Hi gang,
I hope I'm posting to the right place. This is my first time using the forum and unsure but here goes.
I am an artist blacksmith residing and working in Knoxville, TN. I've been a blacksmith off and on since 1979 but mostly as a hobby except for a while during 2000 to 2004 when I tried making money at it. Now I have jumped in the deep end of the pool and hope to make a living from it. I have hooked up with a bunch named SCORE which is a group of retired business people who donate their time to act as mentors for people like me. I understand the basics of business because we ran our own electronics design consulting business for six years. What I don't understand is how to advertise and market my fine hand forged ironwork. We know that craft shows are not necessarily the best way from previous experience. But galleries seem to charge large amounts (in one case 60% !) for selling my work and they get a commission for anything I sell within 100 miles of them.

Bowl

Jo Williams - Artist Blacksmith and Fire Sculptor
Currently working on fire sculpture of a skull, made from steel round bar and reinforcement grid for firework display at three counties showground Ma

Hello everybody, I've been looking around here for a couple hours now and I'm pretty happy to find a site that brings so many talented metalsmiths together! I've just finished my service enlistment and have been forging my own knives and nick-nacks for about a year now. I would really like to work for a professional forge if there is work/help needed in the southern California area. Maybe you, or someone you know is in a situation to take on a hard worker and motivated learner? Thanks for reading, Happy New Year!

This was a very large project of over 350' of railing.
Hand-Forged iron and bronze.