tzonoqua

Yes, there are a few of us out there....!!

I do think she sets a bad example in that photo by not wearing eye protection. (I will admit I too have been guilty of this)
I know us girlies can be a bit vain...



- Colleen

Frosty, why thank you Sir!

My customers are very, very patient, actually! These gates are taking such a long time, partially because I don't get out to the workshop full time because of my wee demanding daughter. And partially because at this stage I am forging the leaves and 'weaving' it all together. Funny, when I made the drawing I thought, "this won't be too difficult!". The design has actually strayed a lot from the original drawing and I have made it a lot more complex, but I can't help it. I am in no way a perfectionist, but if I see something is going to look better another way than I originally planned, then I go with it, even though now its taking twice as long as I thought it might... which is probably a result of me being inexperienced in large architectural work, so this is a good learning experience anyway. I have just been approached now for another bigger set of gates and am slightly trembling at the prospect...but I do like a challenge!
Colleen

Wow, Mooseridge, nice dragon!

Jayco- I made some leaf chimes last summer- they make such a sweet sound! I strung them on some components I had lying around and they sold really well... I have been meaning to make more, but never the time!



I have been busy with a set of double gates for a cottage called the 'grain store'.

eeek, Dodge that spider gives me the creeps!!

This little birdy has been hanging around my back yard...
I call him Freaky Beak...


I might add that this little bird is a blue tit, common in the uk, but they normally have short stubby beaks...

Hello Adrian! Nice to see you here also! You should put a link to your website - I am sure everyone here would love to see more of your lovely, lovely work!
X Colleen

no you aren't being naive...

you can use vegetable oil

I use a mixture of meths or turpentine, tannic acid and a drop of oil. apply with brush when hot. gives a matt rich black/brown finish. Or sometimes I use just oil, or another favourite is 'jacobean' briwax. Only suitable for indoor uses. After a while outdoors it will eventually rust.

For outdoors I use paint, generally. Or if it's something like a big gate or railing that someone has spent a lot of money on, I send it away to be galvinized then powder coated.

Colleen

Very nice, the fish is great! Art exhibitions are funny things, sometimes you never know how successful they are until months later when that person who picked up your card rings you out of the blue and commissions some work... I try to look at them as good publicity and then it's always a bonus if you get a sale or two.
Colleen

To patina mild steel I sometimes use a concoction of Tannic Acid, little drop of veg oil and meths (acts as carrier). Brushed on metal when warm. Gives a nice antique- looking matt brown black finish.

Incidentally sometimes the rivers up here run brown because of the tannins in the peat, pine leaching into the water.

Hi Thomas,
This piece is really lovely, very original, and nicely organic. Great!
Colleen

Thanks, guys... my horse is not a patch on the real thing though!

I nearly became a farrier, well, I went so far as to enrol in college for it back when I was in Canada- before it was due to start they informed me they were no longer going to run the course due to lack of interest... (apparently I was the only one who enrolled!!) I used to ride and show Appaloosas, and sold my last horse an Appaloosa/Quarter horse mare named Jammer and used the money to go travelling, that was over 15 years ago. (and consequently I only discovered Blacksmithing 9 years ago)

The point of this story is that Jammer was born with a slightly turned in rear right hoof, which when I took her on at the age of four, (she was gifted to me as a ''problem child'' with a penchant for rearing) I discovered that it could have been corrected if she had been properly shod, but as it had been neglected was now permanent. She wasn't a "problem child'' really, she just needed some extra attention.

Moral of this story- Farriers have my respect also.

oh yes, and if only I had a penny for the number of times people come into my shop and see all the ornamental stuff and still ask," so how do you like shoeing horses?"

Sorry about your knee Pete46
Been a while since I had one of my own so this one will do for the moment. She doesn't kick, rear or bite, but is not half as fun to ride...

i have good locks, window bars, thick stone walls, a dog and most of a all a comprehensive insurance policy.
if someone is hell bent on breaking in i am not going to try to stop them and get possibly maimed or injured in the process. I love my family far too much for that, that is why I pay for insurance.
ditto Johannes, violence is so passe. I have no problem with shooting, for hunting purposes, to eat, or a neccessary cull (we replaced top predator in many places of the world and therefore must ensure some animal populations don't damage forests etc deer for example) but ending a creature's life for our amusement is a plain waste.
my 2 cents...
Colleen

simple, elegant, beautiful.. although I suspect not so simple to attempt getting that completely round....

and i like the sound of "tweek your inner scrolls" sounds like some sort of new age blacksmith speak for who knows what!:)

may I bring to your attention this photo given to me by the man who runs our local museum- of the Smiddy where I now live/work- its from around the 1920's give or take a decade. You can just make out the man wearing a kilt to rasp the horse's hooves...



I think its staged though, as the other lads in the photo are wearing leather aprons, covered in soot, and wearing dark colours, I am not sure in that day they would wear a white shirt to work!!!!

Looks like a great idea, and sorry to be a spoil-sport, but would the flat stock not warp/distort when hot and worked and therefore lose its gripping capabilities? Also, allowing the round rod to pivot horizontally, if you catch my drift?

Just posing the questions, eh.

