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00:00the UK has long been a world leader in heritage crafts from stained glass design to wood carving
00:20from silversmithing to wheel writing these skills have been kept alive by a dedicated few
00:27we've championed not only their historical significance but their enduring worth but with
00:34fewer students taking up these skills and a limited number of masters around to pass on
00:39their knowledge there's a risk that these crafts will be lost forever so in this series we've
00:45invited 12 dedicated junior crafters who are starting out on their crafting journeys hoping
00:52to specialize in stone carving mosaic making letterpress printing and we start with a craft
01:01forged in flame blacksmithing each week they'll take part in a unique masterclass mentored by a
01:12world leader in their craft to help maintain the traditions of crafting excellence and help keep
01:17our heritage crafts alive and tonight's masterclass is by royal command a king's foundation alumnus Ian
01:26Thackeray will be working the flames for fire welding we're going to be looking at getting the metal up
01:31to around 1400 degrees Celsius and I also take eye-opening trips back in time through Britain's
01:38past witnessing how the masters of old created our rich cultural heritage so welcome to master crafters the
01:48next generation our three junior crafters are all passionate about preserving the ancient skills of
02:03blacksmithing with an eye for fine detail on the organic form Brad wills I feel absolutely fantastic
02:12about today with a love for the abstract and alchemy Georgia Stevens I am being pushed out of my own
02:18comfort zone which is a good kind of scary and driven by detail combining form with function Ron Davis to
02:27learn from someone that's had so many years of experience is like really beneficial to our craft like
02:31they've got so many like little tips and tricks about different things like a process here like
02:35like a particular method that we can like absorb
02:37okay welcome crafters Ron Brad Georgia thanks for being part of this today now I know that you're
02:51all studying blacksmithing I think is it you're in your second year degree course so you're no strangers
02:58to the whole art of artistic blacksmithing which is great because I think you're going to get a lot
03:03out today your master class is with someone who really expertly blends the functional with the
03:11artistic and he uses traditional techniques with a modern twist his work has been seen by millions so
03:20let's go and meet Ian Thackeray follow me our master classes are being held in this grade 2 listed barn
03:29part of which date back to the late 13th century nestled in rural Cambridgeshire its original use was to
03:37store wheat historically the barn was fully thatched in 1376 by John clefeld who was paid a princely sum of
03:4662 shillings and eight pence for his labor now the immense high-pitched roof is clad in tarred corrugated
03:55iron which protects the handcrafted timber interior from the elements okay guys this is Ian oh that yeah
04:04and we've got Georgia Brad and Brown they're here to learn push a few skills you know look at some new
04:11techniques brilliant creating metalwork for a modern world our master Ian Thackeray blends traditional
04:19blacksmithing an artistic form with contemporary engineering techniques his brilliance with the forge
04:25has won in commissions at London's Highgate Cemetery as well as the Chelsea Flower Show in 2022
04:31it wasn't until I lost my job in 2008 that I started looking for anything that would pay the bills and
04:39just happened to come across an advert for a person just to sweep up metal and cut bits of steel for a
04:46fabrication firm that's when I really started to find out about craft and in particular blacksmithing
04:52as soon as the forge was lit for the first time that was it that was what I realized I wanted to do
04:59it was just so mesmerizing watching these people just sling incredibly hot pieces of steel around
05:07beat them with hammers and shape them to their will as a metal enthusiast myself I accepted Ian's
05:16invitation to try my hand at what he successfully turned into a career after he enrolled in Warwickshire
05:22College where he was taught how to fuse function with artistry by master blacksmith Michelle Parker she
05:30was very influential in keeping me going in blacksmithing she wanted to teach us so much that we would
05:37become better than she was and that is what people need to be doing to keep these things alive to keep
05:43them relevant and to keep them moving as well it's very easy for a craft to become stagnant and a bit
05:51self-obsessed and eventually it will die out I was then fortunate enough to be sponsored by the King's
06:00Foundation and I was able to travel the country working with some of the best blacksmiths out there
06:06before then deciding to set up my own forge here in Dorset Ian's time learning from those masters has
06:14instilled in him a desire to pay his skills forward to the next generation and even me have you ever
