beth Posted November 16, 2011 Share Posted November 16, 2011 colleen - yes i love indian ironwork - indian decoration altogether!! YUMMMM i vebeen to india too a couple of times, and once for quite a few months up mainly in kashmir and rajasthan - i JUST loved it, but did no metal work at all, infact spent most of my luxurous freedom (now a fairly distant idea in terms of travel,,, ! ) doing ludicrous spaced out things - but i did wander about an awful lot and LOOK at stuff, it was time well spent really sat a lot with a silver smith i made friends with though, in his house and marvelled at the way he worked with a cigarette lighter and a long blow tube for his soldering flame... his workshop you could have fit in the palm of your hand. GRoovy mainly though, the magnificent pride in decoration - its EVERYWHERE over there isnt it? the first time i went , the long visit, was years ago , and it had somewhat changed when i took my 3 kids a couple of years ago - when i went previosuly, all the vehicles, the tata trucks, the rickshaws, the traps and bull carts, were gloriously painted in every imaginable colour with intricate designs, of gods,wild animals, and of life and love and all good things and anywhere you could concieveabley hang something pretty, there was something pretty, hanging... i love india - long live colour and pattern - you can only hope the country retains its essence as it eventually turns into the sterility of capitalist countries... i would love to see your pieces you made over there - what a lovely experience that must have been... your job sounds a great place to learn new stuff colleen - how ridiculous about the gas bottle - insane. this is the world we live in! or the country should i say - you wouldnt get such nonsense in india would you?? :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brian.pierson Posted November 16, 2011 Share Posted November 16, 2011 Beth, I can see the holes in the hook from the picture. I could see a Phillips head screws used to hold it on the wall so you get a + in the middle of the dots you have. or maybe a square headed screw with a few )( shapes forged into it so it looks like the center of a flower. I was just trying to envision it hanging on a wall for a hat or jacket. I liked the shape of it and you should not be apologizing for it. It might not be what you were working for but it stands to itself well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
K. Bryan Morgan Posted November 16, 2011 Share Posted November 16, 2011 Got a link for the exhibit pictures? Love this thread, took me a week to catch up. (KB, you can always put a hearth pad down for a stove, say a layer of bricks or a sheet of concrete board(you can tile it even!), or what I did at my Mother-in-law, a sheet of concrete board with a layer of bricks on it.) Phil Umm, derp, I knew that. Sometimes my scattered brain won't let me get my thoughts in order. Here's the link to the expo. Not alot of pics of Jakes work in it just one. http://www.uaf.edu/museum/artisan-expo/ Colleen those are some very nicely made tongs. Well done. I havn't been able to get into the shop to work at all. Its -40 somethingish. I just don't go out in it unless I have to. Getting the shop heated is a priority, but, its just gonna have to wait. Once I do though, I will be spending alot more time in it. I wasn't able to do much this year, I feel I fell behind and need to catch up. Some with learning this very extensive skill and some with just personal goals. I just need to think outside of the box and gitter done. Now I need to get out in this very cold weather and go to the store. Have fun, stay warm and great work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tzonoqua Posted November 16, 2011 Share Posted November 16, 2011 yes, well said Brian!! And BrYan!! exhibition looks amazing, always so many fantastic artists that live in extreme places!! Stay warm!!!! oh, I'm going to be in a book!! Very exciting... called "Queens of Iron" published in Germany, she is going to include photos from my work in Rajasthan... mostly the same stuff on the website though, but nice to know that it will be on paper!! anyway, i will be a "queen of irony" hehe oh yeah, cylindergate I've been calling the incident at the school. completely over the top reaction. This H&S stuff is supposed to be about common sense, but it's turned into a litigation avoiding bureaucratic nightmare. And costing people and the education system an absolute fortune for everyone to have their pieces of paper to say their allowed to use bits of equipment. I can see why it's there but the practicalities of it are not practical!! No, india has it's own way... lol... they believe in karma and life is pretty cheap.. or has been, but it will change, and is changing there as it has here...! anyway, to refer back to a conversation some pages ago- iron neckwear, this is the piece that gave my poor friend bruises after a night out dancing!!! Was forged and spot welded together. There is a reason that iron jewellery isn't the norm!! lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigfootnampa Posted November 16, 2011 Share Posted November 16, 2011 I like that hook too Beth. To me it's a whimsical stylization of a narrow waisted lady with arms about to rest on hips in a classic pose of disapproval... she's just about to deliver a little message on the evils of...?! She's got an old fashioned polka-dot dress on. Colleen's tongs look like Olive Oyl after Bluto gets her wound up! BTW I saw a guy that