Stacy Baldus

Really? That sounds great. Sorry I missed it. I'll have to check out and see who's around. I'd love to start getting my hands dirty.

Great! Thanks for the pointer. Food and drink, check. Will I be here a few hours from now? Hopefully :)

Just introducing myself here. I currently live in rural, SE Minnesota on a crop farm. I graduated from the Edinburgh College of Art with a MA in Visual Communication (which basically means photography) in December of 2008. I'm currently working part time as a substitute teacher. So why am I on a blacksmith forum you ask? Because I really want to get into it. I've always had a love of making things, enjoyed welding in shop class and watching my dad cobble things together out of metal. Later on during college I went on an Honors trip to the Living History Farms in Des Moines, Iowa. There was a blacksmith there and a few of us opted to take the free, quick and dirty class in making a decorative iron hook. A simple project, but there was only one blacksmith and people need a lot of help with it. I absolutely loved it! It was hot, dirty, hard work but I seemed to have a bit of a knack for it was was really disappointed when it was over. I did most of the work myself and was ridiculously pleased with what I'd made. Ever since then, I can't get blacksmithing and metal work out of my mind. Postgraduate studies took me to Edinburgh, Scotland and the ironwork there - wow. It was amazing. And there was so much of it! And it hit me, the people who made it, who still make, really must be out there. I loved every minute being there and now, as a substitute teacher, I know it's just not enough. And so, I have this growing obsession and I'm joining up because I really hope that I can go somewhere with this. I can't wait to devour every scrape of information I can. Long introduction aside, I'm really glad to be here!