[TheForge] question for part-timers & hobbyists

[Justin Fisher]

>What are your personal goals for blacksmithing?

To continue learning for the rest of my life - it is a journey, not a 
destination.

>Are you more interested in technical skills, design skills, or equally
>devoted to both?

At this stage I'm still more interested in improving my technical 
skills.  I want to learn how to make what I intend to do actually happen, 
then I'll focus on design.

>Do you like to do projects or make up your own, or both?

Both - I enjoy doing my own designs, but I find that projects (especially 
projects designed to teach a skill) keep me moving forward.

>How much time per week, or month do you set aside for your blacksmithing?

Not nearly as much as I'd like!   In the winter I spend more time on 
jewelry and taking classes, spring/summer/fall I try to set aside a weekend 
day each week.  I also get sidetracked by woodworking sometimes.

>How much time do you set aside for studying blacksmithing in other ways,
>through book research or your own sketching?

Probably at least a half hour a day reading "The Forge" postings!  Also, 
surfing the net for design ideas takes some time but I tend to lose track.

>Do you set yourself certain goals in the shop?- for example, maybe in June,
>you are going to work strictly on collars, or in August, you are going to
>work on perfecting scroll designs.

I did set myself the goal of making a dragon head, and made a dozen tries 
before I got one that I liked enough to give someone as a Christmas 
present.  But mostly, no, I don't work that way.

>If you don't like to work with a goal system- then how do you decide what to
>work on ?

First, what I need around the house - brackets, pot rack, fireplace tools, 
etc.  Then what I want to give as gifts.

>What motivates you?

The thought that I won't do much blacksmithing when I'm dead.

>Do you have anything else to add that I didn't think about asking?

Seems like blacksmiths are always improving and extending their skills, and 
I'm like that too.  Silversmithing, casting, woodworking, woodturning, I 
work in those so far.  I'm currently adding glass (fused and slumped) to 
the mix and looking for a place to put a kiln.  Sometimes I wonder if I'd 
be better off focusing on one thing, other times I think about buying a 
bigger house!

It'd be interesting to know how many of us are mainly into 
blacksmithing,and how many are jack-of-all-trades types.



--Justin
Celtic art & artifact: www.electriccelt.com