beth

whirly - thats the kiddie! just looked on your page to see if i could find that red creature - its fabulous - i love it, the scale, the shape, and the mad color :) very groovy and i would love him by my house:) youve a nice natural way of shaping stuff ..

hey whirly i love that! you made him with a really nice touch - just hangs together great! loving that red creature on your photo too... ! :)

very beautiful leaves Roman, they look appealing and tactile :) wonderful !

how encouraging :) see - there ARE opportunities :)

colton thats so cool!!! you must be very strong and have very clever hands and eyes... think of all the things you can make now~!!!! that hook is The Business!! thanks for posting your pictures. :) thomas - wicked :) thats the way!!! lovely :)

love em randy! like how youve not gone nutty trying to neaten them up. they have style :) how much you selling them for... i like buckles..... and pirates.. ;)

nice one tim :) i think the head and upper body work really well, and the tilt of the head is good too :) thanks for posting !

i cant make that day john either - it Does sound interesting and will be great for the profile of the craft to get some of the skills required a bit more defined.. my only worry that this might end up like some other lines of work where there is an accreditation board that does not necassarily reflect all sizes of business - and mainly favours the larger set - up. that would be my input if i was there, i like tom, am very much still a learner, but i do think that if it comes down to a situation where to get contracts you have to tick certain boxes, theres always a risk that the little but just as skilled guys miss out, because maybe you have to have a certain size premises, or employ a certain amount of people or have office procedures in place when you dont even have an office!!!!... i guess thats why this is being thrashed out properly. sounds hopeful. i hope there is plenty of skilled blacksmiths who will input their thoughts.

i like the bunched leaves adrian - really nice feature , all looks nice and clean and good. :) i cant see the leaves that clearly, if you have a close up?

really pretty rose blackwater! i like the leaves too, and how youve textured the stem - the rose has loads of movement. nice one :)

colleen i think they are great! really cool, nicely shaped :) and interesting handle method, and if your using them they must be pretty functionable. i have never made a knife, i might try one day - do many things on the might try list, and i know how much knives demands in terms of Time Spent... i really like them anyway - must be fab using them when you made em :)

yes i did thomas - and i found it very interesting how she was dressed - she looked very happy at her work too! i also noted the harp - that picture is beautiful, they look like children working. all of the pictures are great ..

PLUS of course, i think, the added ingredients along with The Magic ( the ecology?) with capital letters, but plos importantly, the individual, which is what is taken out almost entirely in mechanised processes, its the individual energy, directly affecting the material, the uniqueness - our own magic, when free flowing is powerful thing! another great combo, i think its threeway, then, the ecology, the bsmithing, and the individual...

i was just thinking, also, that when you are Feeling the subtle movements at the strike point, this must benefit massively, you are able to work more unconsciously, and therefore WITH the nature of the material, not against it , sometimes, with the help of the Ego :) this instance metal, is free -er to speak, this is much more like sculpture than anything and when you talk of clay - this is how i would love to be with forging, i can use clay easily, i have found metal much harder to get in step with... it is a case of learning to listen and notice what it s character is and what it is comfortable doing, its essential Nature. i am interested in how you define ecology, it sounds like the perfect pairing, if its what i think it is, then it is what i try to mix with my drawing and sculpture to get the best result, the unconscious Reaction to many variables including the material and the information from the senses. the brains involvement , directly, at the time of making, is not always a good thing in my opppinion. i dont know how this pans out with tool making and such, becasue it is the expressive side of forging that i am interested in at the moment.