06:22done blacksmithing no I know the poem the village blacksmith well you have an option either recite the
06:29poem yes or have a quick go could I do both and you can recite while you're working if you want to
06:35no yeah absolutely love to have a go at its heart blacksmithing is about heating metal so it's easier
06:42and quicker to change its shape so of course safety equipment on we're going to put the metal into the
06:47fire yeah bring it out onto the anvil and then using the hammer just bring the hammer up and down and
06:55turn the metal 90 degrees to create what's called a square point ideally for blacksmithing we're
07:00looking around 1,100 degrees Celsius all right
07:11and turn it
07:17it's quite hard keeping it in the right place isn't it yeah I mean I've bent it you just give it a couple
07:24of taps where it's bent and it'll go straight again yeah here yeah and turn it that way yeah and
07:29there you go straight again look at that so put it in the oven this is great oh fantastic I can see
07:38why it's so compulsive isn't it though working with metal like that literally making it into things
07:46I mean it's so satisfying yeah it really is and it's a lot cheaper than therapy
07:58as much as I love bashing metal back in the barn our juniors are about to have their masterclass where
08:04it's less about the bashing and more about the finessing what we're going to get you to do today is to
08:09make a realistic flower and using a piece of square steel section make something to be able to hold or
08:17support the flower from the flower I want them to look lifelike with the holders your imagination is
08:23the limit but I would like to see at least one fire weld in each of your pieces of work all right
08:31so whoa whoa whoa whoa hold on what's going on there
08:36firewood is so bad if you'd like I can do a couple of demonstrations for you and so for firewold and
08:44we're going to be looking at getting the metal up to around 1400 degrees Celsius and then being able to
08:50hammer it together so that it fuses into one piece to fire weld Ian first creates the shape that he will
08:59fuse together and so what I'm doing now is just forging down to a point and then flattening off a
09:10little bit behind there I'm doing a set down where I want the leaf to fold pop it back in to reheat it
09:19and now folding the metal over the far side of the anvil back on itself and so you've got quite a tight
09:35shape at the bottom the aim is to make that curve look seamless about this height above the fire you're
09:44going to start seeing the sparks very similar to when you set off a sparkler and that's going to
09:49tell you that the metals beginning to get ready for a firewall count to five and by the time you've
09:55reached five that should be ready to firewalls three or four hits back into the fire again and you're only
10:08tapping it aren't you you're not really whacking it no I was always taught that if you hit it really
10:14hard all of the molten metal that you're trying to glue the pieces together with that's what goes
10:21spraying out all over the place and so if you're only tapping it that just means that it all stays
10:27together to form one piece lovely beautiful the second tip we're going to be doing I've given you
10:34all one of these peening hammers and this is got a very narrow nose to it which will help you to
10:40create very thin marks using the peening hammer helps to give the petal edges more texture and as
10:53you can see that's made the edge very very thin the trouble we've got is that that is a curved surface
10:59and so trying to do anything on a straight edge side of an anvil is going to be quite tricky and so
11:06move made you a little chimney and because it's round that means that you're able to get all the way
11:17around those leaves to create a more realistic finish that's so cool so you've got a choice of
11:26four flowers for today you've got the rose it is quite an easy one to make but it is very time-consuming
11:33the next one is the sunflower simple but also quite a tricky one to get looking just right you then have
11:41an iris if you choose an iris I will be looking to make sure it is lifelike and the final one
11:47is the daisy which is the smallest and most delicate flower of the lot and so if you choose
11:53that you will have to be careful with your fire control there you go easy isn't it
11:58okay junior crafters you have five hours to complete this challenge I mean to metal in a big way but not
12:14in this way even so I would say don't spend too long on the design you've got a lot to do so maybe
12:1915 minutes on the flowers before you start forging okay let the challenge commence designing their
12:30flower sculptures is an important first step as the juniors have to focus their creativity in 2d
12:36before working out how to turn their sketches into 3d with the solid stocks of steel and the pre-cut
12:42flower petals how's it going then Bron what I'm thinking is forget two bits the 20 square set in
12:51on both ends okay that can then flick up and I'll do some like settings like this mm-hmm because I was
12:58looking at a daisy like leaf and it's kind of like a bit jagged those two will come together and fire
