Wareham Forge Blog | Hammered Out Bits
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Darrell Markewitz is a professional blacksmith who specializes in the Viking Age. He designed the living History program for L'Anse aux Meadows NHSC (Parks Canada) and worked on a number of major international exhibits. A recent passion is experimental iron smelting,
'Hammered Out Bits' focuses primarily on IRON and the VIKING AGE
Wareham Forge Blog | Hammered Out Bits
21h ago
The last posting showed my design rough for 'History in the Wind', but was thin on details of what the individual weather vane units would actually look like!
I have always been interested in wind motion objects, and have made a great number of both conventional weather vanes and what I call 'sculptural windbiles' in the past.
For the actual submission to the Paisley Street Sculpture Project, I had included images of past works, most replicas or interpretations of historic objects from the spread of history represented :
3) The Norse - ...Bronze Weather Boards like this element were fix ..read more
Wareham Forge Blog | Hammered Out Bits
3d ago
On behalf of the Paisley Artscape Society, thank you so much for your submission for the 2024 edition of the Paisley Street Sculpture Project.
I am pleased to tell you that the Artscape Board chose your submission "History In The Wind" as one of the 2 sculptures to be displayed in Paisley this year. The Board really appreciated the concept of time as captured by your design and the way it connected to the celebration of Paisley's 150th anniversary as a village.
“History in the Wind’
What is the weather? One of the defining charac ..read more
Wareham Forge Blog | Hammered Out Bits
1w ago
I had traveled to Ottawa in later February to give some lecture segments at a local SCA (medieval) event. I took the opportunity to add any extra day to the trip for a visit to one of the many museums in Canada's capital. I had considered both the Diefenbunker, the War Museum, or the Aviation & Space, none of which I had seen before. Truth was I really was hoping to see something that would lead so some artistic inspiration (but not the kind of thing likely at the National Gallery).
So I chose to go back to the Canadian Museum of History, located just over the bridge in Hull.
Now I h ..read more
Wareham Forge Blog | Hammered Out Bits
1M ago
How Dense Are You?: Recording bloom density from experimental iron smelting. Paperback – Feb. 6 2024 https://www.amazon.ca/How-Dense-Are-You-experimental/dp/B0CVC9D9F8/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=
by Darrell Markewitz (Author), Neil Peterson (Author)
Key to any understanding of the ancient processes of bloomery iron smelting is assessing the actual iron that was made!
‘How Dense Are You’ charts the density of 30 individual blooms, created by Darrell Markewitz and his team, spanning over 20 years of experimental iron sm ..read more
Wareham Forge Blog | Hammered Out Bits
1M ago
Practicum 2024: Back to Basics
When : Saturday, Feb 24, 2024
Where : Rideau Park United Church, 2203 Alta Vista Dr, Ottawa, K1H 7L9 (map)
Practicum 2024 – Back to Basics (ealdormere.ca)
Site opens: 9:30am Site closes 8:30pm
(At point of this post, class schedules have not been published)
DARC round table on the Viking Age
60 minute round table style discussion
best suits teens through adults
(Description pending)
Norse Iron
60 minute illustrated lecture / discussion
best suits teens through adults
The 'Dark Ages' are known partially through a n ..read more
Wareham Forge Blog | Hammered Out Bits
2M ago
‘What Comes Next’
Elora Sculpture Project - 2024
Average global temperatures for 2023 became the hottest on record, rising to 1.46 ° C above ‘pre-industrial’ average (1850). With warming will come sea level rise.
The form of this sculpture is suggested by deep undersea hydrothermal vents.
In keeping with the concept of ‘humans once lived here’, sometime in the distant future coloured limestone formations have combined with new coral growths to cover over the debris left behind when human industrial civilization was abandoned. Despite the worst of human degradation, the sea continues ..read more
Wareham Forge Blog | Hammered Out Bits
2M ago
Blue Dragon Studium 3.5
When : Jan 20 – 21, 2024
Where : Woodview Community Centre, 151 Cadillac Ave N, Oshawa, ON L1G 6C3, Canada (map)
Description : The Canton of Ard Chreag hosts Blue Dragon Studium IV
website: https://ealdormere.ca/blue-dragon/
I will be returning to a couple of teaching style events upcoming for the Society for Creative Anachronism, here in Ontario, over the next two months.
These are the offerings I have proposed / are scheduled for Saturday January 20
Historic Pewter Casting
8:30 - 12:00 AM8 student maximum
14 years and up
materials fee = $10
Stud ..read more
Wareham Forge Blog | Hammered Out Bits
3M ago
You’ve slept too long in silence,” Mama said
Remember Mama said
"Crazy boy, you'll only wind up
With strange notions in your head"
Hear it, hear it, ticking, ticking *
With ink on the new degree still fresh, the young psychiatrist, on first day of residency, was getting an initial walk through of the hospital ward.
“ An extremely quiet child, they called him on his school report; this patient has almost totally withdrawn from the world around him, exhibiting a constant rocking and muttering”, said the supervising doctor.
Tick Tock, Tick Tock…
“Opposite, we have one ..read more
Wareham Forge Blog | Hammered Out Bits
3M ago
Some observations : On television productions - What works for me
We don't get commercial TV here. Our internet connections generally too slow to allow for the current high definition streaming services like Netscape. Sorry Disney, I refuse to pay for a subscription for a 'service' I can't effectively use - then pay again to watch a single film (case for 'Black Widow' which I would have paid $20 to view at home). So I have become an active pirate of free downloads of older programs, lower quality. Obviously seriously 'behind the times'. Although this has included a lot of movies, over the las ..read more
Wareham Forge Blog | Hammered Out Bits
3M ago
Preliminary Report
Yesterday I started compacting a bloom fragment recovered at the Caherconnell Furnace Festival in Ireland late August this year.
The bloom piece was found laying next the the furnace constructed by the 'Irish Builders' team (father and son) who were new to iron smelting. They undertook the build on Friday, initially working under my direction, until tension arose over their accepting instruction. This had resulted in a furnace considerably distorted from the standard layout used by others at the event. (1) They would return on Saturday and undertake several smelt attempts, w ..read more