woulda made that movie Bluto look totally wimpy! I was sitting at the county fair with my young son and his friend and warning them to stay in the horse trailer through the night... they had a steer to show early the next morning... And I nodded to the table where this man-mountain sat to drive home my point! MAN did their eyes OPEN UP! This guy had to be well over 400 pounds with thighs the size of a basketball hoop and thick BLACK hair inches long EVERYWHERE! He even made the cartoon Bluto seem understated! Well anyway they are nice as they are but for some future ideas try experimenting with a bit of pre and/or post twist forging. I like the softer textures produced that way myself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pkrankow Posted November 17, 2011 Share Posted November 17, 2011 Jake, that fireplace set is cool I like the deer motif. I was wondering about the clip or loop in the pan of the shovel though, does it serve a purpose? Phil Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Randy Posted November 17, 2011 Share Posted November 17, 2011 Way to go, Colleen! But I have some confusion. When I looked the book up here is the cover and the highlight:"Racial tension in a maximum security prison is brought to a boiling point when Vito, a Mafia hit man, falls in love with Jangles, a black prison queen. This places Gypsy, leader of the biker population, in a very precarious position. He must do something to stop a race war from happening." Colleen, were you in prison? nevermind...lol. Must be another "Queens of Iron" Now let's not get the wrong book! Looking forward to seeing it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tzonoqua Posted November 17, 2011 Share Posted November 17, 2011 HAHAHAHA!!! No, I have been many things in my former lives, but not in prison!!! The book is not yet published, will be sometime soon I think, it was only about a month ago that the author got all the copy, photos and permissions together. and Big foot, too funny, you're seeing everything as cartoon women!!! Not quite sure if we want to delve further into that !! Oh yeah, Jakes fire set is amazing. love it. here's the tongs i made ... ones on bottom in first pic are ones I made recently, top ones made ages ago... second pic, ones on right are the recent ones... like i said, not very pretty but they're functional.... am making another pair, started them today but ran out of time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KST1-Derek Fultz Posted November 17, 2011 Share Posted November 17, 2011 I finally took a look at Jakes fireplace set. It's georgeous (would be wouldn't it?). I also noticed that if you click on the pic in the feed it opens up in Flicker and you can leave him a comment. -Derek Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beth Posted November 17, 2011 Share Posted November 17, 2011 colleen the tongs look great- and they are not required to be pretty are they - as long as they work thats all we need eh? i should make some more.... thats really funny about your racial tension in high security prison ...! nice one randy - and i look forward to reading the REAL book what a cool thing to be involved with - iron lady is a splendid title too!! remind me of a time when somebody described my exceptional and very kick ass sister as an iron fist in a velvet glove - i thought that was a funny description - he was obviously scared of her!! she was very pleased with that! big foot a man after my own heart - i adore cartoons, love your imagery!! popeye is up there with the best of them too. did any of you see that simply perfect old pops clip someone put up on here where he is in a forging showdown for olives love? its Perfect and Priceless animation, and i LOVE IT! your life sounds like books i read - your boy showing steers and all that! lovely stuff it always sounds better in someone elses country, and in their language, doesnt it - more exotic and romantic more cowboy talk whenever you like gentlemen!! keep it coming :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beth Posted November 17, 2011 Share Posted November 17, 2011 well done derek - we can leave him some feedback the set is great - his attention to detail is fantastic, but for me, mainly its the character that comes across, of a lovely man commited to his mission. bravo jakus!! :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tzonoqua Posted November 17, 2011 Share Posted November 17, 2011 tried to leave a comment but won't let me unless I sign up for a flicker account!! I hate being bullied into signing up for things. anyway, Jake's set is incredible, such a thing of beauty... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigfootnampa Posted November 17, 2011 Share Posted November 17, 2011 Colleen; Yahoo runs Flickr and you can just sign in if you have a Yahoo ID. I think that Jake intended that fireset as a parody of Alaskan decor tastes... the deer are caribou of course. I believe that Jakes penchant for parody contributed to many of those extra spiky bits on that set. Congratulations on your upcoming book feature! BTW I really like that iron necklace! It needs a viking warrior to wear it though (or maybe a Queen of Iron)... THEY won't mind the bruises! Beth I am glad to know that my life sounds romantic! It has seemed like a sorta rough ride to me podna! I have had some fun with it though! My boy was in the 4H program and it was great! I have noticed that for many of the young people involved their participation in 4H activities is a real source of pride that they can feel good about even many years later! We also got to know some really special people through our involvement in 4H! