Ridgeway Forge Studio Posted December 31, 2024 Share Posted December 31, 2024 A recent visit to Florence proved to be a wellspring of inspiration- their ironwork is exemplary of a style of medieval ironwork that I find to be some of the most beautiful- so I have faithfully incorporated it into my work! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted January 1 Share Posted January 1 Attractive incising, well done. Not what I expected though. Any time I see florentine I think of recipe incorporating spinach as the featured ingredient. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ridgeway Forge Studio Posted January 1 Author Share Posted January 1 Frosty, surprisingly, the food was lackluster at best- no salt, per tradition. thank you for the kind words. I have been trying to think outside the box of what I see on social media. Trying to go back to go forward. also saw these simple creatures throughout the city. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted January 1 Share Posted January 1 Okay, no Florentine recipes then, maybe I'm thinking of the Americanized versions. Were this kind of hook common in Florence? What are / were they used for? Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ridgeway Forge Studio Posted January 1 Author Share Posted January 1 They were on almost every building, spaced probably no more than 10 foot from one another. My impression is that they are tethers for horses, although I don't have any real knowledge. There were others that combined a hook and a holder for a torch, which were especially impressive. I don't have a photo, unfortunately. Florentine cuisine is known especially for the "bistecca" - basically a 2 lb steak, 2-3" thick that is cooked for only about 2-3 minutes per side. Served blue/rare. Curious, for sure! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted January 1 Share Posted January 1 My first thought was that a horse could easily lift a tether off hooks, "hitching posts" usually had rings. Then I thought about our horses and you could ground tie or drape the reins over a hitching rail and they'd stay until led off or something spooked them. The Florentine hooks would be perfect I'm sure their horses were at least as well trained as ours so a bit of grain in a bucket would keep them right there. How high were these above the ground? No idea about one with a torch holder but certainly not a tether. I've had European style, bistek and prefer mine pink in the middle, not warm and bloody rare let alone tartar. Jer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillyBones Posted January 2 Share Posted January 2 I would put my money on hitches. When i was in Europe i saw a few but they had a ring instead of a hook. Saw a couple with candle holders, small rings about 1" in diameter, but no torch holders. Maybe the heads were for what kind of critter you tied to that particular hitch, looks like the one is for hitching your dragon. We still have a few hitching posts here in my town. They are concrete posts about 4' tall and about 6" square. They have eye bolts running through the posts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted January 5 Share Posted January 5 On 12/31/2024 at 10:04 AM, Ridgeway Forge Studio said: their ironwork is exemplary of a style of medieval ironwork that I find to be some of the most beautiful- so I have faithfully incorporated it into my work! Samuel Yellin incorporated quite a lot of the diagonal-and-dot motif into his own work, so you’re in good company. (A good example of Matsuo Bashō’s “We do not seek to imitate the masters; we seek what the masters sought.”) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ridgeway Forge Studio Posted Thursday at 02:35 PM Author Share Posted Thursday at 02:35 PM JHCC, Thank you for the beautiful images for inspiration - I constantly find myself seeking out what makes those pieces beautiful specifically. It wasn't until taking up ceramics that I began to consider surface decoration as essential to good metalwork. It has really challenged me to look at the whole project from a visual standpoint, not necessarily a process standpoint. However you can get there, as long as it is efficient and the end result is beautiful, is fair game. As to the rings, I suspect they were not for horses, being just above eye level and spaces maybe every 8 feet or so... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted Thursday at 03:24 PM Share Posted Thursday at 03:24 PM You're welcome! It just occurred to me that I didn't note where these pieces are. The one on top is the front door of St. Mark's Episcopal Church on Locust Street in Philadelphia, the middle two are from the gates on the Packard Building on Chestnut Street in Philadelphia, and the bottom one is from the gates of Willard Straight Hall at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY. These are all my own photographs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ridgeway Forge Studio Posted Friday at 03:22 PM Author Share Posted Friday at 03:22 PM I've wanted to take a Yellin tour for some time now. I've been to Philly a couple of times and only once stumbled across his work. But I couldn't really take time to inspect it, as I was on a first date, sadly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted Friday at 03:52 PM Share Posted Friday at 03:52 PM Yeah, you want to leave the ironwork for the second date at the earliest. