Sisters in Steel

“Many women have taken up, and excelled at, the craft of blacksmithing, forging hot steel into new forms and objects requiring creative vision and tremendous imagination. With the Sisters in Steel virtual gallery we have chosen to celebrate International Women’s Day 2019 by bringing you works by several of these gifted artists.”

I am delighted to be included as one of the artists on the site here

New Course Rams Head Poker

This course is perfect if you have no idea what you want to make but you would like to have a go at a range of skills. The course covers the full range of basic operations through the making of the poker although some will be practiced at the beginning of the day to ensure a perfect finished piece. This course is run by guest tutor Matthew Hicks, a fully qualified blacksmith based in Wales. www.hicksironwork.com

For further details on courses see the courses page here.

To book a course see the course booking site here.

Copper Wave

A Little Bit of What You Fancy : Little Duck Forge and Guests

Dates: 12 April 2019 to 17 April 2019
Times: Friday to Tuesday: 9am to 6pm; Wednesday: 8.30am to noon

Special viewing Friday Evening 7 – 9pm

Lucille Scott of Little Duck Forge will be exhibiting a collection of work from hand forged steel and copper sculptures to stunning paintings by guest artists. Lucille loves colour but does not like to paint her work so she works in collaboration with ceramicist Jan Griffiths and a number of glass artists chosen specifically for their styles to complement the various design. To fill the walls of the Pie Factory with colour a number of forge friends will be contributing work to the exhibition.

Golf Trophy

Commissions have included interior and exterior ironwork such as door furniture, candlesticks, garden sculptures and a range of fire tools and fire baskets. With a strong design and problem solving background Little Duck Forge aims to produce unique solutions to individuals requirements.

Here are some of the recent commissions to see more details and photographs click on the image.

Curtain Poles

Sir Loin Of Beef Sign

Portsmouth High School (Dovercourt) Bench

Dwarf Wall Railings

Sea La Vie Sign

Garden Obelisk

Obelisk

Further Raku can be seen on Ollie’s website here

Ollie’s Raku Ceramics Squiggle Frame

Colleen du Pon had a number of exhibits and visited with her family. Here is her daughter in front of the Fountain.

The real star of the Exhibition was the Fountain designed by Neil Stevens.

The craft of the artist blacksmith is based on the ancient principles of hot forging iron and steel, working with a fire, a hammer and an anvil.

“The Art of the Blacksmith” is an art exhibition taking part at the Stansted Garden Show. It aims to demonstrate the variety and skill of the blacksmith by bringing together a few blacksmiths from a wide range of backgrounds who primarily use traditional techniques to produce art in metal.

Alex Smith

Chalk Pit Forge

I have been a blacksmith for 15 years, achieving a BA in Artist Blacksmithing. Here I learnt to evolve ideas from any source of inspiration and make those ideas in the forge.

I now run Chalk Pit Forge, where I have been since 2008, and make bespoke pieces to suit the client and the location. I take pride in getting the design right and making my work to such a quality that it will last at least 300 years.

Contact Details:-

Amberley Museum, Amberley, West Sussex, BN18 9LT
T 07793679788
W www.chalkpitforge.co.uk

Colleen du Pon

The Hungry Otter Forge

Colleen du Pon is a transplanted Canadian now living in Bridport, West Dorset, England. Working as an Artist Blacksmith and Metal Sculptor, she loves the romantic, physical and elemental processes in blacksmithing and produces a wide range of work, from functional Homewares to Sculpture and Architectural work, blending forging by hand, hammer and anvil, with contemporary metalworking techniques to create works in mild steel. Natural growths and forms, organic and dynamic, and mythological symbolism are all suggested in her unique way of presenting figurative and abstract forms in steel. She earned a BA in Silversmithing and Metalwork at Camberwell

College of Arts in London. Upon graduation in 2002, she was awarded the Bruce Church Travel Scholarship and travelled extensively, working directly with nomadic Blacksmiths in India. Colleen’s fascination for aesthetics, the beauty of nature, flora and fauna, are reflected in her diverse range of work. Find out more at www.colleendupon.co.uk

Contact Details:-

The Hungry Otter Forge, Miles Cross Farm, Symondsbury, Dorset, DT6 6AE
T 07745 412623 / 01308 456025
W www.colleendupon.co.uk

Jenny Cole

Artist Blacksmith

I am excited by the idea of functional sculpture, the making of pieces with uses and a sculptural aesthetic. I make objects that can be interacted with, that invite people to touch them, to use them. I like the idea that the things I make have a life with people, that they are used and enjoyed.

