Beginning Blacksmithing

September 1 - September 3, 2023

Beginning Blacksmithing

$590.00

Details Fee Breakdown:
Tuition: $515
Material Fee: $75

Learn to forge metal with a hammer and anvil while gaining basic working skills of blacksmithing tools and techniques. Topics covered will include; coal forge maintenance, hammering techniques, use of tongs, anvils, and vises. Hands-on work will teach you to create tapers to scrolls, bending, forming, hot punching, riveting and hot cutting. Expect to leave with basic skills and understanding needed to forge hot steel. If you have prior experience this class will help you refresh your skills.

Workshops run from 9:00am to 5:00pm each day
Lunch is included for all participants

Level: Beginner and Beyond
Workshop Levels

Definitions of Skill Levels for Workshops

  • Beginner and Beyond: Introductory level course that presents basic knowledge of tools, materials and techniques and is geared towards first timers or those who want to improve and expand their technique. It takes time to build skills.
  • Advanced Beginner and Beyond: Instruction that assumes some familiarity with tools, materials and equipment. Includes reviews and builds on basic skill sets, allows for those with more experience to work at their own pace. Further development of fundamentals, participants have had at least one class or equivalent with professional instruction.
  • Intermediate: Course content that assumes a working knowledge of basic studio tools, materials and equipment necessary to accomplish the projects and techniques to be explored. Participants feel comfortable in the studio setting.
  • Intermediate to Advanced: Course content that requires a proficient working knowledge of studio tools, materials and equipment necessary to accomplish the projects and techniques to be explored in class.
  • Advanced: Assumes proficiency and advanced working knowledge of materials and studio tools and equipment so that the focus is on artistic narrative and/or technical development.
Ages: Adult

Register

Registration for this workshop has been closed.

ABOUT THE INSTRUCTOR

Andrew Welton

Andrew wants you to think about where iron comes from. After growing up in Pittsburgh steel country, Andrew spent a decade studying medieval iron spearheads in European museums. They gave talks and published papers about medieval blacksmiths, iron recycling, and the archaeology of gender. They’re fascinated by the differences between modern steel and the ancient iron alloys used before the Industrial Revolution.  Andrew’s art emphasizes the organic textures of premodern iron. Andrew smelts their own metal from charcoal and ore, using historical processes to create metal that lacks industrial steel’s regularity. Folded into the simple forms of everyday objects, this material’s sinuous, watery surface evokes the bogs, pools, and forests from which iron and charcoal traditionally came. Having recently returned to Pittsburgh, Andrew practices their craft surrounded by strip mine-ravaged forests and shuttered mills; they believe learning traditional crafts teaches us how to better navigate global industry’s impacts on the landscapes we inhabit.

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