Welcome to episode #102 and I have David Robertson with us today, he’s a professional artist blacksmith from Ontario Canada, in fact, he’s been in business for 30 years as of this year… congratulations David!  We talk about how he kept busy when starting out as a full time blacksmith and his latest Art History in Iron course he taught at the Halliburton School of Art and Design.

But first I’d like to thank our sponsor today and that’s the Southern Blacksmith Association, they are hosting their 18th bi-annual Conference.  The Philip Simmons Artist Blacksmith Guild is hosting this four-day conference at the Lion’s Club Fair Grounds in Madison, Georgia, it’s right around the corner on your calendars….Thursday through Sunday, May 18 - 21st, 2017.

Their demonstrator lineup is outstanding! You can see Zeevik Gottlieb, Shelton Browder, Gordon Williams, and Michael Saari!

Other conference events include Green Coal and Cold Coal classes, family programs, the Local Talent Forge, Iron in the Hat, forge and tool box raffles, a variety of vendors, a Friday night Banquet, Auction, and Forging Competition.

Head on over to their conference website, www.sbaconference.com for more details and the registration form, it’s $55 in advance, $65 at the gate.

Thanks, SBA!

I also wanted to tell you about a new blacksmith podcast called The Blacksmith’s Pub, I know I’ve mentioned this to you guys already, but their latest episode released last week is all about Damascus with Dave Kurdyla.  You can listen to the episode in iTunes, and Stitcher or from their website, www.theblacksmithspub.com.

What We Talked About

• He opened his blacksmith business in 1987, so this year, 2017, will be its 30th He went full time with the business in 1993.
• While David was going to university in Canada for geological engineering he had a part-time job at a blacksmith shop. When David graduated, there were not any jobs in geological engineering so he decided to open his blacksmith business full time.
• When he started his full-time business, he chose to make a line of wholesale products; hooks, candle holders, fireplace sets, etc. and sell them at wholesale shows to retailers. He said that was nice because the retailers are more educated about handmade items and they paid on time.
• David explains how he comes up with his wholesale pricing.
• He also says that making products for wholesaling makes you very efficient with your time and your forge work.
• David eventually moved from wholesaling his product line to 2D and 3D sculptures. Mostly organic themes.
• There is a free membership offered on David’s website that has numerous blog articles about blacksmith techniques. He has just over 5000 members in his online community.
• David was recently an instructor at the Haliburton School of Art and Design in Canada, he taught an art history class on ironwork from 3500 BC to current day.
• While researching the different art periods in metal, David learned a lot. He started with the Celtic period, then Viking, Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque, then jumped into Art Nouveau and Art Deco.
• David teaches 3-day weekend classes out of his shop every other weekend and the classes are booked for the next 7 months. To see his class schedule, go to his website.

 Guest Links

• David Robertson’s Website – http://www.artistblacksmith.com/
• Blue Moon Press for books on metalworking - http://bluemoonpress.org

 

A Big Thank You to today’s sponsor – SBA Conference

If you enjoyed this episode, I would love it if you would support the show by:

• telling your friends.
• sharing this episode using the social sharing buttons below.
• subscribing to the show and leaving a rating and review in iTunes.  Not sure how?  Just follow these simple steps here or watch the short video tutorial, http://youtu.be/rq4OCyRGjHc?list=UUH3MfNZLXlKgionAs6kMT_Q
• subscribing to the show in Stitcher, http://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=54499&refid=stpr

Thanks so much for your support!