13:04welding at the bottom with the stem that's gonna be like a bit of a tricky fire weld I think um I think
13:09that's a good design though yeah I like the fact that you're reducing the material either side yeah
13:14to be able to create the leaves for it and I like the fact that you've thought about the shape of the
13:19leaves themselves I think my interest in crafts really kind of started towards like the end of high
13:30school I started making like little bits of jewelry that kind of like led me onto the path of like oh there's
13:35blacksmithing I think it's like kind of the whole encompassing like nature of it you know you're
13:41taking like this really resilient wall material like you can make it into really anything it's
13:45kind of like the limitations there really are none you can kind of take it wherever you want
13:50before settling on blacksmithing 20 year old Bron was due to study aerospace engineering at
13:56university I kind of feel like you can be yourself a bit more in artistic blacksmithing
14:02um like you can bring your own interest more into it you can like explore what you want to explore
14:06this technical background means that he strives to bring precision to his work
14:12the big thing I need to know at the minute is fire welding um I've built it up in my head
14:18that big thing that I can't do um I've proved myself a couple times like I can do it but that's
14:23something I need to kind of just get over that fear of it and just actually get good at it
14:26as you said that fire world is going to be tricky because you're going to have
14:31a huge bulk of material around that middle point and a very thin stem of the flower
14:39yeah to be able to to join it join it all together and with that Ron begins work on his base
14:44how are you getting on then yeah good I want to make my rose behave like a rose does so rather
14:53than having it just standing up I want it to be like as if it's growing out of a bush and I want
14:58the stands to also have a conversation with that free-spirited 26 year old Georgia discovered the
15:05artistry of blacksmithing later on in life I was actually quite academic through school and college
15:12my creativity got sparked when I started going to music festivals which to me are like the biggest
15:19art exhibitions in the world she was drawn to the alchemy of blacksmithing after experimenting
15:25with coppersmithing I started off with copper bangles and then someone commissioned me to make
15:31a leaf and then yeah then it was leaves for like four years I got obsessed traditional blacksmithing
15:38definitely teaches you how to move the material it teaches you the characteristics of the
15:42material with art you can you can sort of push those boundaries actually and start exploring that
15:48material in different details where maybe it's got movement and it's got meaning you're not just
15:54making something because it it needs to be a railing needs to function as a railing oh my god I haven't
16:00fire welded okay there's gonna be a leaf here yeah and where the fire weld is yeah yeah that will be
16:09fire welded it's gonna be hard getting the weight distribution so it doesn't fall over it's a very
16:15ambitious design but I'm up for it and Georgia starts by measuring and cutting the stem of her leaf
16:26so then Brad oh hi what are you going for I really like the idea of the sunflower okay and as you were
16:37talking about like the realism of the whole entire thing I really want to like capture that because I
16:43really want the base to kind of work around the flower and I kind of like this idea of a really
16:49sensitive wrap around the stem of the flower a child of the steel city of Sheffield Brad has been
16:58fascinated with metal art since he was a youngster and is particularly drawn to organic forms I'm
17:05mostly inspired by where nature interacts with urban areas and has this reclamation interaction with it
17:13when I was a bit younger my mother used to do glass cutting my dad he ended up loving doing his
17:20woodwork so I got introduced to both despite Brad's crafting lineage his path into metalwork took some
17:27unusual twists and turns I started doing short track speed skating I ended up getting to the kind
17:34of semi-professional kind of professional side of it but beyond that point everything kind of fell
17:39through and about a year after that actually came crafts and blacksmithing known amongst classmates as
17:48a fine art blacksmith Brad attributes his physical stamina to aiding him in the forge environment where
17:54strength and endurance are essential traits I think the link between both the craft and that kind of sport
18:01it's all to do with technique and really love the process and get good at each process that kept me
18:09going I think the design looks brilliant what I will say being able to do an upset corner and then
18:17forge it down that is going to be very time-consuming for you so I would recommend getting even if it's
18:23just the basics of that done first and then bring the flower in so that you know that it's got a stand of
18:34some description Brad begins his mammoth task of reducing the stock to realize his delicate design
