I love sharing what I do, whether it’s art, music, metal, whatever. Joy shared is joy multiplied.
Today I am packing my tools up to travel to The Gateway Burn, a regional Burning Man event in Missouri. We’ll be camping with our dear friends, Chris and Cherie of Technomadia. This will be my first “burn” type event, but after 13 years of pagan festivals I think I’m ready.
What’s new for me is the gradual addition of hard metals, steel and iron to what I’m used to: soft fine metals, silver and gold. This means I have to bring my oxy/acetylene torch and my new (to me) 200lb Vulcan anvil. I started dabbling in blacksmithing almost 2 years ago, but I haven’t felt confident enough to share until now.
I’m always glad I do this. Sure, it’s a pain to pack up my tools and then reset them somewhere on ground that isn’t level, using a portable workbench, trying to solder in the wind, trying not to burn up the bugs that are attracted by my torch after dark.
But there’s something to be said for having someone walk by and watch quietly, (or with questions) learning about things they always wondered about, like how to size a ring or solder a chain. I love interactive art because you never know what you inspire in someone and how it will be manifested.
And it gives me a chance to organize my tools in packing, unpacking and repacking. Keeping tools together by use, instead of spread across my work bench where they were left when I “finished that order and had to move on to the next thing”. Tool boxes and buckets. Boxes and bins. It’s a lot of fun to do this in the most efficient way possible.
Wendy is coming along and we’ll be meeting up with family in Kansas and seeing the sites in St. Louis as well as some other yet to be determined side adventures.
I plan to Twitter our adventures if you want to follow along.