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigfootnampa Posted November 17, 2011 Share Posted November 17, 2011 BRAVO JAKUS!!! Indeed! I like that bit a lot Beth! Forge on Sir Jake! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beth Posted November 17, 2011 Share Posted November 17, 2011 big foot - yes i wondered if the fire set might have been slightly tongue in cheek - we will have to ask our brave knight when he returns from his crusade. i think we are all missing his narrative...! hey - and whats the 4H ?.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigfootnampa Posted November 18, 2011 Share Posted November 18, 2011 Beth 4H is a quasi-governmental youth organization closely associated with rural lifestyles and often run by university extension programs. They are kind of an agriculturally oriented boy scout program. They have a presence in 80 countries but I can't find anything on them in the UK. Here's a link to the Wikipedia entry which is concise: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4-H I think Jake mentioned the fireset in the thread earlier but way back. The work involved in putting on an event like our annual livestock show and sale which entails the raising and training of the stock, weigh ins, practice shows, public showing at the fair and arena judging, a buyer dinner and auction sale, clean up, delivery of the animals to the buyers or a processing plant... all is done by the participating youths and their volunteer leaders and parent volunteers! I cannot even give you much of an idea of all that's involved but it is Herculean tasks all around! One year I loaded the steer and delivered him to the stalls then picked up fruit for a 100 serving fruit salad on the way home. Next morning a cow and calf and 3 horses got out of the pasture... by the time I got them rounded up (lots of walking/running) I had about 3 hours to get the fruit all washed, peeled, pitted, sliced, diced, mixed and delivered (a 45 minute drive away)! I worked up a pretty good sweat that day! It takes about 8 gallons of fruit salad to serve 100 people. Good thing I can handle a knife! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KST1-Derek Fultz Posted November 18, 2011 Share Posted November 18, 2011 Big, 4-H is a great program. My kids are just now old enough to get involved, but the state wide 4-H camp in located in our home town (Monticello, IL). They have over 5 thousand kids there throughout the year and multiple adult groups and organizations as well. I acted as judge of the Metalwork and Welding category of our county's 4-H fair last year. A very rewarding experience! -Derek Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tzonoqua Posted November 18, 2011 Share Posted November 18, 2011 4H is not just boys!! (I was in 4H when I was little!!) Suppose I was a bit of a tom boy, but there were other girls too. Beth 4H is like what Young Farmers is in the UK. I loved it, I lived in the town and always wanted to live in the country, my parents got me into 4H which was awesome!! It got me into horses (appaloosas actually) in a big way, suppose it was cause they first gave me a spotty fresian cow to lead around and i wanted to ride horses but wanted them to be all colourful too!! I loved that cow, whom was called "betty moo" I stopped riding when I moved over here, too expensive here, but am toying with the idea of getting a horse, for me and the kids. Just have to work out how to pay it's up-keep. Can turn it out on the farm here and they've got a pair of stalls for bad weather, they have one horse on the farm, who's retired, so maybe I need to get him a friend for company, cause i think he's lonely just hangin' out with the sheep!!! Anyway, I'm a blacksmith, so I HAVE to have a horse, right!!???? (because we all shoe horses don't we??!!) Anyway, with no story on Jake's set, I have no idea that it is a parody, lol, but I don't care I love it just the same. I do like over-the-top outlandish stuff though, so no surprises there. But I think it's technically brilliant as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beth Posted November 18, 2011 Share Posted November 18, 2011 aha! thanks colleen - i know young farmers and the concept - wasnt in it but knew many who were, (seemed to involve a lot of alcohol and driving tractors into lakes.... maybe that was just the glos branch ) big foot, it sounds far more edifying where you are, and a lot of fun - that fruit task sounds fairly full on! you may be in the wrong job.... derek - your involvement sounds fun too - you lots kids have a good time over there! colleen the horse dream sounds lovely - it IS very expensive here to be involved in any significant way - do you have girls or boys or a mix? my boys are not bothered, but my daughter is really keen to ride, so i may do that with her, but as for owning one, there is little chance of that at the moment. we have only a small space here - (the farm we keep ALL our stuff on is not ours!! ) and we have crammed many ducks and chickens, ferrets and 3 dogs into it already - even a miniature pony would have to fight for space! my daughter is lucky cos all her friends seem to have ponies that she can ride, so thats brilliant. i like the mad gypsy horses you get at the fairs, or the heavy horses - the shires and punches but you'd need a proper reason to keep one of