18:42the use of wrought iron or steel by blacksmiths has been used in functional ways for millennia but as
18:53our juniors are learning there is a noticeable shift from traditional utility to a more artistic
18:59application of design and that requires a different approach so in what are your thoughts on the differences
19:08between functional and artistic blacksmithing we are skilled enough as cross people to be able to
19:15produce beautiful artistic items that still have a function so when you're thinking about creating a piece
19:23that's going to be in a public place what are the considerations that you have to apply to the work
19:29I think for the public allow people to walk around them up close to them you know touch them rather
19:37than it being an item that you drive past on the a303 on your way to wherever that for me is a very
19:44important aspect and also as a cross person it means that I'm going to work harder to make a better quality
19:50product because I want it to be somewhere people enjoy Ian's landmark piece from 2022's Chelsea Flower Show
20:00now proudly stands in his village I love this piece by the way I think it's really beautiful for me as
20:08well it references the sort of industrial past as well and it's one of these ones that with the
20:15construction of it none of that would have been possible without the heritage that has gone on
20:22before there's a kind of nostalgia as well it evokes a kind of love of you know our industrial past and
20:29that sort of that very much the kind of legacy of that I think it was it was one of those ones with
20:33the right sculpture the right design at the right time as well
20:45our junior crafters have been given five hours to create a dainty delicate flower and a unique piece
20:58to hold or support it using just a rectangular piece of steel Brad has opted for the sunflower Georgia
21:08the rose as soon as it reaches mid orange and straight back in and brown the daisy just doing
21:16the set downs now for that material on either end a fire welding novice Georgia is aiming to weld her
21:26leaf to the stem of her rose this technique is achieved by heating the metal to a white heat
21:35in temperatures of around 1200 degrees C then fusing the pieces together with progressively harder blows
21:44that it think so back into fire so as you remember I did it about three times just to make sure it's
21:54definitely set and the first one is the tricky one so if you manage to get the first one done that's
22:00brilliant I hope so I have been known to celebrate and then it'll fall apart I think we all have
22:09back in go go go nice and quick a quick brush to file away any residue and Georgia seems chuffed with
22:32her attempt okay I'm not gonna touch it now so Brian how's it going yeah um yeah it's going very
22:39well um definitely feeling the time pressure yeah but it's good to work too because I mean you know
22:46the little things you normally get hung up on kind of having to like work through them and like try
22:50finish them like when you're doing the next bit so what have you chosen for your design I've gone for
22:57like a base this kind of like represents like the leaves and there's now like a match at the bottom
23:02which I'm gonna fly well together Ian recommends that each fire weld is executed three times to ensure
23:17it maintains its form the design of bronze base means his five world will have to work on a much larger
23:24piece of metal unlike George's bronze fire world doesn't quite go to plan I've managed to burn off
23:45a big old chunk of it in the corner with the five while those doing that I've got this big mass in the
23:50bottom which is the bit I was trying to attach together and these really thin bits these bits
23:55like inevitably get really hot and just that one there just fell off because it was all based on
24:00that big fire weld at the bottom it's kind of like that was the make or break and it definitely broke
24:04bronze base may be broke but out in the British countryside there is one design which has weathered
24:13much bigger storms on the River Severn here in Shropshire lies a UNESCO World Heritage Site a metal
24:22structure which changed the world forever the techniques pioneered here at the iron bridge with a catalyst
24:37for the use of cast iron in building frames so you could argue that what began here is why we have
24:45bridges and skyscrapers throughout the world today taking me through the history of this heavy metal is
24:52curatorial director of English heritage Matt Thompson whose day job means he looks after important
24:59structures throughout the country this is one of the real special ones the iron bridge and we're
25:05responsible for looking after this bridge and making sure that it's standing in another 250 years time so
25:11when when was it actually constructed the idea was first suggested in the middle of the 1770s and
25:17building started in the late 1770s and it opened on New Year's Day in 1781 and really this is symbolic of
25:25the Industrial Revolution and the beginning of the use of iron of metal in building in architecture so we see
