[TheForge] Hofi, Tom Clark, Yellin

[Dave Mudge]

Thanks for sharing your opinion James.
I knew Tom Clark well and he was a go-getter and a hell-of-a nice guy.
Yellin was a very talented guy. He drew most of the designs (I think)
He had smiths form all over the world working for him and thus had a
world (literally) of
design and technique experience to draw upon. I have had the honor to
repair some of
Yellin Studio's work. One was a massive pair of fire dogs. The picture
was lost in the
tornado. The other was a pair of panels at the entrance to an elevator
in the home of the
Dean of a collage in New Orleans. I do have pictures of them
http://magichammer.freeservers.com/samuel_yellin__window_panels.htm
ENJOY the pictures,
dave


On Mon, Dec 12, 2011 at 2:41 PM, Cindy and James
<jallcorn at suddenlink.net> wrote:
>
> Hofi, Tom Clark, Yellin
>
> I am late to the field of blacksmithing and only met Tom Clark once.  He
> had some stuff for sale and I was watching my pennies.  I regret not
> buying one of his hammers or getting to know him better.  I watched him
> demo a SayMak air hammer that day making a hot cut for an anvil from a
> steel blank.  I am still inspired by that today.  Yes, he was a showman,
> much as Hofi is.  I know several who have met Hofi and most seem to
> share the opinion that he has "his own way of doing things" so to
> speak.  I have watched some of his hammer technique videos and they make
> sense to me.  I bought one of his hammers and it is without a doubt a
> fantastic hammer.  I use it daily.
>
> I stand in awe of Yellin's organizational, management and artistic
> skills.  I do know he had a large shop with many skilled craftsmen.
> While I am sure he hammered some, I strongly suspect he directed the
> work more than hammered it out.  And if you don't have the concept of
> the final vision in mind, you simply can't start building and hope it
> turns out right.  And if you can't SELL the project in the first place,
> it will never get made.  The body of work created by Yellin is truly a
> National treasure.
>
> I know an artist who starts designing projects from the "top down".  It
> drives me nuts because I can't see the overall vision, all I can see to
> start with is the supporting structure.  But my mind just does not work
> like that.  Finally, I get the whole picture.
>
> If you are good enough at what you do, you are entitled to have an
> opinion.  If others don't like or share your opinion... that's their
> problem.
>
> Just my opinion.
> James, NE Texas
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