them... :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tzonoqua Posted November 18, 2011 Share Posted November 18, 2011 haha, yeah, i do think 4H is probably a bit purer than Young Farmers!!! dream horse, probably remain a dream for a while, the farm is not ours... i rent my workspace there, end of a barn that stores tractors etc. they have about 80 acres or so, farmer lady is sound as. A stockman leases some of the pasture for some cows and sheep, they have orchards, and an ancient withy-bed that's fallen into neglect, she wants to get the land "working" again, has revamped the place as a rural skills centre, developing the garden... am looking into getting a charcoal kiln see if that can be developed... diversify eh!! have a daughter and a litter of step kids that came previously, older girl is horse mad, 2 boys not too fussed but i think would be happy to have more members of the menagerie!! native uk horses here are very beautiful. i have some horse drawn traveller friends, some amazing horses, all stout build, feather'd legs and full manes. Fairy tale horses.... I have this plan (dream plan) of crossing the native ponies with appaloosas, so colourful, spotty, feather'd leg, full mane and flowing tail.... Actually, my dream lifestyle is horsedrawn on the canal. That's another story. Ah, the shires... amazing creatures... worthy of carrying knights... eh!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigfootnampa Posted November 19, 2011 Share Posted November 19, 2011 Sorry, I didn't mean to exclude girls when I compared 4H to boy scouts. Our group was pretty evenly represented with both boys and girls and some groups (especially riding groups and cooking/homemaking groups) will have more girls than boys. Speaking of pretty horses... I wish you all could be here and watch my wife's new Tennessee Walker mare! She has the most amazingly graceful way of moving! Her feet placed with such complex precision! When she gets to a cantering speed she moves so FAST and seems to float above the earth! Extremely beautiful! The trainer that my wife bought her from specializes in gaited horses and said that this horse has the finest gait he has seen on his ranch in the 28 years that he has been there. She is an extremely intelligent animal and full of energy and life. She is far more alert than most animals and doesn't miss a thing that happens around her. I might have to take up riding just to experience being aboard when she does that floating thing. It seems a dream to move that fast on horseback! Like riding a cloud! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beth Posted November 19, 2011 Share Posted November 19, 2011 wow bigfoot, she sounds incredible - maybe you could get a photo of her for us? what a priveledge to witness such a special animal.... it s the sort of thing that would make me cry! i def think you should get on that horse big foot... sometimes i watch horses at a horse fair that comes very near where i live - its stow fair colleen, one of the biggest horse fairs left in the country - lots of horsedrawn there - i absolutely LOVE it! it puts some peoples nose out of joint ( for lots of pretty unsubstantiated reasons from my point of view) and it is wild and wonderful there is a gait they get some of their horses to do, up and down the field, i forget the name but you and your wife would know, its fascinating, completely different to standard gait - maybe its what your tennessee walker does...? have you seen the muybridge photos of horse gait - they are Beautiful ... i still kinda love the clydesdale, punches, shires for sheer majestic strength and composure. just wonderful ps bigfoot - you excluded nobody :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
K. Bryan Morgan Posted November 20, 2011 Share Posted November 20, 2011 Well I got to meet Jake yesterday. It was a pleasure and an honor to meet just a nice down to earth guy. He is just as excited about blacksmithing in person as he is on the internet. There was a large mount of stuff on his table and he had a computer showing a film of blacksmithing. But I didn't pay that close attention to it. While he's here in Fairbanks his access to the internet is very limited. I don't know if he will be on again until mid January. I'll see what I can do about that. I have a plan to get him to my house for dinner and drinks at least once. And I may be able to get him to a once a month meeting some local bladesmiths have that I attend. And this dang site won't let me upload pics again. Ok click on my signature and go to my blog I have pics posted there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigfootnampa Posted November 21, 2011 Share Posted November 21, 2011 Thanks for those pics Bryan! I bet Jake was pleased to see a friendly face behind enemy lines as he puts it! Beth here's a link to my Flickr photostream and I have uploaded a picture of "Blue" (the Tennessee Walker). This is just a head shot (only good one of her so far) and you cannot see the beauty of this animal until you see her move. Even walking everyone comments on her beauty... but when she gets into her canter speed gait she is truly a mesmerizing vision! Also some pics of various forged items here that may interest those who haven't seen them yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigfootnampa Posted November 21, 2011 Share Posted November 21, 2011 http://www.flickr.com/photos/12090459@N06/page1/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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