25:32here the first freestanding structure made of metal and that had a huge influence on not just the
25:39country but the rest of the world the bridge's ancestry is not straightforward originally designed by
25:47architect Thomas Farnell's Pritchard he died before completion his blueprints were adapted by Abraham
25:55Derby the third whose family were local pioneering iron masters despite making some adjustments the
26:03bridge was completed close to the original vision bridges have been built for millennia but it would
26:10be wood or stone this is using a material that the iron masters had a great deal of experience with
26:16and thought really this is their calling card this is their opportunity to show how good they are how
26:21advanced how technically superior they are to anybody else the fact that they can build a bridge in this
26:26way so Matt we're down here under the bridge at the footings tell me a bit about the structure of it
26:38how it all fits together so what we've got is a structure of course is made out of iron cast iron
26:42cast in open sand mold so we'll see on on each of these there's a kind of bottom and a top but the
26:50joints that hold it all together are really reminiscent of woodworking joints the kind of
26:55joints that you'd see in a medieval building for instance so whilst they're using a really modern
27:00material and they're developing the technology almost as they're going along they're still
27:03referring back there's that call back to techniques that people have been practicing for hundreds of
27:09years before as well as their ingenuity it was the revolutionary use of coke which enabled them
27:16to use larger quantities of iron ore and in effect create much bigger molds some of the ribs on the
27:23bridge are over five tons in weight so casting a five-ton piece it takes an incredible amount of
27:29skill and that's the skill that was developed here over generations really with the Derby family and
27:34with other iron masters the bit I've read about it it was very much like it was like a new
27:39development and this was the promotional bridge for this new style of construction yeah absolutely
27:45and Abraham Derby the third was no stranger to how to promote that so he actually paid an artist to
27:51produce a painting of the bridge before the bridge was even open to the public of course you can't take
27:55the bridge to London so the intelligentsia can see it but you can take a fine fine painting of that
28:01bridge take it down there so he's he's promoting the idea just that in itself conjures up the images
28:06now that we see CGI of people enjoying this new flats or new apartment building yeah and the painting
28:14actually shows a coach being driven across the bridge because that wouldn't have been possible the
28:19bridge was up but there were no approach roads to it so you wouldn't have ever seen a coach across
28:22and then we find very very quickly after the bridge opens that it does become this tourist attraction the
28:30bridge's birthplace in Shropshire was not by accident what you have is a perfect selection of raw materials so
28:38you've got iron ore you've got limestone you've got coal which can be used as the fuel roasted as coke
28:45and perhaps most importantly you've got the fantastic river seven the river seven allows you to get your
28:51products out to get them to market and that market isn't just domestic isn't just in Britain that market
28:57is right across the world the lessons learnt while casting this bridge means its legacy is still felt
29:06today what took place here in the iron bridge gorge went on to fundamentally shape the world in which we
29:14live today some fantastic developments that have made our lives immeasurably better but we can't forget also
29:22that there's been a lasting and ongoing impact on the environment and so we need to bear that in mind and
29:28really think about how we can use our ingenuity which we see displayed with the bridge here so wonderfully
29:33today to be able to think about the problems that we're facing moving forward but it is just still a beautiful
29:40piece of work isn't it I think one of the things that really excites me about this is that
29:44it's a bridge and it's probably one of the most important bridges in the world but people still
29:51walk over it to go to school they walk over it to go to work or walk the dog it's not in a glass box in a
29:56museum it is out here for everyone to enjoy and it is beautiful it's at the heart of a community and
30:02there's something about that that I find particularly exciting
30:05the idyllic British countryside in this peaceful Cambridgeshire village our three juniors are taking a
30:27master class in metal I've chosen her design that's a bit of a hefty one for the arms I think you've been
30:44making the most noise out of anyone the juniors are now over halfway through their challenge both
30:53Brad and Georgia are working on texturing their flowers
31:00there's always gonna be a warm day today I think it's amazing to watch just something which is rigid
31:16with the application of heat yeah it turns into all these different there was an incredible blacksmith
