Blacksmithing weekend

So I ride up to Jerome on Friday, to drop off some work and pick up a check. Another artist had left a little article in my file about a blacksmithing demo going on in CV this weekend. Turns out, it was on our street, about five houses away! Th Arizona Artist Blacksmith Association has "hammer ins" every other month, and this one was being hosted by our neighbors. So I headed over in the morning, and wrote my membership check. The boys set up their lemonade stand next to the registration table. Gordon Williams did the demo on Saturday. I took his workshop last fall. He is an awesome demonstrator, and a talented blacksmith. After the all day demo, we went on a tour of a few of the CV artists' shops. I love seeing other peoples' work spaces, not to mention the awesome properties around here!

This is Ray Rybar Jr., who makes AMAZING knives with damascus steel. He not only makes the steel, forming incredible patterns in the metal with various types of steel(google damascus), he goes out and digs the ore to actually MAKE the metal from dust. So impressive I can't even stand it. Truly humbling to be in the presence of such greatness. He lives about a mile away right in our 'hood, and has an awesome set of tools.

This is a not so good photo of a part of a sword. It has an Adam and Eve theme. Click the photo to enlarge. The different colors are the different metals-they go all the way through the piece. The surface was etched as well with lettering and other images.

Knife making workshops are in my future!

The Sunday(today) demo was done by Chris Contos, a metal artist from Prescott. A former jeweler, he now does a lot of engraving on steel and some awesome repousse' work. Got to try out one of his chisels, and made a little spiral in some steel. So much playing to do...

Chris is using a chisel to engrave some steel.

This is one of his belt buckels, all hand engraved sterling with gold and copper accents. I'm so greatful the Universe wanted me to become part of this amazingly talented group of people. I look forward to learning many things from them, and maybe even get to share some of my ideas and techniques(I'm not feeling worthy yet) with the AABA. WOW

Happy Birthday to Me

Our friend Chuck has been visiting for the past week. He is an avid rider, and inspired me to hop on the bike again. We took a couple rides together while Eric was in school. Yesterday was my birthday, and his last opportunity to see the Grand Canyon on this visit, so to the Grand Canyon we rode. We took the (more)scenic route on the way up, going on highway 89A, through Sedona. We stopped here for a little break after winding our way up the mountain north of Sedona, on the way to Flagstaff. Elevation about 7000 ft.

We stopped for lunch in Williams, the last city on Route 66 to be bypassed by Interstate 40. It is known as "The Gateway to the Grand Canyon", and has a train that runs the 50 miles north to the GC.

Made it to the South Rim! Fond memories of my hike down with Suzy. Gotta make it to Phantom Ranch next time!

What an awesome ride! All in all, we rode about three hundred miles, on all kinds of roads. Twisties up through mountains, Interstate highway, and nice two lane, wide open roads. Saw a heard of Elk just south of Flagstaff, and smelled Junipers, Ponderosa Pines, intentional burns(sort of like pine incense), and lovely wilflowers to name a few. Not a bad Birthday. Thanks Eric for encouraging me to go, and to Chuck for putting up with my speed limit riding :)