This week at IASTudios

Hello everyone,

Shorter and belated blog post this week as I haven’t been in the forge too much and I completely forgot to take pictures of what we have been up to. Joe has mainly been tweaking and adding to the new booking system. Elliott WAS making spatulas until he managed to hurt his knee seemingly by just existing and then spent the rest of the week updating risk assessments. Dan has been making some basket weaving tools for a commission.

Elliott has been making spatulas with our view to creating more offerings in the realm of bbq equipment. We hope to expand more on this in the future, so watch this space if you are an avid bbq fan. Unfortunately Elliott managed to hurt his knee so had to spend more time sitting down so he decided to spend his time - as the nominated safety officer of the forge - updating risk assessments for the workshop. I can confirm that paperwork is not Elliott’s natural calling, so I think that these may take a while. I am sure his knee will be fully repaired and then some by the time that these are complete.

Joe (me) has spent most of his time this week at the desk as well, making tweaks to the new booking system, calendar, and general website backend things. The only work in the workshop that he’s done in the forge this week was a commission for a tool to push arrowheads out the back of archery boards. Just something quite quick and simple and ready for purpose.

At the weekend Joe had a market stall at a Buhurt (full contact armoured combat) tournament being held in Gloucester. This stall was successful, and I hope to be able to sell at more in the future. I did however manage to catch the sun something rotten and have been likened to a squashie since. I am writing this blog whilst in a bit of a sun-scorched fever dream and shall be staying in the shade and lathering on after-sun for the next few days I imagine.

Dan has been making a selection of basket weaving tools. The three tools on the left are wrapping irons, and the two on the right are called bodkins (not to be confused with the arrowtips). The wrapping irons are used to pack the woven willow down on the staves of the basket. The bodkins are used to create holes in the weave to allow for more willow to be pushed through and woven in. They can also be pressed into the end of the willow to split the willow into finer strands.

The Arrowhead poker

This little guy is made out of some 6mm round, and a small piece of rough sanded oak, finished with linseed oil. I cant help but think that this looks and feels like some kind of “safe shiv”.

Basket weaving tools

All in all, a relatively quiet week here at IAStudios.

Cheers to the next one.

~The IAStudios team

This week at IAStudios

Hello everyone,

This week at IAStudios, has been a bit more relaxed. Dan finished his ridiculous 5ft long tongs, Joe completed the booking system framework and Elliott has been making a bunch of window stay-hooks and pintles, and taught a knife making course. We still do not know what the college kids in the forge are up to.

It is my (Joe)’s absolute pleasure to announce that the new calendar based booking system is up and running. This should make booking course dates with us much more user friendly and easier to understand for everyone. I will be making some small adjustments here and there to improve the user experience and make everything prettier but the base framework and integrated calendar is now live. In doing this I have also made our courses more accessible and allowed for more booking options and dates to be available. In the coming week I shall be making some nice printable gift cards which will automatically be sent out upon the purchase of a gift voucher. I am also pleased to say that I did manage to refrain from throwing my laptop through the window. On the side of this important but admittedly much less interesting project, I have also made some more hooks to restock what was sold at the market the other week so that I am ready to go to the next market which should be in the coming week or two. I also finished a ring commission for a Norman period reenactor.

Joe, forging hooks.

Hooks! Ready to be coated.

A ring fit for a upper-middle ranking Norman

Elliott has returned to his primary love - windows. This week he has been making a set of replacement stay-hooks and pintles for the same leaded lights as pictured a week or two ago which he was fixing the latches on. He has also spent this Sunday teaching a 1 on 1 class with a lovely gentleman who wanted to make a specific style of knife - a Sloyd knife. A Sloyd knife is a specialised style of carving knife which the gentleman is intending to use for his limewood carving. It is always nice when someone makes a tool that they are going to use, it adds an extra something when you use a tool that you made yourself.

A sampling of Elliott’s window accessories

Student burning on the handle of his knife.

Elliott teaching a student how to forge a Sloyd knife

The Sloyd knife in it’s final form

Dan finished his order of unreasonably long tongs after a very arduous week, such long tongs are incredibly awkward to make. To celebrate he then made some regular sized tongs to remind himself that life is in fact worth living. At the weekend for a bit of fun he did a little bit of forge welding practice. Forge welding is when you fuse two pieces of steel together by getting them both very hot and then hammering them together so that the hot steel binds. This sounds like a simple process but is actually one of the most challenging blacksmithing processes to get the hang of. It is good to occasionally practice processes that you don’t use too often as a blacksmith as it is a bit of the case where if you don’t use the skill, you lose it.

