Tag: The Pratt

Mid-week Update

/ Matt Talley / Leave a comment

So, this week has been crazy at work and at home. On the home-front, there were birthdays, shopping, it is Income Tax time, we have 3-4 guys showing up every morning at 7:00 with tools in hand to work in and on the attic.

My shop is full.  I can’t even get to my table saw and my bench is stacked 5′ high with insulation.   I need a little shop time to keep me sane or at least saner…  So, I took a little me time and signed up for some classes for spring and early summer where I will get use other folks shops and build/make stuff:

  1. Canoe Paddle Making
  2. Claw and Ball Foot Carving
  3. A 10-Week Letter Press Workshop
  4. Woodcarving Figures
  5. Spoon Carving
  6. Block Printing
  7. Industrial Sewing: canvas and leather

Film Friday – Blacksmithing and Forging

/ Matt Talley / 2 Comments

I am a novice smith and that is being generous. I do like to forge though and it is awesome when I get a little time to make things for myself. This short film details a couple of the different type of hold fasts (metal work and word work) that I recently made at the Pratt Center for Fine Arts forge in Seattle. If you live in Seattle, have a single maker bone in your body, and haven’t checked them out – do so immediately and sign up for a class or two.

Forging and Fabricating

/ Matt Talley / Leave a comment

I can do and make bunches of stuff: Everything from joinery to electronics, from wood turning to machining, from bookbinding to electrical, from carving to heavy machine operation, but there are certain things that I have never really been able to do in the world of hand-craft, mostly due to lack of exposure or instruction. Chiefly among these things are/were forging/blacksmithing and metal shaping. The latter composed of shaping and bending sheet metal into forms and objects.

I decided this year to work on those deficits and have been taking some forging and fabrication classes at The Pratt Fine Arts Center in Seattle. A couple nights a week, I leave work and hammer, shape, weld, grind, and make stuff out of steel. I have been at it for 5 weeks and am really please with both The Pratt and all that I am learning. I have also learned that while I have dipped my toe in these waters, that there is a ocean of knowledge out there. I do not have any want to be a full-time blacksmith or fabricator, but I want to keep learning, so I can add some of the techniques and pieces to stuff that I already build and add to my repertoire of ability and understanding. Below are some of the pieces that I have made, tools I am using, and some stuff that I am working on. I am putting together a little video as well.