I combine traditional forging methods with modern techniques and design to create forged steel pieces, often adding other materials, to create practical, visually interesting objects.

Contact Details:-

T 07903 788652
W www.jennycole.co.uk

Jo Adkins

Madkins

One of the reasons I got into blacksmithing was to understand how people can manipulate such a seemingly unmovable material. Iron is a challenging thing to work and I’ve not found anything else that demands such total physical and mental concentration.

The history behind it’s use is so diverse and vastly undocumented there are almost infinite things to discover and manufacturing techniques to unravel.

There is such a wide variety of skills involved with working metal, I couldn’t ask for a better occupation.

Lucille Scott

Little Duck Forge

Lucille Scott is an artist blacksmith creating hand forged metal items inspired by nature and her love for dance and music. For Lucille the appeal of working with iron lies in the traditional role of blacksmiths, the permanence of their work and passing on this tradition to all around her. Lucille enjoys working with local glass artists to produce collaborative pieces and has recently started experimenting with combining wet felting and ironwork.

Contact Details:-

199 Henderson Road, Portsmouth PO4 9JF
T 07880724699
W www.littleduckforge.co.uk

Matthew Boultwood

FireInspired

I am a traditionally trained blacksmith with a background in design and engineering. I use traditional processes combined with modern aesthetics to explore the relationship between finish, decoration and joints.

Contact Details:-

W https://beta.folksy.com/shops/fireinspired

Mort The Blacksmith

Firebird Forge

Firebird forge is a metal workshop buried deep in one of the oldest estates in Sussex which specialises in hand forged, traditional blacksmithing.

When not completing private commissions, Mort the Blacksmith also teaches these ancient craft skills on a day by day basis, allowing both novice smiths and the general public to come and learn. Students have booked from across Europe and from as far as Australia to attend.

Mort specialises in hand forging organic forms into his ironwork and in composite pattern welded blades.

Contact Details:-

W www.firebirdforge.co.uk

Neil Stevens

Artsmith 1966-2000

Neil was an Artist Blacksmith based at Tortington near Arundel. He enjoyed exhibiting his work at Stanstead Garden Show, and had a stand at the very first one and continued to do so until June 2000.

He worked with ferrous and non ferrous metals, forging, mixing, and colouring them to make very unique pieces which were always popular at the show.

He was a very talented young man who sadly lost his life in a freak accident in December 2000.

Some pieces of his work are on permanent display at the Fire and Iron Gallery in Leatherhead where I am sure they will inspire other young Blacksmiths.

His site also includes a personal project area. ‘Weekend Passions’ is what keeps me sane and shooting what I love to photograph most; people. It never ceases to amaze me the ‘secret lives’ that people lead. For some, their hobbies are their private world; for others it’s a shared experience.

His photograph montage of Little Duck Forge can be seen here.

Weekend-Passions-Little-Duck-Forge-Editorial-Montage

Beachcombing

You asked me to send a pic of our decorated Squiggle Frame – here it is: everything we used was salvaged from West Wittering beach on a very stormy day, with the exception of the blue felt brooch which was found in the mud on The Heath in Petersfield. Beach items include mangled sun glasses, a bit of pink rubber sole from a trainer, a bottle top, an ice cream plastic spoon as well as shells, seaweed etc My 5 year old son really enjoyed trying to find shells with holes in, quite a task! I couldn’t source a drill so it was all done without tools, just our hands!

FYI the pink bit of rubber sole is near the bottom to the right hidden behind other stuff and the mangled sunglasses is at the bottom of the ring, sans lens!

We really enjoyed adorning your squiggle, thank you!

Door Wreath