Cheers to another week in the forge.

~IASTUDIOS

Dan, with a thousand yard stare after the week of exceptionally long tongs.

This week at IASTUDIOS

Hello Everybody,

This week has brought a bit of a change to the forge. This change has come in the shape of some students renting space in the forge for the month of July, taking advantage of our very reasonable workshop rental prices. It has been an interesting experience having different blood to the normal in the forge this week. All I can say about it is that it has definitely reinforced the stereotypes of “if you ask 2 blacksmiths the same question you get 3 different answers” and “every blacksmith will believe that their way is definitely the right way”, and honestly, I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Dan has been working on building a barbecue for customer that features 3 old wheels as the hearths for the barbecues. I think that the concept of this could perhaps get pushed a bit further in some creative ways. We shall have to see if it’s something we revisit in the future, but I think there is some potential there for some pretty cool if a little bit mad max-esque styled barbecue models.

Elliot has been working on a new stand for the belt sander in the forge to both improve the the safety of the person operating the machine but also to improve the use of the machine itself. The stand will allow the sander to be bolted down in one position providing a sturdy base, but it can also be unbolted and moved around should we ever rearrange the workshop.

Joe has spent all week messing with the back end of the website and fleshing out a potential new booking system which may go online next week. Well, that’s what I would say that I’ve been doing, the others would probably say I’ve spent most of my week swearing at the computer and threatening to throw it though the window of the office. Honestly I wouldn’t blame them for that view, it has not been easy work and at almost every stage where you think there would be a convenient button to make life easy, there isn’t and you realise that you do, in fact, have another 3 hours of work ahead of you. Or perhaps you’ve just spent an hour or two tweaking settings and then your window crashes and all those tweaks are gone and you need to do them again. Give me a hammer and an anvil over a keyboard any day. Anywho, rant over, this should hopefully release next week unless it all implodes and I do actually chuck the laptop out the window.

None of us are entirely sure what the students have been up to. but they have been beavering away working on their course projects.

We had a big group of people on our introduction to welding course this weekend. All our welding courses are taught by our in-house welding expert Dillon. The welding introduction course takes the students through how to properly work and maintain a MIG welder and also teaches the most common basic welds that they are likely to require out in the wild. It really is a brilliant starting place for anybody who would like to have some guidance in welding before working on any projects at home.

Cheers to yet another horrendously hot and sweaty week,

~IASTUDIOS

This Week at IAStudios

Hello everyone,

So, what’s been going on in the forge this week?

Dan has, as ever, been working on more tongs this week. Though this week, for a bit of variety there are some obscenely large tongs being made. I’m talking tongs with 5ft long reins… why anyone would want such long tongs is honestly beyond me, but my job is to write blogs and not ask questions.

Elliot has been working on a new batch of windows. I asked him to describe to me what he was doing to them and in what I can only describe as “Blacksmith Neanderthal Tongue” he said “Handle loose” smacked the handle with a hammer a few times then said proudly “Handle now not loose”. I may be omitting the large amount of swearing in between however.

Joe has been working on a potential overhaul of the way that courses will be booked through the website. It isn’t quite finished yet, but watch this space as hopefully a more advanced and much more user-friendly method for booking courses could be in the wings. This system should offer more opportunities for people to book different courses in a slightly more flexible manner compared to our very rigid current calendar.

We also had a handful of people in the forge on Saturday for our 4 hour blacksmithing taster session, where they made a couple of scroll knives. If you would be interested in giving blacksmithing a go, there’s honestly no better way to try it than coming on one of our courses.

It seems to be getting hotter again, and the rumour is that we are due another heatwave soon, we are crossing our fingers and praying to Hephaestus, Vulcan and every other forge god that it doesn’t get as hot as it did last week again.

Cheers to another week,

~IASTUDIOS

Dan’s tongs, including the mega tongs in progress.

The windows which Elliot is giving a little bit of TLC to.

This Week at IAStudios

Hello everyone.

This week was hot. Too hot. Unacceptably hot. We have only just about resolidified after becoming the human equivalent of an ice cream unceremoniously dropped on the floor. Without going on some kind of rant about how people in airconditioned offices need to stop complaining, or about how climate change is definitely a real and serious scientific fact that more people should care more about, I think it is safe to say that we suffered this week.

