Representing some 40 years of hand forged metalworks, ranging from historically accurate reproductions, functional tools and blades, decorative and sculptural objects. Many unique objects have yet to find a treasured home.
| PAST WORK by the Wareham Forge,
the work of Artisan Blacksmith Darrell Markewitz of
Ontario Canada. Representing some 40 years of hand forged metalworks, ranging from historically accurate reproductions, functional tools and blades, decorative and sculptural objects. Many unique objects have yet to find a treasured home. |
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pull out guide |
Past Artworks
Currently Available Over a lifetime as an artisan, you can expect to gather a collection of objects, which for one reason or another, never find the owner you had hoped for. Selling a thing is a much different skill than Making a thing. I am like most artisans - at heart a Maker, not a salesman. This is rarely a comment on the quality of the object, or the originality of its design. Most often it is a measure of just not being able to physically place a piece where just the right person will see it, and connect with it.
An attempt will be made to keep the
offerings current.
In some cases, the descriptions here refer to the current appearance of the object. Expect ongoing changes... |
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'Segmented
Funeral Urn'
forged and fabricated wrought iron, forged copper plate Fall - 2008 $1200 interested? |
" The body of the urn is composed of a
number of individually hand forged strips of antique
wrought iron ... Actual historic wrought iron has been
chosen for the construction because of its excellent
forging characteristics and special durability. The metal
itself is already some 150 years old — and should easily
endure for centuries more. A fitting resting place for the
memories of one past beyond us. " (from the catalogue description for 'Segmented Urn' for the exhibit 'Grave Goods') As finished, the piece weighs 17 kg (that's almost 40 lbs). It stands 38 cm tall and is about 23 cm wide (15 x 9 inches). The inner volume is a cylinder roughly 25 cm tall by 10 cm diameter = 2500 cc (10 x 4 inches). The complete description of 'Segmented Funeral Urn', with notes on its creation, can be found HERE. |
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'Spine Bench' Hallucigenia # 2 forged mild steel / Paduk wood top Summer 2010 $700 interested? |
The inspiration for 'Spine Bench'
started with seeing fish skeletons washed up along a beach.
Imagine a series of curved ribs, linked along a spine. But
here the creature has not yet develped a boney spine like
modern animals, but instead has a cable like nerve cord,
twined together to permit maximum flexibility. The
individual ribs are made from aggressively forged flat bar.
To finish, the metal is painted a dark chocolate brown. Initially the piece had a top of 3 inch thick solid pine, but a better balance was found with a thinner single plank of African Paduk wood. One end of the plank had been eatten away by termites, a distortion that adds to the primitive feel of the table. The finished table stands about 18 inches tall, with the top about 15 inches wide by 48 long (38 x 40 x 120 cm) |
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'Structural' is an example of my observations on
the techniques and uses of materials from early Art
Nouveau forged work. In the late 1800's, new structural
materials became widely available. Industrial profiles
like U shapped channel and V shaped angle. Of course the
artisans of the time would 'explode' the ends of these
strong supporting shapes, then forge the many flat
segments thus created. 'Structural' has its three legs each formed from a section of 1 x 1" angle laid inside 1 x 1 1/2" channel, each forged to spread wider (to 2 3/4"). The ends of all these have been cut open and forged into a series of tapered reversal curves (total of five elements, both ends of each leg). The top is formed to contain a 3" diameter pillar candle, the one seen in this image is 10" tall. The total height is 32 inches, with the spread of the legs at roughly 17" a side. |
'Massive' series Interested? range of sizes and shapes : $45 to $90 |
'Compacted' series Interested? range of sizes and shapes : $45 to $75 |
In 2013 I invested both coin and considerable time into
building a 30 ton hydraulic press for the workshop. The
primary reason was to asssist in compacting blooms from my
iron smelting work. The immense power of the press
suggested other forming possilities, which I started to
slowly explore. The raw power needed to be carefully
controlled, but could allow for the creation of forms
difficult for me to accomplish with simple 'one man
power'. the 'Massive' series required some experiments in
tools and forming dies. Heavy solid blocks of steel are
deformed and shapped, with sockets created that hold a
standard 3/4 decorative candle. Although the results seem
simple enough, the real surprise comes when the
considerable mass of each is found when they are picked
up. |
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forged angle & mild steel with decorative paint Summer 2008 $200 Interested? |
This piece was created specifically for the Gallery
presentation at the annual 'Quad State Roundup' held in
September by Ohio Forge & Anvil. (This is a large
regional blacksmith's event, attracting well over 1000
participants.) Every year, in addition to the open categories that display contemporary work, they announce a special theme. That year, the theme was 'hanger'. I normally try to play with theme, concentrating on design concepts, rather than shear technical prowess. 'Hanger for my Autumn Coat & Hat' is a smaller piece, 11 inches at widest and 27 inches long. It uses various application of the shouldering tool to crimp and create 3-D profiles. The piece is painted a very dark brown, with copper highlights in the inside of the 'feathers'. |
