Anna R. Koplik
Upcoming 2024 Workshop Schedule
Tongs, Tongs, Tongs!
August 16-20 | Peters Valley School of Craft | Layton, NJ
In this class you will learn the process of forging your own blacksmith tongs in a fun and enthusiastic environment! Tongs are a fundamental tool for blacksmithing, and the ability to forge your own is a valuable skill for any smith to have. Throughout the workshop we will go over the geometry and forging techniques to create multiple styles of tongs. You will walk away with a set of tongs that suits your forging needs and an understanding of how to fit up and adjust any pair of tongs.
Intermediate
Can You Handle It? Tools for the Home
Sept 7-8 | Brookfield Craft Center | Brookfield, CT
Can you handle it? In this weekend workshop students will be guided through techniques to make mild steel handled tools for the home such as spatulas, spoons, trowels, fire pokers, and more. Students will then use these techniques to design and create a piece of their choosing. We will go over forging, mass isolation, spreading material, bending, forming, riveting, and more. Focus will be put on designing and planning to create a functional and beautiful tool. This class is great for people with some prior forging experience who want to build their technical and design skills, as well as those newer to blacksmithing. Students should come to class with a few ideas of handled tools for the home and expect to narrow down to a final design together. We will be working only with mild steel and sheet metal, no tool steel or wood.
Beginner and Beyond
If I Had A Hammer- Festival of Fire
Sept 20-22 | Salem Art Works | Salem, NY
Come make your own hammer that will last you a lifetime! In this workshop students will be guided through making a tool steel blacksmith hammer. We will cover punching and drifting the eye, forging the hammer faces, grinding and heat treating, and the shaping and fit up of your own hammer handles. Expect lots of striking with sledgehammers and bad puns.
All Levels (some experience helpful)
Hammer and Tongs: Toolmaking for Blacksmiths
Oct 14-18 | Center for Metal Arts | Johnstown, PA
Learn the art of toolmaking and boost your skills and self-sufficiency as a blacksmith! In this workshop students will be guided through making many fundamental tools of the trade. We will cover everything from tong forging and fit up, to hammer making, heat treating, and handling. Leave with your own hand forged tools and the skills to make more on your own. Expect lots of striking with sledgehammers, full days in the shop, and bad puns.
Intermediate
Forging a Coat Rack
Oct 24-27 | Eureka Springs School of the Arts | Eureka Springs, AR
Create a wall hanging, riveted coat rack while learning the basics of forging. Learn how to swing a hammer at the anvil and forge hot steel. Become familiar with various forging processes, including tapering, scrolling, bending, shouldering, and spreading steel. Then drill and rivet together your components to create a finished, functional coat rack.
Beginner and Beyond