The temperature in the forge was oppressive, but we had a market this Sunday and we needed more stock, so the fires were lit and ice-lollies were stashed in the freezer. Elliot and Joe were working on stock for the market and Dan was finishing off a standing order of tongs. Elliot was making more of his keyrings - skulls, Thor’s hammers and leaves. Joe was making a batch of roses.

Ludlow market is the first town market that we have attended and we were happy with the amount of interest shown in our products and the courses that we offer. We got talking to a few of the other traders and also really enjoyed talking to the public about our work. We learnt a lot, what works, what doesn’t and what we shall change for next time, but all in all we were really proud of our stall at the market. We shall definitely be returning to Ludlow in the future.

Cheers to another (hopefully less hot) week.

~IASTUDIOS

Elliot, making the face of one of the skull keyrings

The skull keyring after the details have been punched/chiselled in

Some of Dan’s Tongs this week.

The IAStudios stall at Ludlow Market

This Week at IAStudios

Hello everyone,

This week is quiet in the forge as the team collectively recharges from a busy week at Download festival. At the festival Dan and Elliot were both doing blacksmithing demonstrations for the public, peddling their wares and helping with small have-a-go blacksmithing classes. They were quite successful selling the IAStudios stock, so we will definitely need to make more items for the coming summer markets. After the hectic week at Download both Dan and Elliot have spent most of this week out of the forge with the exception of finishing a small order of tongs. Joe has been away since Monday and is only in the forge on Friday because he quite literally has an axe to grind

(and a blog to write).

This weekend we have some knifemaking courses, hopefully the coming heatwave manages to hold off until they are complete or we are going to be back to being a very sweaty forge indeed!

Our online shop is live and is going to be being added to consistently as we make new and interesting things, please do check it out, there is some awesome stuff that can be picked up there.

Cheers to a chilled out week and a successful festival,

see you next week!

~IAStudios

Dan doing a big sparky forge weld temperature strike during a demonstration at Download festival

Dan cooking sausages with the Barbecue fork that he made as part of one of the blacksmithing demonstrations.

Joe with an axe (splitting maul) to grind

Hand forged cats being sold by Elliot at Download festival - he actually sold all of them and now we really need to make more cats.

This is either an action shot of Elliot doing a quick hammer flip, or an action shot of Elliot chucking his hammer across the shop… you decide!

Dan… being Dan with the bbq fork from the demo.

This week at IAStudios

Hello everybody,

It is quieter in the forge this week. Elliot has been at Download festival since Monday afternoon helping to set up the blacksmithing stall, Dan finished off a job making window handles and decoration and then went to join Elliot at download festival on Thursday, which leaves Joe all by himself to write lonely blog posts and make stock for markets in the forge.

Elliot and Dan are at download festival this weekend working alongside some other blacksmiths and they shall be both peddling their hand-forged wares and also teaching small have-a-go sessions at the festival for those who are interested. I have also made sure to arm them with business cards so even should they get a bit too distracted with the festivities, hopefully they will be able to spread the word about the good work we do here.

Joe has been working an assortment of hair pins, pendants, roses and hooks which he shall be taking to Ludlow market at the end of the month. Ludlow is a beautiful historic market town with a phenomenal castle and hold quite regular markets. Joe and Elliot will be have a market stall there on the 28th of June, if anyone would like to come and say hello whilst visiting a gem of the Marches. Should getting out and about and walking around historic towns sound like your own personal idea of hell, not to worry the items that we are making for sale will also be going up on our online shop in the near future!

Cheers to another week, and lets hope the boys have a good festival this weekend!

~ IASTUDIOS

Joe’s heart hairpins scrubbed up and ready to be waxed.

Dan’s rather fancy windows, ready for the powder coaters.

This week at IAStudios

Hello everyone,

The temperature has cooled down which means the forge has heated up this week! Last weekend Joe was at the Tolkien festival in Sarehole where he and some blacksmith friends hosted a successful stall packed with hand forged wares and the proud hosts of the mighty Dwarven Hammer Hold contest which saw well over 100 people test their mettle… against the metal. We were even briefly shown on ITV, oh the claim to fame! This busy stall has put a dent in our stock for future events this summer, so on top of our standing orders, courses that we are teaching and the necessary weekly paperwork, we are also replenishing our market/festival stock. We also have a couple of smiths renting spaces in our workshop this week to make their own stock for festival season so we have quite the motley crew in the forge this week.