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted Friday at 05:01 PM Share Posted Friday at 05:01 PM Unless your date likes the idea of going on a Yellin ironwork tour, of course. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George N. M. Posted Friday at 10:05 PM Share Posted Friday at 10:05 PM If you ever get to Washington, DC the Yellin ironwork at the National Cathedral is definitely worth a few hours. It may inspire you or discourage you. And if your date isn't into an ironwork tour you may have to consider whether that is a big red flag for the future. I was blessed that both Martha (my late wife) and Madelynn (my current wife) thought that the Yellin ironwork at the National Cathedral was beautiful, cool, and amazing. G. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted Saturday at 04:02 AM Share Posted Saturday at 04:02 AM Nol Putnam’s book Beauty in the Shadows is a great survey of Cathedral’s ironwork, although there’s nothing quite like seeing something in person. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ridgeway Forge Studio Posted Saturday at 05:17 PM Author Share Posted Saturday at 05:17 PM Gratefully I found a wife (Stevi) who encourages my obsession with ironwork. All it takes is a regular project tax for her to be happy. The hook in question is now in her sculpture studio. While she doesn't get excited about metal like me, I am grateful that she gets excited that I get excited, which works out. Our interests converge at some of the modern artists who did work in steel, like Richard Serra. I'm ashamed to say that I have never done the DC ironwork tour. I know that a few of the local smiths put together a comprehensive map of all of the ironwork worth seeing in DC, and despite having lived there for two years, I never went! We will remedy that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted Saturday at 06:29 PM Share Posted Saturday at 06:29 PM There's a lot of really good ironwork in Philadelphia, but if you can't make it for a visit, do check out the excellent book Colonial Ironwork in Old Philadelphia. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George N. M. Posted Saturday at 08:41 PM Share Posted Saturday at 08:41 PM One of the down sides of showing your partner amazing top end ironwork by say, Sam Yellin or our own Alexandr, is that they will often say that they want you to make them something similar. And then you will either (A) have to admit it is beyond your skill level, (B) bust your butt and spend lots of time trying to make it, or, (C) finally, up your game to the point where you can do it. There are up sides and down sides to each possibility. But, you can apply the axiom that every project is an excuse for a new tool and say that you will be happy to make them a replica of one of Sam Yellin's gates but you will need a new 500 pound Little Giant power hammer and a shop to put it in. "By hammer and hand all arts do stand." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted Saturday at 10:46 PM Share Posted Saturday at 10:46 PM Nothing wrong with option (A). Honesty with one’s partner is a sine qua non. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nobody Special Posted Sunday at 10:20 PM Share Posted Sunday at 10:20 PM Can second the National Cathedral trip - well worth it. Didn't see many of the diagonals and dots on the main pieces, but he did put decorations like that on lots of the collars and fasteners for the doors and screens. I think I posted pictures on here somewhere from the last time I went. If not, maybe I'll put em up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillyBones Posted Monday at 06:28 PM Share Posted Monday at 06:28 PM When the wife wants something i go through all 3. She asks, I stand at my anvil asking myself what i got myself into, next i struggle and cuss and throw things for a couple days, then i finally get it and feel proud to present it to the wife... who has by now forgotten about it and askes why i made it. When i first looked at this thread i said hey, i saw somethings that were similar when i was in Europe. Since then i have started seeing them everywhere. I was watching a show last night set in mid 900's Briton, around the time of the birth of England, and bam, there they were. I know it is just that people have tendency to to pick things out like that sometime, i do not know what it would actually be called kind of like seeing faces in clouds is a human trait, but it is kind of weird how that happens. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted Monday at 07:10 PM Share Posted Monday at 07:10 PM Pattern recognition is a survival trait. When you are thinking about something, similar things come closer to the conscious so you start remembering or thinking of them as well. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott NC Posted Monday at 11:12 PM Share Posted Monday at 11:12 PM 4 hours ago, BillyBones said: do not know what it would actually be called kind of like seeing faces in clouds is a human trait, but it is kind of weird how that happens. Pareidolia in some cases. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted Monday at 11:50 PM Share Posted Monday at 11:50 PM Ooooh, a new word to awe and mystify friends and acquaintances! Thank YOU Scott! Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott NC Posted yesterday at 12:04 AM Share Posted yesterday at 12:04 AM Well it's a thing. Very nice hook bye the bye. It's a bit like seeing a face in a granite boulder or rolled out cookie dough. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.