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Welcome to BlacksmitHER Radio, spotlighting male and female blacksmiths around the world.

 

We’re committed to providing a host of resources to male and female blacksmiths of all ability levels through podcast interviews spotlighting your fellow blacksmiths. The podcast interviews are designed to help improve your metal working skills while providing an opportunity to connect with others who share your passion of blacksmithing!  

Mar 9, 2015

Monica is an artist blacksmith who lives and works in California.  Working closely with a wide-range of clients, she produces exclusive, timeless pieces for the home, garden and business.  

What We Talked About

  • Monica’s first taste of blacksmithing started by answering an ad in the paper looking for an apprentice welder in her town of Ettersberg, CA for a gate fabrication shop at the spry age of 44!
  • She then sought out opportunities to learn and apprentice with experienced blacksmiths such as Toby Hickman, Mark Aspery and Daniel Miller.
  • Monica tells us how her husband built her forge shop from the ground up that is completely off the grid!
  • Her shop has a power hammer, 2 forges, 2 fly presses, oxy-propane set, a MIG welder, a Hossfeld bender and Bader grinder
  • Her business keeps her busy with mostly word of mouth advertising, making 5 to 7 pieces a year.
  • Monica shares her pricing strategies by estimating the time it takes to make a piece, the client’s budget, her hourly shop rate and the interest she has in making the piece.
  • A design fee that she usually charges is around $200.
  • As far as installations for Monica, legally in California if you are not a licensed contractor you can’t install anything that costs over $500 onto a home.
  • The “On the Bias” table made by Monica started with a drawing first, wanting to introduce the more intricate connections of the mortise and tenon’s on the corner of square stock.  The table took 6 months to finish!
  • We talk about her website and how it was built on Squarespace (which is around $14/mo).  The pictures of her work on her website, www.monicacoyneartistblacksmith.com have been a mix of herself, a professional and her brother.
  • One of her favorite tools is a hammer made by Jim Austin where the face of the hammer has forge welded high carbon steel on it and the center of the hammer’s head is wrought iron!

 

Monica Coyne’s Links:

Website – http://www.monicacoyneartistblacksmith.com/  

 

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/MonicaCoyneArtistBlacksmith  

 

A Big Thank You to today’s sponsor – Pratt Fine Arts Center

 

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