A quiet Christmas

I know its been a long time since I've done a blog update and I need to get back into the habit again. After a very busy November it seems to have quietened down this month but I can talk about some of the pieces I've been working on some of these haven't even made it on to the Facebook page yet. So here's your early bird special.

These ones you should recognize as they are on the facebook page and I believe that one of them is on the website too. But to those of you who only read my blog here are two sets of coat hooks mounted on to wood which I think is a lovely added touch.  

Here are my two recent commissions I've had this month, The main one being this huge cupcake stand which I must admit has been one of the biggest challenges I've done since I set myself up as a business. I know its not a great photo as I still have to get hold of some cupcakes to take some professional photos for the website and Facebook page but as you can see full of petals and flowing forms. I would say this is not normally my style of work but it came out very well and showed that I can take on anything!!  

Roses are always popular it seems no matter what time of year, which is good news for me, but its always even better when I know that the rose is being given to a someones partner as a gift. I do love making roses, especially the red painted ones. I've got a feeling I'll be making a lot of these over the next two months for valentines days where expect a big demand!       

Making jewellery has been a small pass time which I've started to become quite fond of. Here are a few of the ones I made recently and an idea of what is to come.  

This is one I'm very proud of and hope it will become very popular. I keep getting asked if I do smaller guitar hooks that could be done so more people could afford it and here it is, version one of the design and I want to get a guitar on it as soon as possible. This style guitar hook I'm pricing at £50. What do all think for the price? Consider the other two hooks are priced at £320 and £120 this one seems like a bargain!!     

Poppies, poppies, poppies and just a few more poppies.

As a lot of you who read my blog will have known that I have been raising money for the poppy appeal by forging steel poppies and hand painting them. For every poppies sold £5 went to the poppy appeal. I was surprised that they took off better than I hoped and was still getting orders for poppies days after remembrance day. But after finishing off the last poppies to be picked up we finnaly have a total.

The total money raised for the poppy appeal is....... £125!!!

I very happy with this, I was aiming for £100 and we beat it so, very very happy indeed. I will be making more poppies for remembrance day next year and use this year total as a target to beat for next year year.

I'd like to thank both my awesome mum and my lovely girlfriend for helping with the advertising and selling of the poppies down at the Cabot circus poppy day while I was in the workshop making more. Also a big thank to Andrew Thomas for giving me the idea to make the poppies. A thank to Margret Neagle for giving me more ideas on how to raise more money for next year. I'd also like to thank the Bristol post for such a lovely article on the steel poppies and for putting me on the front cover of the Weston Daily Press!!! It really helped to get the message out there. Also a thank you the British Legion for all their support and last but not least a huge thanks to everyone who bought a poppy we wouldn't have done it with out you!!

    

I made the papers!!!!!!

Yes for those of you that didn't know I made it in two newspapers on Thursday the 7th of this month.  Not only did I get a big article in the Bristol's evening post I was on the front cover of the Weston daily press!!!!

I've been raising money for the poppy appeal by forging and selling poppies, when the Bristol post found out about this they phoned me up for an interview and came to my workshop to take photos on the same day!! I was very happy to hear it would make it in to the papers but I never thought it would make the front cover. My aim is to raise £100 with every poppy sold £5 goes to the poppy appeal and so far I've raised £85, So not that far to go now. If anyone is still interested in purchasing one of my poppies Please contact me for details.

This has given my business a big boost in the right direction as I've had a lot of phone calls about inquires, so fingers crossed this is the kick my business has needed.    

  

More flowers

And again I've been making more flowers but this time not roses! I've added two new sets of flowers to my portfolio of work, tulips and poppies. I had a few people asking me about Tulips before and decided on one of quiet days I'd give one a go. This first one I made became a gift to my mum.

 

©2013

 The next flower I started making is poppies, As Remembrance day is coming up an idea came forward to make poppies that I could sell and give a percentage of the money raised to the poppy appeal. I hope to raise as much money as possible and within less than 24 hours of announcing the idea I already had three orders. I will be putting the poppies on my esty.com account too so anyone can order one or you can message me on my Facebook page to order one as well.  

©2013

  

More roses....

Yes I've been getting quite a few orders for roses this week and am developing quite a range of different sizes and colours. This particular rose is very different from all the others and maybe one of my best so far. This rose has a set of four petals not three like all my others, the commission was a painted rose with stand and two leaves. Here are some pictures of the processes to the finished result.

 
I really love the finished result of this rose not only is it hand made by me but hand painted too. The cross between the reds, black and shininess of steel really stands out and is not to over powering. I think I need a photo of all my roses together while I still have most of them.
What do you all think?.....  

New website!!!

I'm now live with an all new website, so please check it out. It even has a link to my hammer and tongs facebook page too. the website address is....

jbullblacksmith.wix.com/hammerandtongs

Please let me know what you think????...

Silent Hill meets the forge!

I don't normally take on weird commissions but with this one I made an exception for. A friend of friend approached me with the idea he had for a cosplay outfit of the character Pyramid head from the film silent hill. The main task to this outfit is the mask which is a big pyramid (hence the name Pyramid head) First we built the frame and cut out the plates that would be welded to the frame from the inside. Because the mask had to look quite rustic I used the grinder and other tools to age it slightly. After aging it, we drilled about 60 holes in each side of the face, making the holes around the eyes wider for more sight. I quite like the finished result it certainly looks the part and I look forward to seeing the mask with the whole outfit in use.