So after New Designers I packed up my things and headed out of Hereford to work at my summer job on the Isle of Lewis. It was very hard to say goodbye to all the wonderful friends I made (and all my houseplants) as well as the great tutors, but I will keep in touch with everyone as we all try to move on and use what we've learned to set up our workshops or start our own businesses!
I feel very privilaged to have been able to complete the blacksmithing course at Hereford and work alongside such great characters who have taught me so much and really inspired me to work harder and learn as much as I can about the art of blacksmithing. I think it was a fantastic experience and I feel that my confidence has grown so much in a relatively short amount of time, so thank you to all who helped me along the way, you know who you are!!
I made my way straight to the island and set up in my wee caravan for a month before travelling back to Hereford for graduation! It was a great day, although I only had enough time to graduate, say a few hello's and then a few more goodbyes so I could catch my flight back to Stornoway.
I think the highlight of that day was when John Makepeace (who was made a Fellow of the university earlier that day) shook my hand on stage and said that he loved my work and was excited to see what I would do next. I had been to a seminar he was running a few months before and I was awed by the quality of his work, so to get a compliment from him made my day that much more special!
If you don't know his work, you should have a look here http://www.johnmakepeacefurniture.com/index.html
After travelling back to Stornoway I worked for another few months then headed back to mainland Scotland for a wee while. Then I was off again to Denmark to look at a couple of forges where I might have the chance to work for a while.
Let me just say that Denmark is very...flat! There are hardly any hills which is very strange after coming through the Highlands of Scotland!! It is a very beautiful landscape though, and I must say the architecture I found was absolutely amazing.
While I was there I went to quite a few different places and all of the wee towns were very quaint and had cobbled streets and very old buildings. I think that there is a lot more 'craft' work going on over there because if you walk through any town you will find a blacksmith or a woodcarvers workshop which just doesn't happen in Scotland.
Anyway, I saw quite a few places which were very interesting and I even got a quick tutorial on how to make a special punch which will be useful for hammer making! I only had a short amount of time there so it was a shame I didn't get enough time to do some real forging but it was great to see the places I had researched.
After coming back from Denmark I started to work at my old college and get on with some commissions and my own portfolio/gallery work. Since the end of the summer/early Autumn I have been working happily and will continue to work there until I feel I should move on.
I managed to make it to two Christmas markets after a horrible week battling illness and made quite a healthy profit selling little decorations and I also got a few commissions. In all they were very enjoyable and I will definitely try to get a stand next year at both of the markets.
So far 2013 has been great and I hope to update the blog a lot more frequently, so watch this space! I have recently been working with the freelance artist Michael Doig to give my blog a more professional look, so if you want to check out his work, here is the link http://michaeldoigart.blogspot.co.uk/
I will add photographs of the work I've been doing after graduating in the next post so take care for now and have a good day!
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