thanks for the wonderful pictures! i particularly love the first one and that beautiful curved anvil :) i could get quite taken with the anvil as an image, quite apart from even using it.... lovely to think of the earth as the main anvil, and the metal one the tool you access it by.. interesting image the last one, i like it very much, the woman has brought beautiful food for the man at work, this is a fabulous image of creativity by both parties, the woman sustaining the mans efforts with her imaginative a tasty cooking, the man inspiring her (perhaps providing for them) with his metal work. now in answer to the other thread also, the next day, the woman can take up the hammer, and the man can create at the stove. That way, two characters, that of the individuals, and both the sexes, get within the metal, and two in the food, everyone's a winner :)

oh dear! :ph34r: i cant comment too long on that subject (one very close to my heart) becasue you will end up with very deeply dredged up subject matter and it will very soon veer off the point of BLACKSMITHING which is why we are here!!! the wonderful symbiotic deformation of the metal... i will comment, as example though, on the subject of your sweetheart, may god help her if she really MUST remain tender and delicate in every last facet..!.. that does not allow for the Wild :) and the Wild is the whole.. :) i tell you, its a can of worms....... :ph34r: its very interesting hearing you talking about your tools popov because you can Feel the effect of what your talking about, it is very vivid. my most wonderful friend who i think your in contact with has made me a hammer similar to your design, so when it arrives i will try , and hopefully too, with the convex surface... i do not have this pipe thing clear in my mind though... i appreciate also your talk about magic becasue i think that the best things in life, the best activities, im talking about wether its bread making forging singing, or anything else, adds up, when its right, to way way more than the sum of its parts, there are extra factors outside of our knowledge or control, and that is exactly what goes into making these things the best practises :)

if it were me i would use a photograph of a real butterfly, and work from there, that way you will get something more original. you can get all you need, the shape of the wings and body, also markings, and they will all translate fairly easily into metal. show us what you end up making :)

wowzers ian, dont know when i will have the time for this but im a-logging it all up!! cant help thinking it would be a better idea for you to harness my unstoppable artistic genius and just have me send YOu the models to cast.... ;) then you can use your unstoppable process knowledge genius :) jobs a goodun... thomas i like that idea - capturing all the senses!!

thanks guys thats a range of prices ! ten hammers i wont buy it, i cant really at the moment although i agree it looks lovely bit of history - my friend just wanted me to ask you lot how much she should expect to sell it for . its a bit of a how long is a piece of string i realise, but i said i would ask. i always think something is only "worth" what somebody is prepared to pay for it...

a friend of mine wants to sell this hand bellow forge, i havent seen it only got two pictures - does anyone know a vague idea of value for this in the uk?? thank YOU!! :)

oh guys thats sounding brilliant ... my nieghbours would be even more enamoured with us than they already are... :) the nest is practically there...!! you lot are egging me on to buy something i cannot afford...... :) john the arrangements were very vague till the last minute in the end with ians visit and actual day we would meet up, but its my fault, i still could have emailed you - why dont you let me know when your next nearish, im sure we could pop up to alans, you would love his work and his tools! assuming thats ok with you alan, i could bring the toms and the bread again :0 ?? ian i would happily make you some parrot like salt n peppers if your really wanting them! you know i would! and would i get them cast here or would i just send you the waxes or whatever format you wanted them in? are you teasing me?? ;)

thomas glad your trip was good to :) would have been nice for our paths to cross - its never that simple is it! :) ian yes absolutely Can see those guys as salt and pepper pots!!! never quite know if your messing about OR actually would really make these things!!! for those that do not know this man, there seems to be no project/product ian will not happily take on, and he seems to have a tried and tested method for everything! :) and as for my driveway - your right of course, it would require huge leaps of imagination ( as all the best things do ;) ) but i was thinking somewhere between the skip the pavement and the duck run, i could even make the skip, temporarily (who am i kidding - that skips not going anywhere )- Permanently, then, into a pirates ship - to scale obviously, would block out a fair bit of light, but what an impact!! or maybe by the bins with the legion of unidentified and various childrens bikes as an avante guarde "still life ", or maybe, using one of robs lifts, up on the roof top? a kind of gigantic "jackdaw" chimney sentry.. as you can see - im not put off by the lack of sweeping gravel driveway - if i had those parrots - the world would be my oyster :)

he looks beautiful mac :) he stands lovely and the finish looks fabulous.! we got to ignore the whole hours thing sometimes havnt we? really nice sculpture, hope they were thrilled.

apologies lucky - i did think your question was a little odd if directed at me!!! i would be interested to hear more about how the anvil was to make too..

colleen - Yes. :) you Have the VISION :) hurray!!! i actually would love to have em....