31:22in the 1930s for Samuel Yellen who said that the joy of blacksmithing is breathing life into a lifeless
31:29material yeah and it's perfectly true exactly what they're exactly what they're doing here
31:34bronze is the most technical George's is the most floral and the most of life and then Brad's is I
31:43would say it's probably the most artistic I thought so again all very different which is brilliancy
31:48and just shows these are the next generation of metal workers blacksmithing's birth is said to be
31:55around 3,000 years BC another form of metalwork that has stood the test of time for over 1500 years in
32:02Europe is bell casting the Loughborough Bell Foundry is home to the historic bell makers John Taylor and
32:10company who have been casting bells since 1859 a few weeks before their master class we arranged for
32:17the juniors to visit the foundry to try their hands at casting hi everyone I'm Antone I'm the
32:25foundry foreman so I'm in charge of basically this whole area we've made bells for all over the world
32:30in here and we can make bells from two or three kilos up to Great Paul which is in St Paul's Cathedral
32:36that's 16.8 tons that's the biggest bell in the UK that's ever been cast so today all three of you
32:43we're gonna have a go at actually foundry work so you're gonna mold and cast your own small sort
32:48of seven eight inch carillon bell something really cool so have you guys got an experience with bell
33:00founding or foundry work at all I made like a tiny little bell for my man there's nothing compared to
33:06so to me really interesting actually how it's properly done yeah I've never even seen metal
33:12molten like the the hottest I've seen metal really when it goes in flick the form is silver no I haven't
33:17either no good day then yeah so if you can all put your PPE gloves on because the resin can cause skin
33:23irritation so if you want to grab the bucket and we'll go and get some sand so this uh this red
33:29machine here the bucket underneath the red chute yeah and then I'll turn it on a bell's life starts
33:37as a pattern essentially a replica of the object about to be cast which is filled with a silica and
33:44sand mix that's it really really pack it in so the sands mixed with a resin in the catalyst so depending
33:52on how long we need the sand to be workable we can adjust the settings the next step is we've got to
33:58make sure that this is all nice and level so all the hollow all the spots where it's not yeah it's
34:03not filled in the setting takes around 20 minutes and Anthony can check by making sure there's no give
34:12in the sand yeah I'm happy with them now we've got them rolled over as you can see in each of the
34:19molds there's a tiny little bit of dust and sand and whatnot which we can't have because that will
34:24then leave a mark on the pattern we need to put our glasses on all of this surface and inside what
34:30will become the core need to be blown out with the bellows so that we've got three nice clean molds
34:34the next step is to ensure that this and the final mold do not bind together so a parting powder or
34:43chalk is dabbed around each surface that's perfect now the joints are all prepared so we've got a stack of
34:49bottom boxes all we need to do is when we pick them up the pins that are sticking up locate into
34:54the two holes either side and we need to make sure that it sits nice and flush all around the edge like
34:59it's not sat on an angle or anything like that once the bottom box is on they repeat the process
35:05filling with sand packing it in tight and smoothing it off we've just got to let them set so that'll
35:12probably take sort of 10 15 minutes once set then they need to be separated you guys are going to
35:19lift this piece off as parallel as you can because if you start to lean over the court you've got
35:24remember there's a core in there that will bend and that'll easily break off so we'll just crack that
35:29so the box moved and it was loose so nice instead it perfect so now that is your inside shape the bell
35:38that you're going to cast so let's take the bottom one that's it lift using the hammer then tap the
35:46pattern out oh look at that that leaves the cavity that the metal will fill when we pour it really
35:52cool that's gorgeous each of the molds are given a coating of graphite paint so I just like dab it in
35:59yeah yeah yeah made with alcohol not water the alcohol needs to be burned off so it dries leaving
36:06a protective film behind and then all we've got to do is put a glue seal around the bottom of this
36:13box we can roll them over close them and then they're ready for casting it takes two hours for
36:21the furnace to reach its optimum temperature of a thousand degrees Celsius just about enough time
36:27to get their fireproof clothing ready so plan now it metal is now molten furnaces you can see is
36:34well hot so we're going to turn it off in a second and it's ready to start pouring three are you ready
36:48beep whoop whoop whoop whoop whoop whoop whoop whoop whoop whoop whoop we're going right perfect so well done guys perfect best a perfectaux
37:13There we go, right? Perfect.
