Torc Triath 2008 Blade – 31 1/2″ Hilt – 6″ AOL – 37 1/2″ Weight – 2.6 lbs / 1.2 Kilo The embellishments on this sword are inspired by La Tene period ornamentation from Britain and Ireland. The overall design is inspired by the Kirkburn sword from yorkshire and other …
The nights are cold again with frost spiking the windows and the darkness begins to come earlier. Apples hang ripe on gnarled trees, the wind carries the smell of wood smoke and change. The sun casts across the land at a low angle, it seems to be a deeper more …
Nights lengthen into silent moonlit worlds, between vivid days. Long shadows fall away from the sun which makes a low arc from south-east to south-west horizon and is gone leaving the cold to breathe through the crack at the door. The snow comes. Stoke the fire, begin winter’s work. …
The sun flares red across the landing strip, casting its long fingers down above mountains as I board my midnight flight leaving Anchorage, Alaska. On the 25th of May I arrived in the same airport in late afternoon. I had slept through much of the flight and woke …
This is a preview of a DVD which includes two presentations that I did at the Arctic Fire Swordsmithing event in Alaska in June of 2012, as well as several interviews. There is also footage of Swordsmiths Michael Pikula, David Delagardelle, Don Fogg, Peter Johnsson and J. Arthur Loose. This …
Snow falls on snow, then more snow falls. Somewhere in the forested hills the bear sow and her cubs hibernate and the moose shifts about in his winter yard. It is snowshoe weather, too deep for skis. I spent the day yesterday shoveling the snow from the roof of my …
The year dims down towards its last gasp. Black mornings slowly merge into short days, but the work pace doesn’t slacken. Some mornings I am starting the forge at six thirty and working in a bubble of light like a craft in an ocean of darkness. The open door gapes …
Late November brings snowstorms. The field behind my forge turns white and grey, obscured by pencil lines of snow. Ground freezes and propane is sluggish and recalcitrant in the mornings. Then as the month turns, it becomes warmer, snow turns to mist, the ground thaws. Creatures come out of their …
As I consider the rumpled clouds, (white, gray, blue) a clump of five chickadees whirs up to the barren rose bush I’m standing next to. They rush about from branch to branch yelling chick-a-dee-dee-dee. I go in the house and come back with my camera. They wait for me and …
The wind is up, rain pelts relentlessly and I am finishing the autumn’s work and starting my winter projects. Over the last year I’ve been focusing on honing my drawing and painting skills alongside my work as a swordsmith and sculptor. The act of painting an idea is a …