Like most things, using them will tell... do report back!

Lovely work, I second Blackbeard, the base is a bit 'sharp' - but for a first attempt is fantastic.
Colleen

1. Artist Blacksmith
2. Mural Painting, backdrop painting.
3. Web Design/Graphic Design

all of these somehow fit around my primary job as a Mother!

Thanks guys!

Newbiesmith Dan- I think you as a beginner could attempt something like this- it is certainly full of basic techniques to master! there are tutorials in the blueprints about making leaves, twists, drawing down the metal, riveting. The tongs were a bit tricky as I said, I had not made tongs like that before, and I wasn't working from a pattern or blueprint, just figuring it out as I went. Every time it's the first time making something it is always a learning experience. I usually try to make two of them, first one is a practice piece to make mistakes on, second one usually turns out better.

Colleen

Hello All,
another fire companion set.
Trivet design is copied with kind permission from Jeremy K.
Was the first time I attempted tongs in this shape, can be used one handed, like scissors. Leaf "plates'' are to be fixed to wall to hang.

R Funk has hit it on the nail for me.

When I started out here, I began by thinking, how much time it takes + materials etc, to give me an end price. There are lots of good formulas out there to begin to try to value your time and costs etc. which is good to have an idea of what your hourly and daily rate should be. When I am pricing up things like say Hooks or simple candlesticks, and other work like gates and handrails etc, I tend to use this pricing structure, and compare with other Blacksmith's work, just to make sure that I am NOT the cheapest out there.

Then I went to see a specialist arts business advisor, who pointed out to me what he called ''Top down pricing'' rather than the former ''bottom up pricing''

As in - how much can you get away with charging for something, how much will the market bare. I do a lot of fine art sculpture, that just is impossible to price with a ''bottom up price''.

There is the old saying that if you have to ask how much it is you can't afford it in the first place. I LOVE the handful of my customers that walk in and just WANT this or that item I have sitting there, or sometimes before I have finished pieces they have already sold, as I give these people the full treatment, they get a tour of the workshop and cups of tea. Perhaps it is a bit mercinary, but they don't even ask for a price, they just get their chequebook out. It doesn't mean I rip them off- it just means I can actually charge what I want to for my skills and my 'artistic vision', and they are very happy to pay. I wish I had more customers like this as they are the ones who buy the fine art sculptures- which is the why I got into blacksmithing in the first place. In a perfect world I would only do this kind of work, but these customers don't come into the shop every day, or even every month sometimes, so the other stuff is filler in between! The only problem is that too often I find myself busy with the ''filler'' and having not enough time for the fine art stuff...

swage block and cone mandrel...

Having acquired a gas forge about 7 months ago, after Blacksmithing for around 8 years only using coal/coke I would mostly have to agree with Mike Tanner on his points.

I like the convenience of gas, turn on turn off, 10 min to working temp.

It is very limited in its size, careful planning of work so that I make all components before assembly, after assembly then tweak with oxy/ac. whereas with coal you can stick the whole piece in generally however shapen/whatever size.

I get lots of scale in my gas forge, have tried a few things, no success yet in reducing scale.

To my mind, both gas and coal aren't good for environment, its all burning something. Coal does feel a bit more ''natural' to me tho. I am yet to try charcoal.

Coal has advantage, you can make big fire, or very, very small fire if required/desired and you have much more control over the heating of a piece, control over the blower- I prefer hand turned. Whereas in my gas forge, its either all four engines:) (burners) go, or nothing.

Boils down to jobs at hand and personal preference. I like the ritual and romanticism of making a fire. Having said that, I find myself using the gas forge more, because I tend to work in sporadic spurts of a few hours at at time out in the workshop, then back in the house, etc.

Thanks Covforge. The Horse head is life size too. This year for the Horse Trials here I may attempt the whole horse. Will have to transport it to the show in a horse box (trailer)!

larrynjr & Pete, no worries. I personally am not worried with whether a kilt/skirt has a hem or not... and I happen to like those amerikilts/utilikilts... do think they are bit pricey tho...

Anyone point me to the direction of Blueprints for guillotine/fuller tool?

Thanks guys.:)

Jimbob- I like that idea of the Russian Rose, ok I take back what I said earlier about not working with sheet, It might work if I cut out with the plasma... then weld it to a bit of rod... hmmm will have to try one of those

A-Man -I also like the idea of the guillotine tool... but I am a bit of a rubbish blacksmith when it comes to making my own tools. I make jigs for stuff all the time, but I get nervous at things with moving parts. May try that tho if I feel overly confident one day and have time to kill, will keep it in mind

Thank you Alan B, India was full on... I was contacted recently by a journalist working for National Geographic who is doing an article on the Lohars, he wanted some background info etc, before he goes out there himself. Article coming some time this year, keep eyes peeled.

Jmercier, I think you may have a bit of a kilt fetish.
and Larrynjr, I hate to break it to you guys, but anything with a hem on it is no longer a kilt, and becomes a skirt. (or so I have been told by old time local who is a seventh generation Atholl Highlander, our Castle's private army)

I am just finishing off another fire set, then I have a set of gates to do, then I can start experimenting.

Ok, I challenge thee to make thistles...