developing artist blacksmiths in today’s modern world.  Delyth is the Course Leader for the MA in Contemporary Crafts and the BA for the Artist Blacksmith program at Hereford College of Arts.   She also is the coordinator of an upcoming major international contemporary forged metal exhibition called “Transition” that will open at the Ypres International blacksmithing event in Belgium starting September 1st, 2016.   What We Talked About Delyth has a clay background for her education which includes a Bachelor of Art and a Masters from the Royal College of Art in London. After her education, she exhibited her clay art in many venues and also completed some bronze castings. She began as a ceramics and clay teacher at an art school in Cardiff that offers a single discipline Ceramics degree. This led to becoming the course director for the program at the school. After a few years of runnin

Phillip Vercammen is a Belgian Blacksmith that has been invited to design a forged panel for the Ypres 2016 International Event in Belgium.  What We Talked About   Philip received a degree in 1986 for graphic design. He then went to the Academy of Fine Art in Brussels, Belgium for 7 years and received a Blacksmithing degree.  Belgium is one of the only countries in the world that has an art school sponsored by the Government and it offers a Blacksmithing degree! Philip is now a teacher for the blacksmith program at the Academy. Besides teaching the skills and techniques of the craft he also teaches about the history of ornamental ironwork to his students. As a teacher, Philip encourages his students to draw every day to help enhance their own style and body of work. He thinks it is very important to sketch ideas out first and then make a scaled 1:1 drawing before going into the shop. Philip’s design for the Ypres panel has beautiful pointed tabs as connections that wrap around a rod.  The tabs are part of

  Will Maguire is a multi-award winning contemporary blacksmith and sculptor with over 10 years’ experience, one of a very few contemporary blacksmiths in Australia, just outside of Sydney.  He brings blacksmithing into the 21st Century, with a combination of striking contemporary design whilst keeping the integrity of the craft intact with his use of traditional skills learned from masters overseas.  What We Talked About Industrially trained in Australia as a blacksmith and boiler maker. He has spent several years as a journeyman overseas working, learning and collaborating with some of the best smiths in England, USA, Russia, Europe, Ukraine and Ultimo TAFE is the only school that teaches blacksmithing in Australia, it is in Sydney. The program focuses on industrial blacksmithing. Will thinks that the blacksmith craft is growing in Australia, though it is still a pretty small community. Their New South Wales Blacksmith Association has about 130 members. After learning the industrial smithing, Will

From Kitchener, Ontario, Sandra Dunn is one of the owners of Two Smiths, a studio that creates contemporary forged metalwork. She regularly collaborates with builders and other artists on architectural projects, restoration and large scale public art. She’ll be one of 25 master blacksmiths at the Ypres 2016 International Blacksmithing Event in Belgium, where she will lead a team to develop one of 25 unique panels for a large World War I Cenotaph. What We Talked About Sandra received her Bachelor of Fine Arts from Waterloo University, but discovered blacksmithing while in a painting class with a friend who worked with a glass artist. That artist set up a forge to make lamps and after Sandra came in to try it, the thee set up a shop together. After a year at the shop, Sandra gave up her night job teaching art to focus on blacksmithing full time. She says she knew nothing and had no skills, but took two weekend courses and attended some ABANA conferences. “That’s really what enabled me to learn. Just the enviro

James Makely is an artist blacksmith in Colorado, USA.  He works full time as an artist blacksmith with the award winning design company, Living Design Studios. What We Talked About At 12 years old, James became interested in the blacksmith craft one year when he saw a blacksmith hammering on an anvil at a local fair. He soon became active in the local Appalachian Blacksmith Association to learn and expand his skills. The book “Country Blacksmithing” by Charles McRaven was a great resource for James, as well as “Professional Smithing” by Darryl Streeter. To further his career as a blacksmith he applied for an apprenticeship with Dragon Forge in Colorado. Craig May introduced James to being a modern blacksmith by using modern blacksmith equipment, hydraulic presses, and power hammers.  He was an apprentice there for 5 years. For the past 10 years, he has been the main artist blacksmith at Living Design Studios, Inc. They design and create large commercial commissions as well as private residential commissions

