The Summer in Kustavi

Tomorrow I'll be back in school so this might be a good point to have an update about my summer activities.

Two of my friends worked in Kustavi (a nice little place on the south-west coast here in Finland) as blacksmiths in a popular place where there were other forms on handcraft as well (clay products, silver jewelry, candles...). I was their replacement on some weekends when they had to be somewhere else. I took my job seriously, as I always do, and worked hard to make various items for sale. Some examples can be seen in my gallery.

I learned a lot about forging while there. I think I understand now better how to manipulate hot iron and my hammering is getting more precise. I worked on some tecniques that were new to me. I'm also finally getting the idea of how to make good nails. At one point I thought forging nails was a real pain in the ass but just last weekend beside other forgings I made more than 30 nails with only couple failures. It is great to feel that I'm getting somewhere with all the effort.