Finding opportunities to stretch yourself is part and parcel of training as a blacksmith and we actively encourage the team to develop and progress their talent. This sometimes involves going off to work in other established forges, understudying other experienced blacksmiths and working on different types of commissions – you might hear this described as being a ‘journeyman’. Jake Storey has been with Ironart for just over three years and is a really talented and a valued member of our team. We caught up with Jake to ask him what he’s been up to recently….
“I went up to Ratho Byres Forge in Edinburgh, to work with Pete Hill and Shona Johnson for one month at the end of the winter. I approached Pete at the BABA AGM in the summer – luckily he and Shona agreed and it was absolutely great.
Ratho Byre’s commissions are often sculptural with more forged elements than the work we tend to do here at Ironart – they do a lot of public art and sculptural installations for property developers. This type of work is often large scale and takes a long period of time to execute, so you’re lucky if you get to work on a project from start to finish. While I was with Pete and Shona I made two handrails, one was destined for Crathes Castle in Banchory. I then spent the last week of my stay making my own contemporary abstract sculpture, my design is based on balancing, pivot forms”
In March Jake took his sculpture to the first National Blacksmith Championship Committee show of the annual circuit, which was held at the Holme Lacey Campus in Hereford the home of the National School of Blacksmithing. He also took part in the live forging competition on the same day and has this to say about his experience…
“My sculpture didn’t place in the competition, but it was pretty contemporary compared to lots of the traditional pieces on display. I entered the 90 minute free-forging competition, and chose to make a spatula using both ferrous and non-ferrous materials – with a steel handle and a brass blade. The competition went well but right at the end I was rushing – the rivet snap marked the brass blade and one of the brass rivets started going off to one side. You can’t use power tools in the competition, so I couldn’t fix it in time. I needed a set of butchers to clean up the transition into the handle which didn’t come out the way I wanted it to. This was the first time I’ve entered a competition like this and my partner Carmen took photos. I didn’t place, but I didn’t come last! The whole event was a good laugh and a great opportunity to chat to other blacksmiths and meet up with people I know. I was there for the experience and I’m hoping to go to some more of these events this year.”
What’s next for you Jake?
“We tend to handle a lot of traditional ironwork here at Ironart but I’m really into the more contemporary projects. I recently came up with a design for an Art Deco Church gate and I’m hoping my design will be selected to be realised on the forge. I’m forging a contemporary sculptural bar stool out of quite heavy material and I’m also finalising the design of a sculptural boat bench for a client. In terms of experiencing other blacksmiths styles and techniques I’d really like to go and work alongside other, more contemporary artist blacksmiths in the future to broaden my horizons.“
