beth

lovely tongs! ... i got to get a grip and make some more - they dont get easier when i make em! i will have to make a lot more i guess. youve inspired me to try again :)

thanks you lot :) female smith i will paint it today i think, and post a shot of it. not too many drips i hope... mo is there any photos of your gate which i missed ? i chose this design too out of about ten i drew for her - and then i altered the last one a bit.. it takes a while doesnt it? all that drawing....

timothy they are just beautiful! i cant at all imagine making something so delicate and perfect, i have total respect for the work youve done there, and i Love how youve decorated them, you didnt need to do that but you chose to :) makes them so special! imagine coming across these in 100 years time.. your absolutely right about trying new things all the time. the learning is the addictive thing. nice one timothy :)

i quite like that - the old cf is a classic in its own right, and this version has a certain je ne cest quoi :) any more pictures of inside?

big foot bless your heart !!! sweet words, and much appreciated :wub:

thankyou big foot and travis :) i dont know about a talent for design bigfoot, i had to compromise my idea at every point becasue i couldnt do it properly!! anyway it looks pretty enough now. i forgot to say as well, this one is probably twice the size of the last one i made ( this is only my 2nd attempt at a proper usuable gate) its about 70 inches high and 35 wide so much bigger than that little garden fork one. thanks for all your comments you lot :)

what camper van are you selling... (see - i cant resist? its in my blood...) forge in sounds great - as does lunch time cabaret, like the sound of your wierd steel...

john, is hot zinc spray the same as powder coating? when i read that i presumed it was something different but im not actually sure..

thanks john - good advice - i have heard, im sure, tales of drippy messes with galvanised....

not far really, depends which end of the dean! im cotswolds end of glos, but an hour would see me well into the dean heartlands :) funny i thought you might have heard of steve - the things that come out of my workshop could not be more different than what comes out of his! am in awe of how his brain works. i too am a student of you tube - i personally find it a fine tutor :) the blacksmiths guild that john b mentioned above is really great too - if you want courses, theirs are fantastic.

hi nick and welcome, another one in england - although i think youll find its raining here today.... :) if your into your stalking and your this end of the country you may know my buddy steve bowers of specialist rifles, everyone linked to that game seems to know him! well i work next to him in glos, although not for long cos im moving somewhere warm and dry!! all the best to you, hope you show us what youve made when you finish it :)

no teeny, no forge welding - one day though :) the small tendrils on the spirally bits are mig welded on, and the leaves and their stems are forged out of 3/4 inch square, not welded on leaves. i would love to master forge welding cos i think its very cool and magical :)

does this really work as an effective stand alone descaler before paint? ive never tried it... do you Need to neutralize it too? sorry to ask basics..

hi henry! ive not been on here much recently but it has been invaluable for info and support. i live in glos not far from you and i am an artist and do a lot of things maybe like you, but my reason to be on here is i also do what i hesitate to call blacksmithing, and its a steep learning curve always, but a totally interesting one. look forward to seeing some thing that you made! think there are a couple of uk teens on here to keep you company... :) best of luck :)

thanks john, i want to get it all straight before it all grinds to a halt for summer holidays. the new place is bigger lighter dryer more lockable and harder for people to come and waffle me at my fire!! cant wait really... so this is the whole house move then john? good luck yourself, guess youve shifted lots of your tools up to westpoint now then? how did the forge in go?did you get many in the end? have i imagined it , or am i still in credit with you ? ;) many apologies if i have this wrong, i will take your word for it either way :)

woody - yeah i thought after i put it, that was a slightly peculier response, but it was an honest one!! :) kind of like jonah in the whale, i know that was meant to be a bad experience, but i always thought it sounded v exciting :) but maybe its just me... ;) i always liked hollow forms that describe a shape, postleg i think that shape you made stays in the minds eye really well. i might be tempted to paint him if he were mine... like a matt surface.. but that would probably ruin it :)

thankyou very much guys! there is alot im not so pleased with about this piece, but i think you must concentrate on the overall impression, and if she is happy then i will be happy too. im not very good at all at following a Plan to the letter, it gets me very anxious, i most often think in the morning i must Try to do such and such, im never convinced my days plans will work, and often have to change my mind as im doing it! i guess this will change with time and experience. and in ref to the design, the lady just said she wanted something pretty, with hearts and a loose petalled flower, and not too heavy on the amount of metal. so i drew her something, then made this.

fab fish postleg! there is real Volume to that beast. love the wide mouth - makes me want to jump inside it! :)

ps frank - yes - the lady specifically said she wanted the gate to look light, she did not want lots of metal on it, oddly enough, but i get what she meant. i think really i should have/could have gone a bit lighter, it weighs a lot, but maybe next time.. i hope she likes it...

thankyou you lot, one and all, for your very encouraging remarks :) that was a really happy read for me! :) john, yes very funny, i reckon its not great as a draught excluder either... the main thing it has to exclude however is a naughty escapee dog, and i had to take his vital stats and make sure he cant fit through anywhere ;) but.. you know something, now, of the type of bodgery that is commonly behind my work, and rest assured that behind that wrap and the collars are some totally OTT welds, so i hope it will be rigid enough. it is a little on the heavy side though.. jake by the way john, still doing his fabulous thing in the back end of nowhere, still, and as always is a blinking wicked blacksmith and artist and massive inspiration to me. the man rocks. i know he would want to send his best and finest regards to you as well, if he knew we were talking of him :) colleen, loving your daughters developing musical taste :) ive been really manic doing all kinds of things that life has thrown at me, so have not been on here at all really, hope all is good with you? hope work is still an enjoyable challenge? and your not TOTALLy disheartened by the rain on your stalls? and no, ive never had anything galv'd, what does it do to the surface do you lose much detail? and is it expensive? i know youve done some of your work... i only ever hand paint it, but am interested in what youve done.. woody - chum, thanks for your positive comments on the winging it factor :), some of us just cant seem to avoid it, but a very clever chap recently said to me that its the ONLY way to proceed, just to barge ahead with your design and find a way on the job, as to how to do it. gradually the technical stuff and the best methods will come. thats the hope anyway :)

monster - its painful to think about your loss, let alone experience it... i think your doing exactly the right thing, scaling down to what interests you, turnover certainly is not everything, and its better that you feel motivated and in good mental shape than carry on in a way that is draining you when you need your energy to build yourself up.. much love to you from all the way over in this rainy little island, i wish you lots of good and unexpected things... a close friend of mine lost her eldest boy not so long ago, and she is still here, still living, and occasionally she smiles and laughs now. all the best monster :)

john, really sorry hate to keep saying no, i am moving workshops next week, HAVE to achieve it before school breaks up..... it is not through lack of interest -= hope it goes well.. hope you are well too.. :)

here is a gate ive just finished, its taken me ages due to me not thinking about it when i drew it!! i have learned much, as usual, which is the up side :) i still have to paint it black ...

am LOVING!!!! that curly cut element... Really love the look of that :) NICE!

love how youve built that, the techniques youve used :) ! it looks completely natural in that material! really unusual...