ABANA Conference - 18-21 Jul 2012 - Rapid City, South Dakota

[Bill Clemens]

ABANA Conference

Central States Fairgrounds

RAPID CITY, SOUTH DAKOTA

JULY 18-21, 2012

Central States Fairgrounds

RAPID CITY, SOUTH DAKOTA

JULY 18-21, 2012

Demonstrators
Claudio Bottero will be working by hand and power hammer with a team of blacksmiths to create a large sculpture.
Punzo Family Coppersmiths will take scrap copper and turn it into beautiful copper vessels. All work is done by hand with very few tools.
Håvard Bergland will make a true Viking Axe. Håvard’s book, that has been translated into English, will be for sale.
Patient Order of Meticulous Metalsmiths will be making a Scandinavian style door with custom engraved hardware. They will be available to answer questions as they work
Becky Little will create a coat rack with her whimsical style. I cannot wait to see what else she has prepared for us!
Brian Brazeal and his assistant Lyle Wynn will do some hard hitting to make hammers and tooling.
The Smelt Team - Lee Sauder, Steve Mankowski, Shel Browder will be building a furnace on site. The first smelt will be on Thursday along with a talk about theory on site. Friday will be the second smelt. The first bloom will be transformed in to sculptural piece; the second one will be made into steel and forged into an axe. Two smelts will give everyone a chance to see the process.
Knife Makers will demo:
Making and patterning a damascus billet,
Making Mokume Gane ( Copper, Brass, Nickel Silver )
They will be demonstrating other interesting and exciting variations of knives.
Teaching Station
Mark Aspery, Darryl Nelson and Gerald Boggs have the teaching station well staffed.The guys will be instructing the National Curriculum along with other projects.
Classes
Nathan Roberts will be hosting a hammer making class, each participant will take home a hammer. There is an additional fee for this class.
Programs / Lectures
The South Dakota School of Mines and Technology will put on seminars at the school. ALL classes will be free of charge and sponsored by Nucor Steel. Limited enrollment and pre-registration suggested. Smith Busting: The Science of Blacksmithing. Steel Making for the Non-Metallurgist. Student Success Stories: Examples of successful student projects from SDSMT. This will be hands on and will highlight the making of a Samurai sword and a furnace. Drawing, Creative Visualization: From Cocktail Napkin to CAD A tour of SDSMT Metallurgy department will be offered. Ellen Durkan will talk on her work and drawings that are in the Apex Gallery.
The John Deere Historic Site director will give a talk about John Deere the blacksmith and their upcoming event. There will be slide shows with demonstrator talks. We will also have a poster gallery of all the Poster Contest entries.
FAMILY PROGRAMS
German Braided Rug Weaving Class
Quilt Magic Class (No Sewing Required)
German Braided Rug Weaving Class
“Kanzashi” Japanese Folded Fabric Flowers Class
Basket Weaving Class
Local sight seeing tours will arranged if needed.
GALLERY
The Gallery will be open to the public to showcase the work of our members.
There will be a “show-and-tell” area along with a business card exchange table and portfolio table.
The Apex Gallery at the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology will have a gallery reception on July 17, 2012.
Ellen Durkan from Delaware will be the featured artist.
VENDORS
Indoor and outdoor vendors with those hard to find tools and wares will be selling hard to find tools and equipment.
TAILGATERS
An area of the parking lot will be set aside for tailgating. Please register to tailgate.

LODGING
ABANA has made arrangements with local hotels and the School of Mines for special rates for lodging.
The fairgrounds offers onsite camping for those who wish to camp.

COST
Registration Fee - $275 Per Person.
$50 discount for ABANA members - $225 Per Member
Family members - $25, spouse, child under 16.
Saturday Banquet Dinner included.

Registration: http://www.abana.org/Conferences/2012ConferenceRegistration.shtml

Edited March 2, 2012 by jeremy k