In the forge this week: Dan is making more tongs to keep up with our standing orders, Joe and Elliot are making more stock for the summer season with Joe making hairpins and pendants and Elliot making Cat figures, bottle openers and keyrings. Come the weekend, Dan and Joe are having a stall at the Gwatkins cider festival, where customers will be able to have a go at blacksmithing and will be taught how to make their own little bottle opener, which then means they are suitably equipped to enjoy the rest of the festival. Elliot will be teaching a large 2 day Damascus knife course over the weekend so there should be some very pretty knives which may appear on the blog post next week!

As mentioned earlier we have a couple of smiths renting space in our workshop this week so that they have access to our facilities, if this is something that interests you, please do check our workshop rental rates. We have also fixed the shipping issues in our online shop, thanks for bringing that to our attention.

Cheers to a busy summer ahead!

~IAStudios

Dan making tongs with ‘Pam’ the power hammer.

Elliot teaching a Damascus knife course, working the billet with ‘Pam’.

The mighty Lucy, who managed to hold the hammer for 64 seconds! The top time out of the ladies, and humbling many a man.

Joe (Right) and friends at the end of the Tolkien festival in Sarehole

This week at IAStudios

Hello everyone,

We are currently riding the high of the last weekend, we had a lovely forge-in with our friends and fellow blacksmiths with a barbecue, music and festivities long into the night which I suspect a few are still recovering from.

As you can probably imagine, it’s a bit warm in the forge this week, as such we are working on as much paperwork as feasibly possible and just getting the forges on for the most urgent pieces of work. Dan has been sweating away making some tongs that need to be out the door ASAP, and is also teaching 1-2-1 courses from Friday to Sunday as the temperature is a bit less oppressive. Elliot has been finishing his rather fancy light bracket and Joe is working on the website (and writing blog posts) and will be at the Tolkien festival in Sarehole this weekend demonstrating blacksmithing with a stall there. If you’re interested in anything and everything Lord of the rings you can find out about the festival here.

Fingers crossed for a cooler week next week!

Cheers,

~IAStudios

Elliot working on the scroll for the light bracket

Dan teaching a student on a 1-2-1 course how to make a pair of tongs.

This Week at IAStudios

Hello again,

This week at IAStudios, we have a pretty average week in the forge followed by a promisingly epic weekend. In the forge this week, we have Dan making tongs, Elliot is working on some U bolts for trailers, a bracket for a church lantern and also some - you guessed it - windows. Joe is working a replacement window handle, his Uruk-Hai sword pendants in the lead up to the Tolkien festival at the end of the month and organising which markets over summer IAStudios will have a stall at.

Now, for arguably the more exciting stuff… the weekend. This weekend we have a forge-in and a barbecue here at the forge. A forge-in is a blacksmithing social event. We invite friends, family and fellow blacksmiths to the forge for some fun. There will be some group forge work, no doubt some competition and probably some stupid ideas. Following the forging we will all settle down for a barbecue and beer. Forge-ins tend to be one of the highlights of the year on a blacksmiths calendar, as naturally quite solitary creatures hiding away in their workshops, a forge in is a rare social opportunity for blacksmiths to come together. A forge in is a brilliant opportunity to meet blacksmiths and other creatives in a social and welcoming environment so if you are interested in joining us for a jolly, come to the forge this Sunday! Bring some food for the barbie and if you want to have a bit of a play in the forge, it’ll be just a fiver.

Cheers to another week, and perhaps we shall see some of you on Sunday!

~IASTUDIOS

Box Jaw Tongs by Dan

Elliot making a U-bolt

Replacement window handle by Joe - Ready for the powder coaters

This Week at IAStudios

Hello again,

Quiet times are over, Dan has mostly recovered and we are working at a fever pitch this week. We have A stag do in the forge making knives, with the stag getting a special Damascus knife, as is his right. We also have multiple jobs on the go, there does seem to be an unusually large number of window frames and components that are coming through the door for remaking or repair at the moment. I am starting to suspect that by Christmas we will have witnessed all the metal window frames in the wider Herefordshire area. Around these commission pieces we are still working on more trinkets for sale at markets and festivals when we have the time, which suddenly seems to be not very often at the moment.

