Apr 17, 2017
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
A Big Thank You to today’s sponsor – SBA
Conference
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