Work at the Blazing Blacksmith's...

So, as promised here are some photographs of commissions that I've helped my boss with since starting work at the Blazing Blacksmith.

One of the first things I worked on was making a set of chair frames and to be honest they weren't very easy to re-create. One of the challenges of trying to replicate the chair frame was that the original wasn't symmetrical, so it was a case of trying to even out the measurements to get something that looked almost exactly like the original...

I think the next project I worked on was restoring a gate for a flat in Edinburgh which was nice, but involved replacing whole sections of the frame because the original had corroded quite a bit.

After that I made some sign holders...

Then I made some massive tree guards...for guarding yew trees from hungry deer. This involved me practicing slot punching on a lot of flat bar and it took up quite a lot of space...mostly because I had the bars in different piles depending on what stage they were at. I like to call it organization, but I suppose they may have made it quite hard to reach half of the workshop...

Then welding everything together took up even more space...it also looked like I was welding very large bird cages...

And finally the finished tree guards on the trailer ready to go.

That brings us up to July, although I should point out that there's a lot of small things I was working on (components for gates etc.) that I haven't photographed because I'm supposed to be working while at work, not taking pictures...

I'll add more in the next post and hopefully catch up to the current work, but for now I'm away to make a cup of tea.

Take care

Summer 2013 - Winter 2014

So...

I'm not going to dwell too much on last Summer because it was well over a year ago now and I'd love to catch up to the present.

My Summer was great and I had a lovely time living and working on the Isle of Lewis for a few months. I like having such a change of pace in the Summer because it rejuvenates me and makes me feel inspired again.

I found out that I didn't get the job I had applied for in Warwickshire. I was a bit sad for a while but I know I wasn't right for the job. I spent a few months up in Lewis then headed back to Oatridge College to continue working on my own creations and help out.

That lasted until the Winter and I decided that I wouldn't continue to use the forge there. I had a lovely time in Germany just before Christmas and got to see a lot of craft markets which were very beautiful.

Then I had a lovely Christmas followed by a few weekends snowboarding which was absolutely fantastic. It makes me very happy, and when I'm happy I can work very productively which I think is the case with most people.

Unfortunately, shortly after this amazing few weekends I ended up hurting my leg pretty badly so it was a bit difficult to walk for a while and I wasn't really thinking about forge work at all.

However...I received a message from my work colleague from Oatridge College saying that my old work had had a phone call from another blacksmith asking if they knew anyone who could help him out and my name had been mentioned!

I worked up the courage to phone and made arrangements to meet him at his workshop to find out details about what kind of work I'd be helping with.

I think that must have been about late March or Early April, and I'm happy to report that I'm still working there!

The gentleman I work for is called Jim Whitson and his company is 'The Blazing Blacksmith'. Here's a link to his webpage

http://blazingblacksmith.co.uk/

I found it a bit difficult to start with as I'm sure anyone going into a new job finds it...and I'm not going to lie...I made a fair few mistakes.

I also had a bit of a problem with my back again and ended up getting physio sessions...again...which was difficult to work around although work was in itself was difficult because I had to be careful not to damage my back further. I had a lovely physiotherapist and I'm so grateful for all the help I received.
I'm also very grateful for not being fired for missing so much work, so thank you Jim!

I think I'm making real progress and I honestly love working here. I don't have as much time to work on my own projects, but the work I'm helping Jim with is beautiful and I'm learning so much from him.

In the next post I will update you with some pictures of the projects we've been working on, but I want to state that the photographs are of work designed by Jim Whitson and if you want to share them you need to get his permission first!

Thanks for reading and I will keep you posted about what's going on!

Take care. 

A Year Later...

So...it's been far too long since I've written anything on here. I have so much to say but I don't think I would be able to write it all in one post, so I'm going to make a real effort to try and fill in what's been happening in my year (and a bit) of blog silence!

The last post ended just before I was off to my Summer job in Loch Croistean Cafe on the Isle of Lewis, so I will start from there in the following post when I will hopefully have more time to write everything.

Take care and have a good day!

Good news, bad news and no news...

So it's been a while since the last update and a lot's happened. I finished a log basket which was commissioned by one of the owners of The Line Gallery in Linlithgow. I think it turned out pretty well and I'll hopefully get some pictures of it with some logs in it at some point!

The bad news is that I've damaged my arm quite a bit so I won't be forging for a while. Basically I have a cyst in my hand as well as soft tissue damage from a dislocated finger a few weeks back and because I was working hard without the use of a power hammer, I started getting severe pain through my elbow and arm. I was told it was tennis elbow, but have since had a second opinion and it's not tennis elbow, just muscle and nerve damage. I've had a few physio sessions which helped and have had ultrasound on my arm and had electric pulses sent through my elbow...it feels a bit strange, but takes some of the pain away.

Anyhoo, while all this was happening I applied for a blacksmithing job at Warwickshire College and got an interview, which was very exciting. The interview itself was good although I think I could have done a lot better in the practical forging exercise...I'm going to blame my arm for that...
The staff were friendly, the workshops were great as was the rest of the campus and it's in a beautiful area of the country so I'm glad I got to visit. I also got to meet Michelle Parker (who was one of the members of staff interviewing me) who is a world famous smith, so I was a little more nervous than I thought I would be.
Here's her web link -  http://www.mjpblacksmith.com/index.html
Overall it was a good day for me, and I made it back to the airport in time for my flight back to Scotland.

Since then I have had no news...so maybe I didn't get the job, but at least I got through to the interview stage. I've been keeping busy at the college cleaning and tempering tools, setting up a new fly press and finishing the gardening work at the back of the workshop. It looked a bit overgrown so myself and my work colleague decided to do some tidying and planted some flowers to make the place look a bit more colourful.

