In the Summer of 2024 Ironart’s apprentice Olly was lucky enough to receive a grant from The York Consortium for Craft & Conservation to support his training here at Ironart. The YCCC grant is part of a new funding scheme to support craft trainees and apprentices, especially where their craft is endangered and funded training is not available.  

Here’s a update from Olly on how it’s going…

“I’ve been following the ‘Fundamentals of Blacksmithing’ and the Hereford College syllabus with Jason in the workshop. I recently made three forged hearts and a spatula. Forge-welding the end of the spatula and spreading it out was a good challenge.

I’ve been working on Ironart projects too, making component parts for a canopy that the team are making for a client. I have been making steel rafters welded to the correct length with an angle cut on each end so that they are flat, and then forming a cap on the front edge. We are using quite thin bar on this project so it was tricky to work with.

I’ve also been making rings and the spandrels (curved detail sections) for the canopy legs. I’ve had to curve the lengths through the rollers and then weld two pieces of convex steel onto each end. It’s been great to be involved in this project.

I recently attended two events with the rest of the Ironart team. I went along to the National Heritage Ironwork conference at Hampton Court in October. Some of the talks were really, really interesting, particularly the one from Peter Meehan, metals conservator about the paint and finishes. Comparing old lead paints to new materials.

I also went to the British Artist Blacksmith Association AGM in September – the coolest part was meeting Charles Lewton-Brain the pioneer of the ‘fold forming’ technique, plus I met loads of interesting, like-minded people.”