37:16So, well done, guys. That's it.
37:18You've now all had a go at casting the mould you made.
37:21This is brilliant.
37:23Oh, it's great. Amazing.
37:25I want to do it again.
37:26Oh, well, good. I'm glad to hear it.
37:28Now it's really just waiting,
37:30leaving all the moulds now to cool down.
37:35After leaving the moulds for about an hour...
37:37You guys ready? Yeah.
37:39...they're just about cool enough to take the top off.
37:42Ooh!
37:44...to get a first look at what they've cast.
37:46Crazy.
37:47That there is your cast carillon belt.
37:51Wow.
37:53Oh, that's great.
38:01Back at the barn, and a couple of weeks after their day in the foundry...
38:05Bron, I don't want to interrupt you. Hello.
38:07But I brought along this, right?
38:09Oh, wow.
38:10This is a belt from John, Taylor & Co.
38:12And I brought it along just to ask you, how was that experience?
38:15Oh, it was phenomenal. I had so much fun.
38:18Because it's a solid piece of metal.
38:19I mean, yeah, have a go.
38:20Oh, yeah.
38:21And I actually get into, like, cast something that ends up like this.
38:24It was amazing.
38:25I definitely want to, like, try, like, doing bits of casting.
38:28Like, kind of, like, to go with the forgewood.
38:30All right, well, this weighs an absolute tonne.
38:32It does, doesn't it?
38:33So I'm going to put it down. You carry on.
38:35I'm going to keep drinking this later on.
38:38The juniors are now in their last hour of the challenge.
38:42Ah.
38:43Brad, do you have an extra half hour?
38:47Well, I, like, I went slow, and then I went so bloody quickly on doing the rest of it.
38:51Mine's .
38:52Is it?
38:53Yeah.
38:54Come on again.
38:55What, did the...
38:56What, was it the fire weld?
38:57Fire weld.
38:58Oh, okay.
38:59Oh, it sounded like it went well, I thought.
39:01No, not at all.
39:06As Bran reflects on his technique...
39:08I shouldn't have gone with a weld like that, I don't think.
39:10It was ambitious.
39:11Yeah.
39:12But then it's one of those things that ambitious isn't a bad thing.
39:17This.
39:17That's a bit nerve-wracking.
39:19Brad is now at the assembling stage.
39:21I'm just attaching all of the petals to the stem.
39:29I'm just trying to get the stem.
39:31Brian has started to hammer out his second base.
39:37Once they're happy with their petals, the juniors must heat the stem,
39:41clamp it in a vise, and create a rivet with the stem through the centre of the petals.
39:48This process is called setting, and should clamp the materials permanently together.
39:55This is a difficult part, because as you can see, like,
39:58my rivet is not doing very well.
40:04And I think it's all to do with just me not being able to get the heat into there.
40:10Whoa!
40:11Ah!
40:13Sparks!
40:16Georgia is now using the wire brush to smooth away any residue
40:20as she begins to shape her base.
40:22Up to this point, it's gone really well.
40:26To be honest, I'm still figuring out the base.
40:28I think I'm gonna do, like, like a base like that,
40:31and have it riveted in there and just hope that...
40:33Nice.
40:34Just...just hope.
