In the last few months, I have decided to take on many new products at the Rustic Anvil Forge. I continue to perfect my Nebulas bowl series. I want to have the finish of each bowl look like something from the Hubble telescope. The finish is a patten secret and almost at it's final stage, only time will tell.

  Another great session with my mentor Gary G. This time I ran the shop and set the tempo. Let's do coal forging I said and mix in a little power hammer activity. He was a true sport about it as I said we were going to make knives today out of railroad spikes. Let's up the ante a bit and create 3 blanks a piece roughly hammered out. Then in the privacy of our home, we would finish three unique pieces in our own fashion. Mine was a modified clip angle and one was wrapped in leather to stretch the boundaries of our imagination. Gary even got 5 other commissions from a neighbor friend from this activity.

  Lastly, I created a new coffee scoop for the house. I love using rivet to accent my pieces when possible. It was a lot of hammering on the swedge to get the correct patina on the copper. Most of all it was just the kind of mindless fun that I needed on a rainy afternoon.

  If anyone is keeping up with my crusader crosses, I am up to 500 produced and distributed worldwide. One man took the Fredericks design on a 30 day pilgrimage of the Camino in northern Spain. Then left it there for the next pilgrim to use along The Way.