We are continuing with increased social media engagement - if you haven’t already followed us on our social media platforms, please do check out our Instagram, Youtube and Facebook (a like and a share while you’re there is also always appreciated). We will be announcing the winner of our longstanding axe giveaway this week so one lucky person shall be receiving an axe made by us shortly. Keep an eye out for our giveaways on social media for a chance of winning your own hand forged goodies!

Cheers to a busy week!

~IAStudios

One lucky follower will be receiving this hand-forged axe very soon!

The Stag do knives

Our first Knife making stag do, with a Damascus knife for Connor, the Stag!

Burning on the handle of one of the stag do knives.

This week at IAStudios

Hello everyone,

This week at IAStudios has been somewhat hampered by Dan suffering from some horrendous food poisoning most of the week. However, once able, Dan has been working on expanding our welding course area to improve the facilities of the course, setting up new welders and welding bays. We have a few people on our Intro to mig-welding course this weekend so they shall be the first to take advantage of these new facilities.

Elliot has been working on more window frames and components. He has also been working on trinkets to take to download festival and markets.

Joe ,after coming back from a large reenactment event at Greystoke castle in Cumbria, has been having more of a computer oriented week (thrilling, I know) and is slowly going over the website and organising new promotional content for the forge. Watch this space for some pretty leaflets and fliers in the weeks to come.

See you next week.

~ IAStudios

Elliot, making small arrowhead pendants for download festival.

Joe, A very merry peasant.

This Week at IAStudios

Hello again,

Reenactment season has really kicked into gear now and I am definitely feeling my bruises from last weekend at Glastonbury. This weekend it’s off to Cumbria to do it all over again at Greystoke Castle. Should you hail from the more northern reaches of the country please do come along if Norman period reenactment including blacksmithing, fighting and many other period-correct crafts sounds like your cup of tea.

In the forge this week we have a weekend of knives. We have 2 day Damascus knives and one day knife classes coming this weekend. (Don’t worry we will make sure we do have just a little time off on the bank holiday) Watch this space for some shiny and sharp creations coming soon. Besides the courses that we have on, Elliot is working on more windows, he really does love those things. Joe is working on some trinkets for a tolkien festival he will attend at the end of May, and Dan has been making some tongs and hammers.

See you next week,
~IAStudios

A Norman Charcoal forge

Elliot teaching two Damascus knife courses

Joe working the bellows

Joe as a Norman Levy

This week at IASTUDIOS

This week is a little quieter compared to the storm that was last week, which is allowing us to work on projects slightly closer to our hearts. Dan is working on some tongs and content and editing for his next Youtube video, Joe is working on the website and on his Norman period reenactment equipment and commissions, and Elliot is preparing our stock of knife handles for future courses and knick-knacks for the Download festival stall.

With most of our blacksmithing experience courses taking place on the weekends while our commission work fills our weeks, we decided early on that we would try to keep the last weekend of every month free for ourselves, so that there would always be a little bit of guaranteed downtime at the end of every month (a light at the end of the tunnel if you will). So we do not have any classes this weekend. Joe will however be at a reenactment event in Glastonbury alongside the reenactment group Historia Normannis and will be participating in some living history blacksmithing, please feel free to come along if you are interested.

We have also added some new offerings to our online shop. If you like Vikings or cats, I suggest having a look!

See you next week,

~IASTUDIOS

Our new skull keyrings! Now available in the shop.

THIS WEEK at IASTUDIOS

This week at IASTUDIOS we have been busy little bees. It is a week filled with meetings, Damascus knife courses, soldering irons, and just a couple of pub window frames.

Like any growing business, everything has to start with a plan. This week we have been hashing out some exciting plans for the coming months. These plans include events and shows that we will be present at (we’ll see you at download festival), market stall planning, website and branding updates and what you’re reading now - a little blog post every week keeping those who are interested in what we are up to in the loop.

Due to being a business with fingers in just a few different pies, our weekly workloads tend to be somewhat eclectic in nature. For example, this week, we are refurbishing over 20 window frames from a pub, making 50+ Soldering iron tips, teaching some Damascus knife making experiences and a bespoke 1 to 1 blacksmithing course. Somehow we are also fitting in the inauguration of a weekly blog post, work on Youtube content for the Trust Me Ima Blacksmith channel and collectively consuming enough tea to make the East India Company weep.

Cheers to keeping busy

See you next week.

~ IASTUDIOS

Elliot, repairing a window frame. Elliot loves windows.