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Each year, Rocky Mountain
Smiths holds their annual conference at the Francis Whitaker Memorial Blacksmith
Shop, on the This year, 2008, the
conference dates will be August 6th – August 10th.
(*** insert a small map or
map quest link here?) Arrival for the conference
on the Wednesday evening of August 6th is highly recommended, especially if you
have on campus lodging or are planning to camp.
Some camping is available on campus, but spaces are very limited and it
is important that you check where you may camp and where you may not. There is also very
convenient camping nearby at some local, private camping facilities.
Forging demonstrations
begin at 8:00 sharp on Thurs and last all day from 8 – 5, with a break for
lunch, on Thurs, Friday and Saturday. Four separate
demonstrators, who have traveled in from other states, will be demonstrating a
variety of blacksmithing techniques. No
two demonstrators will be demonstrating at the same time, so you will have ample
opportunity to sit back, relax and see all the demonstrations during the
conference. If you don't feel like
taking notes, no problem. DVD's will
be available for advanced sale of this year's conference so you can go back over
all the information. Previous
conference demonstrations are also available for sale on DVD. In the evenings and on
Sunday morning, there will be some time available to participate in “open
forge”. Practice some techniques
you learned that day, or just try something new!
More experienced smiths are always around to assist! In addition to the
demonstrations, there will be a forging competition held on Thursday evening.
Also, we will have a “Meet and Greet” party, a tradition of sorts,
where we have refreshments and snacks at one of the many nearby local blacksmith
shops. This is held Friday evening
before dinner and exact locations and directions will be posted at the school.
After dinner on Friday evening, there is a slide show where the different
demonstrators will show slides of their work. Saturday night we also
have a BBQ and our annul RMS group meeting.
All members and demonstrators are highly encouraged to bring work to show
off in our “gallery” which is open during the time of the conference.
Work can be for sale or simply just for show.
RMS encourages all levels of blacksmiths to share their talents! RMS also has an auction on
Saturday evening. Many items are
donated by our members: hand forged
tools, sculpture items, decorative ware, etc.,
All proceeds go to RMS. The
auction and the Iron in the Hat, for which raffle tickets are sold all during
the conference, all take place
Saturday evening.. Tailgating is
also available. RMS asks that anyone
wishing to sell items in the tailgating area, is free to do so, but we also ask
that you please consider donating an item either to Iron in the Hat or the
Silent Auction. This year's demonstrators
are: Michael Bondi who will be
forging in aluminum and bronze and using power hammer techniques. Toby Hickman who will be
forging on the big power hammer, as well as focusing on “forging for the
lighting industry”. Brent Bailey who will
focus on forging at the anvil and tool making. And Corky Storer who will
be presenting his unusual method to combing repousee work with air tools. The following links are
provided to check out more of their work on their individual web sites: Brent Bailey: www.brentbaileyforge.com This is a fabulous event
and we sure hope to see you all there! Early registration is
highly recommended to secure your spot. Conference
Brochure, webpage - HTML Registration
Form, webpage - HTML
For more information
contact: Conference chair: Kamber
Sokulsky, 303-263-6379, blackhawkforge@hotmail.com Or Conference Registar: John
Switzer, 719-485-3109, switz@mindspring.com More info about the
demonstrators: About Toby Hickman If Francis ever told you
about the young smith who in 1977 followed him into the bathroom with questions,
well, that was me. I opened Waylan Smithy four years before I met Francis. I
have been forging ever since. I did craft shows, bluegrass festivals and walked
into craft and kitchen stores with hooks and scrolls hanging from my arms,
trying not to snag chotchkes off the shelves, as I sometimes successfully sold
pot racks and candle holders. In 1981 I bought a 2b
Nazel power hammer and took my aggressive style of forging to a new level.
Shortly after I got the hammer running, and before I killed myself, Don
Hawley came to my shop. Don had been working on big hammers since 1941 and
called my 2b a “peanut cracker.” He
taught me how to draw tapers and size stock, how to make and forge with open and
closed hand-held dies, how to calculate the amount of material in a given
forging. And he taught me to
respect the power and force of my hammer. Then there was Art Jones,
at that time the superintendent of the Forge Shop at Mare Island Navel Shipyard.
Art had started as an apprentice at the shipyard forge shop and by the time I
met him was running it. I can hardly
tell you what Art did for my forging except to say he helped me give it a
professionalism that has served me well ever since. Waylan Smithy grew from
“one hippy in a chicken barn” to an operation grossing $450,000 for each of
the last 8 years of my ownership. The shop employed from four to seven smiths,
and I became a not-very-good manager. We forged light frames for five different
lighting companies, and worked on commercial interiors, mainly for restaurants
and residential commissions. In June of 2002 I sold
Waylan Smithy to T.J. Maronne and in 2003 moved three hours north to the
Mendocino coast I come to show you some of
what I have learned in 35 years at the forge. About Brent Bailey Brent Bailey owns and
operates Brent Bailey Forge and Tool Company in About Michael Bondi Traveling around the world
in 1976, I became fascinated with the art of blacksmithing while visiting my
brother at the Simone Bennetton studio in When Stephen and I started
our business, we began working with architects who were looking for artistic,
high quality, traditional and non-traditional ironwork. These collaborations
proved to be the beginning of a successful partnership that secured our position
in the world of decorative, architectural, and fine art wrought ironwork .
During this period we centered on the heavy forging of steel and the use of its
plasticity to model the forms much like clay. When I started my own
architectural design shop, I began developing more non-traditional work within
the ironwork genre. I was drawn to the European Art Deco and Arts and Crafts
movements and began to explore the use of textured material in contrast to
smooth surfaces. I also incorporated non-ferrous metals such as copper, bronze
and monel to introduce contrast in color. In continuing development of my work,
I have introduced machined metal parts and geometric shapes in contrast to
forged surfaces. Michael Bondi Design
pieces are installed in Europe, Commercial installations
(partial listing): American Culinary Institute, San Francisco, CA: Bank of
America, San Francisco, CA; City Hall, San Francisco, CA; Cypress Club, San
Francisco, CA; Golden Nugget, New Jersey, NJ; Grand Hyatt, Wailea, HI; Hyatt
Regency Sacramento, CA; Los Altos Country Club Trump Tower, Trump Penthouse, New
York, NY, Los Altos, CA; Postrio, San Francisco, CA; University of California,
Berkeley, CA Private installations:
(partial listing): Prince Bandar Bin; Connie and David Egan; Kenny G; Lou and
Joan Platt; About Corky Storer
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