Well, the downturn of the economy has finally come home. The Artisan Center of Virginia's gallery has temporary closed it's doors. I picked up my stuff yesterday. Just last summer, they were enjoying record sales, now almost nothing.

I don't know if this is appropriate for posting of the forum, but thought I'd risk it. Last year, I was the resident artist at Touchstone's blacksmith studio. Part of my job was to help with getting the following year's instructors scheduled. So that's my interest in this.

I just learned this from a friend.

He was working with a smith out east of me on a large handrail job. To finish it, they contacted the Powdercoat company about using their ovens on the weekend. As the powdercoaters are closed on the weekend, they agreed to rent the use. So what he did was to take all his railings there, coat them with boiled linseed oil and bake them at 400 for about hour and half. I didn't get to see this, but I understand the finish came out beautifully.

Well, I'm back. The marathon journey of the last four months is finally over. Four weeks at Chris Gavin's shop in Baltimore, two months at Touchstone as the Resident Artist for the Blacksmith Studio and lastly two weeks at Penland as Mark Aspery's Assistant. Money is low and it's time to try and make some :-) Luckily I have plenty of handyman work to fall back on. (sometimes I think I should just do that, as the standard rate around these parts to $30-35 an hour. But I like the iron too much to ever stop.)

Ok, except for the last part of yesterday, all in all, it's been a pretty good experience. However, the bike ride where I was clipped and catapulted over my bike by a old lady and her car, was not so good. I came out remarkable good for having been hit by a car. I think it was only her mirror, as it was all busted up. I remember thinking: I'm hit, helmet*, get out of the road. Other then the expected aches and pains of doing a sudden flip on pavement, the only (I hope) injury I sustained was a bashed and tore up left elbow. It was enough to prevent me from using the arm for anything but the most limited of activates. With that limitation, I came home. I'm hoping to go back Monday, but unless the arm starts healing fast, I think I'll be out of heavy work for the next week. That's ok, I can catch up on my paperwork and some letters I've been meaning to write.