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'Blue
Medusa' mild steel with decorative paint / commercial glass insert Spring 2017 $325 Interested? |
Several years back, I had purchased a set of
these deep blue cylinders of blown glass, in three different
sizes / proportions. When teaching, I end up with a lot of 1/2 and 3/8 diameter round rod, with long tapering cylindrical points (technique being illustrated). What to do with these? The inspiration was to forge the points into snake like combinations of spirals and reversal curves. These were then bundled together to create a basket like support around the glass form. The metal has been painted here a dark blue to echo the glass. 'Blue Medusa' stands 36 cm / 14
inches,
the base is roughly 33 x 28 cm / 13 x 11 inches The glass insert is 18 x 13 cm / 7 x 5 inches |
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Winter 2004 Repainted 2015 forged mild steel and angle, decorative paint $1500 Interested? |
This highly forged sculptural piece was intended to act as wall mounted arbour to support roses or other flowering plants. It features the use of the 'feather' technique - aggressively forged angle into the central plant shapes. The total height of this piece is about 1.65 m (5 ft 6 inches). After transporting and exhibiting at a number of major shows, the original painted surface was in need of renewing. In 2015 I re-painted it using a dark green colour overall, with a more subtle use of a lighter green along the main uprights and flash of copper inside the 'feathers'. Further images can be found on the Garden Features sheet
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'Hector's
Bane'
bloomery iron / carbon
steel core |
'Hector's Bane' shows a combination of
infulences: After some consideration, the polished blade was lightly etched. This resulted in a 'fog' colouration over the surface, a result of the variations in carbon content within the original bloom.
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Winter 2011 welded then forged mild steel plate $175 - this item available Here a series of plates were rough cut
with a torch. The individual plates are welded together,
in this case with weld seams deliberately rough and
applied on both the back, and visible top, surfaces. One
of these seams was folded 'backwards' to create the
ridge visible just off centre. Finally the attached
surface was forged to the bowl shape.
24 x 19 cm, top edge 8 cm high
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Winter 2012 forged and welded mild steel $200 - this item available This smaller bowl is more true to the
basic technique employed by the Japanese blacksmith
Takayoshi Komin. A number of narrow but thick, uniform
length bars are welded on the back and ground flush. The
plate thus produced is then heavily hot dished to create
the bowl form.
16 x 12 cm, top edge 9 cm high
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'Points' - Segmented Bowl 4 forged and welded mild steel $200 - this item available Again a series of narrow triangular shapes retain ragged edges from torch cutting. |
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Spring 2011 patterned and forged mild steel plate $ 175 - this item available Continues the series. On this piece, the
natural fire scale surface was left after forging, but
still sealed with varithane for functional use.
22 x 15 cm, top edge 10 cm |
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Bulls Eye Bowl Spring 2015 patterned and forged mild steel plate $ 200 - this item available More exploration of the
'lines' technique. Here there was less hammering over
the lines, leaving a more textured surface
25 x 20 cm, top edge 8 cm |
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Off
Centre Bowl Spring 2015 patterned and forged mild steel plate $ 200 - this item available On this piece, the lines are
laid as a 'starburst' pattern, radiating from one side of
the original rectangular plate. The dishing process then
echoed this, creating an offset oval form. There is a
small flat sprial leg under the shallow side for support.
25 x 15 cm, top edge 7 cm |
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The lines laid here are more
random in pattern. The starting plate was a pronounced
lens shape, with one edge rough cut by torch. In the
forging process, the shape created has a deep, flat
bottom, the points curved under.
20 x 13 cm, top edge 7 cm
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A number of elements within
this series continues : torch cut edges, decorative lines
flattened, dishing and raising plate. An extra addition
here is the use of 'dry rub' paint. A dark green paint was
rubbed over the textured surface, then wiped clean. This
results in subtle colour, mainly caught in the lines and
forge marks.
26 x 21 cm, top edge 8 cm
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The starting iron bloom was produced in smelt #24, June 2007. The hemi-spherical mass was first flattened to a plate, with the ragged edges and textures of the parent bloom retained. For a full description of the complex creation process of this object, see the blog post. 15 x 12 cm, top edge 7 cm high
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The Wareham Forge
The Hamlet of Wareham, R.R. #2 Proton Station, Ontario
CANADA - N0C 1L0
(519) 923-9219 // info@warehamforge.ca
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 Who is Darrell Markewitz? |
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