Shona Johnson is a 3rd generation artist blacksmith living and working in Edinburg, Scotland.  Shona began training as a blacksmith at Ratho Byres Forge in 1989 and became a partner of the P. Johnson & Company in 1993.  The business which consists of her father Phil Johnson (founder), her brother, Mike Johnson, and her husband Pete Hill. All four partners work tightly together each bringing a little extra to the team: leadership, forging, engineering, design, communication and marketing skills. What We Talked About Phil Johnson, Shona’s father, was interested in blacksmithing from seeing his father-in-law’s forged work (this would be Shona’s grandfather, a blacksmith) and soon discovered the BABA, British Artist Blacksmith Organization. This is when he really went down the path to becoming a full time blacksmith and founded the P Johnson & Co as a blacksmith business. The company also has a designer, Jois Hunter, who turns ideas into sketches, detailed drawings and models, contributing much to the su

Lorelei Sims started her blacksmithing career in 1993 by purchasing a shop in Charleston, Illinois following her art education.  She has grown her blacksmithing business by forging functional art pieces.  As the best-selling author of “The Backyard Blacksmith” book, Lorelei is well respected throughout the blacksmithing community.    What We Talked About The book “The Backyard Blacksmith” is celebrating its 10th year in publication and still the number 1 blacksmithing book on the market! Lorelei was inspired by her grandfather and his copper organic looking metalwork. This was her connection to botanical work in metal, hence the subject for the new publication. When Lorelei makes botanically inspired metalwork, she first dissects the organic forms such as the flower, the bud, the vine. Then she organizes each piece in an eye pleasing composition. “Organic Metalworking” is Lorelei’s next publication, similar to a magazine format and size it will concentrate on her floral and organic techniques. This serial pu

For today’s show, I talk with Alan Dawson from the UK, he’s an artist blacksmith who has worked in art and architectural metalwork for over 35 years. Alan Dawson Associates have produced innovative, high quality, bespoke metalworks for all types of projects and he’s one of the founding members of BABA, the British Artist Blacksmith Association.  He’s also one of the core group of members that is organizing the Ypres 2016 International event in Belgium.  The event is a 100-year memorial commemorating all who have been affected by WW1, a 23 ft tall cenotaph surrounded by 2016 poppies and 25 panels depicting the trenches will be erected next to a German war cemetery in Belgium.  The 25 panels will be made onsite over a 6 day period by 25 Masters who will have a team of six blacksmiths each.  Alan has designed a panel in memory of a particular story from WW1 which is about the Jones brothers and he’s also made 40 poppies for the event.  We talk about the logistics it takes to pull off such a large event and about

Continuing along the education theme on the show this year I have a unique interview for you.  I’m interviewing two people at once and they are involved with the Eureka Springs School of the Arts in Arkansas.  The Eureka Springs School of Art in Eureka Springs, Arkansas offers classes and workshops for all of the arts, but is now building a bigger focus on metal arts with a new Iron Studio. Peggy Kjelgaard is the Executive Director of the school and Bob Patrick a nationally known blacksmith with professional experience since 1967. He has taught and demonstrated at regional and national conferences all over North America and is currently teaching at the Eureka Springs School of the Arts.  Since he’s been in the blacksmithing craft since the late 60’s he’s got some great stories about the early days of ABANA, Francis Whitaker, George Dixon (who was once the head blacksmith at Yellin’s shop). Peggy says the Eureka Springs School of Art (ESSA) opened in 2001 and was originally called the School Without Walls bec

Jack founded Klahm and sons 43 years ago in Hawaii and moved the business to his current location in Florida. He has experienced a variety of opportunities to learn his craft. He began with forging steel, and 20 years later he entered into the aluminum and bronze world of forging.  He has been a member of NOMMA since 1978; and has done numerous demonstrations, and videotapes for education.  Over the course of being a NOMMA member Jack's business has received more than 100 awards, and they are a two-time Mitch Heitler award winner. What We Talked About Jack’s father was a high school Industrial Arts teacher and Jack learned a lot about the metal field through osmosis from his father. 1972 Jack and his parents created the business “Klahm and Sons”, first as a furniture business, then it eventually became a full-on metal blacksmith business making gates and doing large restoration commissions. His shop was 12 ft by 12 ft, with a hand shear, a railroad track for an anvil, oxy/acetylene set up and an AC buzz box.

