Blacksmithing classesNew class availability opens on the last Tuesday of every month.
Please pay attention to prerequisites.  Ms Caitlin bends some metal. Photo by Emily Gude.
I was destined to fall in love with blacksmithing from the very beginning. I come from a long line of makers and doers. I was fascinated by pictures of ornate ironwork I saw as a kid. But I didn't know any blacksmiths, I'd never even seen it done, and I had NO IDEA what to expect when I signed up for my first class. The first time I saw my teacher make a leaf out of a piece of steel, I fell in love. The sunset colors of the hot steel, the way the metal moved quickly and easily. The cold, dark block transformed into something organic, almost alive. I wanted to do what my teacher could do. I wanted to BE a BLACKSMITH. I wanted that power of transformation. I drove nearly 3000 miles in 3 months to take my next 4 classes. Then, I discovered a forge where I could practice locally. For safety, they required that I forge with a buddy. So I started bringing my friends and teaching them (even though I'd only started smithing 6 months earlier). Even though I jumped into teaching almost immediately, I still struggled for the next 4 years: I couldn’t get the metal to move the way I wanted, no matter how hard I tried. (And I tried very hard.) I thought this was because I'm only 5’5” (most blacksmiths towered over me). I was taught by some of the tallest, brawniest, best blacksmiths. But they didn’t know how to teach ME. THEY had height and strength advantages when they started. They didn’t know how to teach someone without that height and strength. Some of them yelled “hit harder!” (but I was already trying soooo hard)! Some just wrote me off. I started to write myself off. Would I ever move metal fast enough to be good at blacksmithing? Meanwhile, I started getting interested in body mechanics. I began to adjust my tools and my environment to fit MY body. I experimented with to using physics to move the metal more efficiently. One day, it all clicked. Suddenly I moved huge amounts of metal with minimal effort. It took me 4 years to figure this out on my own but you can learn the basics of what I discovered in ONE CLASS. Now, I've been teaching for 10+ years. I've taught my special biomechanical approach for 7 years. And I've helped more than 600 students skip to the bit where they move metal effortlessly. If I hadn't figured this out for myself, I'd still be struggling to move the metal and working waaaaay too hard. I don't want you to waste any more time or effort! Let's get you moving metal effortlessly! |
Heritage Craft Holiday Week
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