Views in the Smithy

Here is a huge old fir stump. We got this stump on Stuart Island when we lived out there at anchor in the sloop Grace. A huge storm had brought down some big trees, and a park ranger in Prevost Harbor cut the trees up. When the ground began to thaw, one stump got rolling down the hill and chased John down, on to the ramp, and all the way out to the dock! He decided we should bring it to the smithy which was then on the far end of that harbor. We loaded it in the 6 foot dinghy (!!) and rowed it to the smithy. Its a good solid thing to work on!

On the stump you can see our light cross-peen hammer, a T-stake, and my graver and jig for holding bone cabochons to incise them.

This is a tray of sterling silver crochet hooks John is making. They are all different sizes and designs. And not spoken for yet, if you would like to to order some.

Here is our lovely anvil. It weighs 170 pounds, and we bought it back east from a man whose father was a smith from Sweden. Since we are living on an old Swedish homestead here on Lopez Island I think the anvil approves. Our favorite hammer is on top.

Here is my system for making sets of double pointed knitting needles and not confusing them.

Yes, those are popsicle making molds. They work great! You can see a nearly done set of sterling silver dp needles , and some bronze I cut up to make size #1 dps needels. I also have a shawl pin and a sleying hook in there, waiting for the final polishing.

The Ring of the Anvil

I guess my neighbors can hear the anvil ringing again! (Well, John has beeen smithing all along, but not both if us.) I have been able to get some good time in at the smithy again. What a long hard haul its been.
Monday's mail should have a load of late orders sent out in it, hooray. I forgot how much strength it takes to buff metal. You really have to lean in to the wheel to get the bronze all shiny & smooth. I am working on penannular brooches and shawl pins and a pair of knitting needles set with malachite today. The needles just need cleaning & rouging & setting. Each thing I send out is a customer who has written saying "where is my stuff?" So it is very enjoyable both to do it all, and to let them know it is on its way.
The Easter lily is blooming on our kitchen table. It has a very tall curved stem and three white blossoms in a cluster. Heavenly! Plus the cactus...I guess its a Halloween cactus? is still blooming bright red right next to it. The flowers look like nudibranchs.
Back to the smithy with me now.

This Dappled Morning

The far field

dazzles with the hawkweed,

yellow, festive,

and the sheep

has eaten all the

tasty blossoms around her.

Shadows of swallows

slide over the long grass

golden beneath the rowan

whose berries swell in

crimson clusters on the bough.

I feel as solitary

and prickly as a thistle,

this dappled morning,

as I lean on the cold iron of the anvil.

The bronze knitting needles I have made

are golden bright from the rouge,

and lie on the work bench

waiting to be sent

all over the planet.

I can see them go

like the many shadows of birds

flying out, away,

to land in a pair of hands.

Hands that will draw to them yarn,

like the wool of my sheep,

distilled from a field of yellow flowers.

Hands that will draw to them patterns,

like the rowan now growing,

its grey branches knitted to the blue of the sky,

its berries, red within green,

celebrating magic, utility, motion, and beauty.

Molly Swan-Sheeran copyright 2007

Read more of my poems? http://celticswan.com/poems.htm