June 9th, 2010
Without drawing breath we packed all the furniture into the vans and headed north to the Malvern Spring Flower show. Set in a stunning location at the foot of the beautiful Malvern Hills near the village of Hanbury Swan this RHS show is a regular Spring diary date for keen gardeners. We met visitors from all over the Midlands, Wales, the South west and some who had ventured from as far afield as North Yorkshire and Exeter such is the draw of the show.
Victoria Park Gazebo detail
Our wrought iron furniture and garden structures were very well received, with the gazebo earning high praise, and the braziers particularly popular again, partially thanks to the chilly north wind and rain which persisted during the show.
Wrought iron fluted brazier
The RHS judges at Malvern were impressed with Andy’s new screen and the presentation and planting on the stand and we were awarded a bronze medal for our efforts. Special thanks go to Judith and Francis Green at Somerset Lavender Farm in Faulkland near Bath, and Lorraine Young at Downside Nursery in Westwood for the generous loan of the stunning flowers and shrubs. We would have been stuck without them!
Rosemary, catmint and lavender from Somerset Lavender Farm, Faulkland, Nr Bath
Rich red acer with hebe from Downside Nursery, Westwood, Nr Bradford on Avon
Malvern Spring Flower show is well worth visiting if you have never been, the organization is superb and there was a lot to see and do. We’re all relieved it went well and the shows are behind us for the summer as the workshop is really busy at the moment and there is a lot to do!
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June 1st, 2010
May was an exciting month at Ironart – after weeks of planning and preparation (and a few heated debates) we set up our ‘new look’ stand at the Bath Spring Flower Show in Victoria Park. The show ran over the early May bank holiday weekend and it gave us a valuable chance to meet existing and new customers and show off our full range of wrought iron garden furniture and garden structures at the start of the gardening season. We exhibited a wide range of products including wrought iron garden chairs, benches and tables, painted in a range of colours from the Ironart collection.
Martin and Andy setting up the beautiful new screen!
Andy and Martin erecting the gazebo on site
Our pretty gazebo was a real talking point on the stand, as were the two brazier designs on display, and many keen gardeners snapped up obelisk plant supports to add height and structure to their herbaceous borders. Andy had designed three new hanging basket brackets this spring which really finished the stand off. The weather wasn’t brilliant, but the show was great fun and gave us a chance to give Andy’s ingenious new backdrop screens an outing before exhibiting at our first ever RHS show at Malvern the following week.
Finished result! The Ironart stand at the Bath Spring Flower Show
And we were absolutely delighted to win a cup for the presentation of our stand this year. Thanks go to everyone at Ironart for all their hard work and patience getting everything ready for the show, this one is for you guys!
A large silver cup for our stand at the show!
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April 28th, 2010
At the end of March Andy and Martin took time out from the busy workshop schedule to visit Chris Topp’s forge in Thirsk, North Yorkshire. Chris Topp and his team were hosting an open day seminar; ’Introduction to Wrought Iron’ which Andy was keen to attend as Chris Topp is currently the only manufacturer of genuine puddled wrought iron on a commercial scale in the UK.
In order to make puddled wrought iron Chris Topp recycles the original material, everything from disused bridges to old railings and huge ship chains. The team rework the metal through a sequence of processes. Andy took some footage and shots of the team at work demonstrating their techniques.
Furnace gas powered with blowers to heat the reclaimed metal.
After it has been in the furnace, the wrought iron is pulled out onto a trolley by members of the team.
Creating genuine puddled wrought iron
The next image shows a curved section of reclaimed ship chain link under the 5cwt power hammer.
The next image shows reclaimed wrought iron bars being firewelded together in the forge.
Firewelding the reclaimed ingots in the forge at Chris Topp & Co
CLICK HERE to take you to our Youtube footage showing the power hammer at work, flattening a piece of ship’s chain so that it can be recycled as puddled wrought iron.
CLICK HERE to take you to footage of the water cooled rolling mills.
CLICK HERE to see footage of firewelding to extend puddled wrought iron bar.
Martin said of his Chris Topp & Co day…”It was really informative. I still can’t believe how simple and uncomplicated the process was. The only modern piece of equipment used in the process were the water cooling rolls. Otherwise they are still re-working metal the way they would have done 200 years ago.”
For more information on Chris Topp & Co Ltd go to www.christopp.co.uk/
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