40:37I like that.
40:38Now, that's almost...that's almost it.
40:47So I've kind of messed up the order of things,
40:50so I'm, at this point, having to sort of freestyle from my design.
40:55Both Brad and Georgia, leaning into their love for organic form,
40:59have incorporated thin vines into their pieces,
41:02which have been created by hammering some stock into very thin tendrils.
41:22Crafters, you have ten minutes remaining,
41:24so you might want to think about putting your finishing touches on your pieces,
41:29applying some wax, and buffing them up.
41:41Okay, crafters, that's it.
41:42Time's up.
41:43Step away from your benches.
41:51Our junior crafters were given five hours
41:54to design, forge, hammer, and shape their chosen flowers,
41:58texturing the petals, stems, and leaves
42:01to produce a delicate finish.
42:04They also had to craft a supporting structure
42:06and expand their skills by using the fire weld technique.
42:11How did the day go?
42:12It's been a kind of a up and down, up and down.
42:15Really struggled with the fire welds.
42:16Just, like, the first one, way too hot on the thin bits here.
42:20Kind of just...one disappeared.
42:22So I started again.
42:23Wasn't the same fire weld.
42:25Didn't burn off this time, but the weld doesn't stuck very well.
42:28Because as I was punching a hole in for the stem,
42:30it just split it open.
42:32Traumatic day.
42:33Oh, yeah.
42:34Definitely need to work on my fire welding.
42:35But you've salvaged it, and you've created something great.
42:38It's together.
42:39Yeah.
42:39Yeah.
42:40What I love about it is the fact that every single angle
42:44gives you a different perspective.
42:45So looking at it at the side, there's a lovely flower going 90 degrees,
42:49and suddenly you've got these leaves almost acting as a triumphant emblem.
42:53And also, from a technical perspective,
42:55not losing your head when it all went a little bit sideways.
42:59I think what you've got here is a triumph.
43:06It's been quite a day.
43:08The pressure's been on, but you've created this beautiful rose.
43:12I began with my fire weld, because that's what I was most nervous about,
43:15so I wanted to sort of get that out of the way,
43:16and I'm really happy with that.
43:17Then I began texturing my petals, put it all together, formed it.
43:22It was meant to be flat, but I actually had more time than I thought,
43:24so it gave me a little bit of time to give it a bit more depth.
43:27The rose is, without a doubt, the hardest flower
43:30out of the ones that I brought along,
43:31and even for me, it still is a couple of hours' work.
43:35And for you to create this on your first ever attempt
43:39under these conditions is wonderful,
43:41and it's a beautiful, beautiful rose.
43:43This delicate little tendril that wraps around the stem shows,
43:48actually, artistic blacksmithing is a thing of fragile beauty,
43:52and I think, for many people, this would be an absolute revelation.
43:57Well, there's still some residual warmth coming off it,
44:01so this is literally hot off the forge.
44:04I really liked the idea of getting that large head of a flower,
44:09and doing what I like to do, usually in, like,
44:12making some really sensitive material out of the big stock,
44:16trying to, like, have that flower,
44:19and then this big body sort of leaning over really intrigued me.
44:24It's brilliant.
44:25The difference that you've created in that piece of square steel
44:28that you started with is lovely.
44:30The fact that you take it from that heavy industrial material,
44:34created a nice substantial base,
44:37and then really pushed the material to its limits with this tendril.
44:41To be able to create a piece like this in five hours is marvellous.
44:44You should be very, very proud.
44:46Thank you so much. Yeah.
44:50It's really important to learn from people like Ian,
44:53these, like, masters of their craft.
44:56Those little bits you can pick from everyone,
44:58it's really, really cool to, like, be able to bring into our own work.
45:02With Passionate Cross People like the three we've had in today,
45:04the future of the heritage industry is in very capable hands.
45:08They show so much enthusiasm
45:12and so much passion for what they're doing.
45:15I think if you're watching this,
45:16pick up a hammer, get creative, metal.
45:19It's a really beautiful material to put yourself into.
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