Fred Zweig is a talented chasing and repousse artist from Tucson Arizona.  Fred is a self-taught metalsmith, practicing since the early 1970’s. He has been involved with teaching others for over 35 years and has a sincere passion for the process of metalworking and all of its traditions and possibilities. His desire to give homage to those who proceeded him and his desire for information have led him to moderate several historical metal forums including the Society of American Silversmiths and Society of Arts & Crafts website. A creative innovator of materials and tools to create unique designs, Fred has attended and assisted in many workshops in metal and other media. His focus in the past 30 years has been teaching metals classes.  Teaching is a natural extension of his desire to share with others what he knows. What We Talked About Fred started working with copper in high school making small sculptures. He continued his art career by being a bench jeweler and also a teacher. His first teaching job was

Heiner Zimmermann is a second generation German blacksmith. His father, Paul Zimmermann, had his works published and thus influenced American and European blacksmiths throughout the 70's and 80's. It was through working with his father and uncle that Heiner had the unique opportunity to meet and work with leading smiths around the world including Hermann Gradinger of Germany, Olaf Punt of Norway, Alfred Habermann of the Czech Republic, Allen Evans of England, and Jeffrey Funk of the USA. He completed his academic studies with a Master’s Degree in art and did additional studies in welding and restoration. His knowledge and skill led to a professorship at University Gothenburg Sweden which, like Southern Illinois University Carbondale, is one of only a few colleges in the world to offer advanced art degrees with a focus on blacksmithing. What We Talked About Heiner shares that his childhood was always filled with a supportive artistic environment. He spent a lot of time in his father’s forge and had the opport

Jeff Jubenville is an artist and a blacksmith who lives in Rochester, NY.  Although his life’s primary focus for work over the last 30 years has been working with Albert Paley and Paley Studios, as the shop foreman.  Jeff has always had his own blacksmithing shop and has been busy creating both functional and sculptural metal works of his own design for private commissions. What We Talked About Jeff and the crew in the Paley Studios are currently preparing a few public art installations that will be installed on a few different states across the country. One of them is destined for Colorado and it about 22 ft tall and 10,000 lbs.  One of the other pieces will be installed on a hurricane wall which will be 42 ft long, and around 7000 lbs of stainless steel. One of Jeff’s main duties as the shop Forman is to make sure that sculptures are ready to be worked on when Albert is there at the shop. Albert has a very busy travel schedule due to the many lectures he gives across the country and to the classes he teach

Roberto Giordani is a second generation blacksmith who resides in northern Italy.  He has studied and worked with many of Europe’s leading artist blacksmiths. They include Toni Benetton, Alfred Habermann, Angelo Bartolucci, and Claudio Bottero.  He has demonstrated and taught at The Claudio Bottero School in Stia, Italy; Forja Viva in Barcelona Spain; the California Blacksmith Association; and the Northwest Blacksmith Association. Roberto's sculptures have been shown all over the world: Czech Republic, United States, Spain, Belgium, Sweden, Morocco, Germany, and in many Italian cities. What We Talked About He learned to blacksmith at a very young age and spent a lot of time in his father’s shop. He continued his education learning about metal and building restoration. Tony Benneton was a big influence on Roberto’s vision of metal and how it can be transformed into modern forms and sculpture. He worked with Alfred Habermann at the Helfenstien Castle for two weeks where he made a sculpture for the castle prope

Charles is an internationally known artist and master goldsmith, an author of 7 books and numerous magazine articles, owner of his own publishing company, BrainPress, College teacher and head of the Jewelry Metals Program at Alberta College of Art and Design, a co-founder of the Ganoskin Project which since 1987 has grown to be the largest educational website in the world for jewelers, and the innovative inventor of the fold forming technique.  His education started with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, then a Master of Fine Arts from SUNY of New Paltz, NY then he continued his education in Europe, Germany and Great Britain.  What We Talked About Charles is currently teaching at an Art College and he tells his students to think of different ways a project can be re-used to aid in being efficient. He still writes for a variety of publications, currently the Sante Fe Symposium Conference has asked him to write a chapter in their annual book they publish. Charles talks abo

Monica is an artist blacksmith who lives and works in California.  Working closely with a wide-range of clients and demonstrates her techniques in workshops and conferences across the country.   What We Talked About Monica has been blacksmithing for 12 years. She went to a local Hamer-in at Weaverville, CA and took a class with Mark Aspery. This sparked her passion for the craft. She then sought out opportunities to learn and apprentice with experienced blacksmiths such as Toby Hickman and Daniel Miller. She spent 2 years as an apprentice with Toby. 4 years later she quit her job at the welding fabrication shop and built and off grid shop on her and her husband’s land. Monica tells us how her husband built her forge shop from the ground up that is completely off the grid! The shop has solar and hydro power along with a backup diesel generator if needed.  When Monica was asked to be a demonstrator at ABANA, she knew she wanted to show the sliding dovetail joint techniques that she has been perfecting for the