Awareness of the outside world. PSA: Watch your buttons. I was listening to an online lecture. A voice piped up along the lines of, ‘It’s kind of boring. I could just read the book.’ They were not wrong. They were also not muted.
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Beginning Forging: Blade Class
Hank Simpson
Shelby County Arts Council
Columbiana AL, USA
November 2024
On one hand, as with other classes, this one was a success, “I got out of the house. I interacted with three-dimensional people. I had fun.” [In Which I Make Bad Art]
OTOH, less so. One of the reasons I specifically took this class was to use the result as a hay bale opener. Years ago, a friend gave us a knife made from a railroad spike. It was awesome. Slash. There goes that piece of baling twine. Alas, the knife went walkabout and reappeared eaten up by rust.
I was hoping to make another. I worked hard. I made a knife-shaped object. It’s pretty. It couldn’t cut warm butter. Even sharpening by Blacksmith could not create a viable edge.
Back to the utility knife & scissor assortment.
Previous SCAC class [Journal Workshop]
Onwards!
Katherine
Virtual Brush Box 
It is a work of art. Very beautiful. I would leave it on display.
Louise
This knife is exquisite. A work of art. Art doesn’t have to be functional. You might like a TV show called Forged in Fire. I don’t know if it’s still running, on History Channel, but it’s also on the over-the-air-channel Story TV, and the free on computer channel Tubi. I don’t think it’s on Pluto TV or CWTV. It’s really good and I’ve learned a lot. I’ve always loved edged weapons.
Beautiful. I still have an old, small penknife that my older sister handed down to me (when she got a bigger, better, sharper one), for cutting hay bale twine, as a kid. It was pretty dull then — so safe! — but I managed to cut the twine with it. It’s in a drawer somewhere today. I can’t imagine not having it. MM
Knife has been reinvented as a letter opener. Useful. Seen. More protected environment.
So it is still functional!