Now I'm packing for my journey to the Isle of Lewis to start my job at Loch Croistean Cafe and move into my awesome caravan!

I'll leave you with a picture of the log basket and will update soon with pictures of the work in progress if I can get an Internet connection in the middle of nowhere...

Take care!

Forging a Forest...

So after a wee wait for some final measurements, I was able to forge out the rest of the curtain rail brackets I was working on around Easter time. I really enjoyed this project and it was exciting to work on something that I've never done before. I don't usually work with flat bar because I've never needed to, so it was great to experiment a bit and see what I could do.
I went with a range of designs which are sort of stylised tree forms which I think worked quite well and it's brought on some ideas for other products which I hope to make sometime in the near future. I will add some photographs at the end of this post, so check them out and if you have time, let me know what you think!

I'm really enjoying my work at the moment and the group of students which are in at the moment are a great laugh and I like being able to spend a wee bit of time each day giving them a hand with their work.

I have also nearly finished a log basket that I was commissioned to make a while ago, and all it needs is a few support bars and then it's ready for cleaning and finishing.

For now though I am taking a wee break as I've injured my right arm...I hope it's nothing serious but I think it's better to wait and see what the doctor says on Tuesday rather than risk damaging it further.
I went to see Kim Richey play in Cafe Borsa in Dundee and she was amazing! I really love her music and she's one of the artists who inspired me to start playing guitar and sing, so it was great to see her again. I saw her about four or five years ago in Edinburgh and I bought all of the albums she had on sale. I got her to sign them, but she kept getting my name wrong on all but one, so this time when I got her new album I got her to write it down first then sign the album...she was like 'Are you sure that's how you spell it?'. I really wanted to say to her that that was exactly what she had said a few years back, but I was too nervous!

Anyhoo, it was great to have a break from work, but next week I will be back on track and get stuck into making!!

Have a great day and if you have time, check out this link to Kim Richey's website!

 Music of the day is from the album 'Thorn in my Heart' by Kim Richey, so give this song a listen if you have the chance!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EMue_8BkK9M

Quick update...

So it's now officially the Easter holidays and as of today I will be away from the forge for two weeks!! I'm happy to have a holiday, but also can't wait to get back to the forge and continue the projects I've been working on. It does give me time to work on some other things I've been meaning to do for a while now, like sort out my workshop and finish some work on my violin which has been waiting for a year to be finished!

The curtain rail brackets I mentioned in the last post have been coming along nicely and all I really need to do is figure out which designs work best together and then have a final check with the clients. I made up a few different versions of the ends of the brackets which will be fixed to the roof.

As you can see I've just been experimenting with splitting the flat bar, forging out tendrils and then working them into scrolls. I'm not sure how many tendrils work best or how thick they need to be...I think the biggest one in this picture needs to have thicker tendrils, but I might leave it for now and carry on with some design sketches for the rest of the brackets and see where that leads.
I have six brackets to make but may have to make another two for extra support at the walls where the curtain will gather. The two on the right are made out of smaller section, but I decided that they didn't quite look right. I think I might make them into hooks or hinges at some point so the material doesn't go to waste.

So that's what I've been working on this week!

I hope that you all remember that the clocks spring forward tonight...

Have a great Easter Sunday, take care and I hope you have a lovely day wherever you are :)


P.S.The music of the morning for me was a cover of 'Walk through the World' which is a great acoustic track to get this sunny day started, so give it a listen here if you have time!

Spring...?

Apparently it's Spring, but as far as I'm concerned the snow outside suggests Winter hasn't realised it's nearly April...

I've been really busy for about a month now with little time to think about writing anything. I said goodbye to the last group of students which was quite sad, but hopefully they all go on to do well. I ended up covering the class for several days and got to know them quite well by the end of the course. I also went to Ireland for the first time in my life, and it was absolutely lovely. I did a bit of teaching with the engineering/agricultural students who I've never met before and they were all great. They needed to make a pry bar and a chisel and learn how to temper the metal.

I admit I was a little nervous at the thought of teaching ten students I had never seen on my own for the day, but I got in a little earlier than usual, set up all the fires, got materials and tools ready and then had a wee practice of making the tools myself.

I actually find it quite fun doing demonstrations because once I get into the swing of things (excuse the pun...) I like being able to talk about what I'm doing.
It teaches the students what they need to know and gives me a bit of confidence in what I'm doing because I realise that, yes, I do know what I'm doing after all.

I had three different groups over two weeks and had no problems at all apart from the odd fire exploding over me. Luckily I'm pretty quick on my feet so no burns to report!

I've been working on some designs in the evenings after work so I'll be able to make a few samples then get started on the final design after the go ahead from the clients.

Today I was working on my own projects and has been the best day in a long time thanks to my wonderful colleague. After spending the day doing some samples for a set of curtain rail brackets, we headed out to the site to check some dimensions and figure out where the best fixings were. The visit went well as the clients have a better idea of what's possible and I have a clear idea of what the final design is going to be. (I will post some pictures of the work in progress when I have a spare moment which should be soon because I am off for two weeks on Friday! I will also finally post some pictures of one of my favourite commissions to date.)
After heading back towards Linlithgow, I was invited in for a meal en route, and how could I refuse after a hard days work? The food was excellent, the company delightful and the home was charming, cosy and every bit as lovely and quirky as its inhabitants.

Tomorrow I'll start work on one of the brackets and try and make some more small pieces of work to sell over the Easter break. The next lot of students are now in their second week so the workshop is a lot warmer during the day which is just as well because I think this cold spell is going to last for a while.

Take care and thanks for reading!