Working this week with my friend Terry the Blacksmith. His shop is not far from me in a village called Glynde, next to the world famous Glyndebourne opera house. I have a commission to make a small Oak bridge which I want to inset with Iron fish, hence Terry. The idea is as the iron fish rust they will contrast nicely with the Oak. As some of you will know iron has a reaction with Oak when it comes in contact with water, this is why you should never use wire wool when cutting back between finishing coats on projects made of Oak. The reaction of the three creates a greenish stain that seeps deep into the timber and is virtually impossible to get out. However in this case we want this reaction to be part of the overall design. 
I'm writing a piece for 'Good Woodworking' about Terry, and the ancient working relationship between blacksmiths and woodworkers. As I stood in Terry's beautifully atmospheric workshop, with it's two great forges strung with tongs of every shape and size, and anvils that proudly show the scars of years of hard work, listening to him talk of his plans for his retirement, I was struck by the thought, will their be anybody to take over this place and run it as a going concern when Terry hangs up his hammer? Somebody that I can continue to have that ancient blacksmith/ woodworker working relationship with, or will Terry's forge become one more local trade that is lost? I truly hope not.
So the Brighton show has come to an end. Today was spent loading my pieces into the pick- up and storing them back at the workshop. Now ideally I would be delivering each piece to its new home and collecting a much needed cheque, but alas nothing sold. Some could say that for that reason the show was a failure, ever the optimist and a glass half full chap I don't see it that way. Apart from the fuel cost in travelling to and from the house, the show cost me nothing. Putting my stuff out there on display gave me the excuse to mail all of my clients and invite them to a great pre-show party, I also placed details on Facebook,Twitter and LinkedIn. Along with this the people counter we religiously used at the door showed a footfall of over a thousand people, each one a potential new customer. The Encounters house was lucky enough due to Milady's hard work, to win first prize for best open house out of two hundred and fifty! This brought with it a lot of coverage in the press and festival linked websites. To get to my point, I didn't sell but I did get a hell of a lot of free exposure. You can be both highly skilled and totally original but if no one knows you are out there you won't get very far.
This weekend the Artists open houses that have been a part of the Brighton Festival for the past few years come to a close. Started as an opportunity for local artists and craftspeople to show and sell their work, the open houses have grown into a major event attracting many professional people. For the first time I had a go at showing some work. My friend Milady invited me to put some small pieces into her house in Hove. Milady has a passion for art which takes her all over the world hunting for new artists, who she then invites to exhibit. Looking at the amazingly diverse artists I would be showing with I thought it would be a great opportunity to give it a go.