View From the Forge  
Summer  2001        

How Custom Work ... Works!  Featured Garden Accessories Village Ironworks Update  Meet a Master

How Custom Work ... Works!

Badger Village Blacksmithing welcomes your emails regarding your ideas and desires for unique ornamental ironwork projects tailored to you! In fact, we frequently receive emails regarding lots of different concepts and designs. Our desire is to provide you with the best work possible and to insure your satisfaction with your finished project. You may want a special piece of furniture, a garden or driveway gate, or perhaps you're wanting to accessorize your home with a beautiful and artistic lighting fixture. Whatever your wishes, we would be pleased to create something that is a unique and individual piece designed especially for you! 

Here are some guidelines for you to consider before you contact us, so we can more quickly and efficiently serve your design needs:

Establish a Budget - This may seem somewhat backward as your first and primary question will be "Approximately how much does my design concept cost?" We have found that the best way to design handcrafted metalwork is to start by establishing a budget and then working the design within that budget. There are literally thousands of variables that can affect the costs associated with producing any one piece of art! Because the hand forging process is labor intensive, the budget helps us to know how simple or intricate a piece might be - and then the design is finalized accordingly. 

To further help you as you prepare your ideas, we typically accept custom orders that are a minimum of $1,500.00. Because each large project is so time consuming, we are forced to filter some of our custom work orders. However! It is still wise to approach us with your custom work idea even if it does seem like a much smaller project. In the case that our custom work schedule has openings that would allow time for such a piece, we would certainly discuss the project with you. For small projects we choose to charge on a time and materials.

Sketch or Detail - Before you email us with your proposed project, take the time to sketch it out or to detail the approximate measurements and what you would like to incorporate into the design, (i.e. scrolls, twists, etc.). Think carefully about how you would like the piece to look. It is most likely that during the design and finalization process that your initial design will be modified, however it is much simpler for us to accurately address your project if we have details.

Consider Your Options - When contemplating hiring Badger Village Blacksmithing to create a piece of ornamental metalwork, take a moment to consider your options and what exactly you are desiring to gain from the piece. For example, if you have seen manufactured iron products in a magazine and wish Badger Village Blacksmithing to imitate them, you may find it more affordable to simply purchase it from the magazine, as manufactured products inevitably result in lower prices than carefully handcrafted items. This is especially true when you are not as concerned with investing in art but rather gaining a functional product for everyday use. Handforged ornamental ironwork is a pure form of craftsmanship and we strive to carefully maintain the artistic origins associated with the hand forging process. Therefore, whether functional or decorative, our custom ironwork is intended to be of the best possible quality and artistic value. 

Garden Accessories


With gardens blooming and the freshness of crisp vegetables tempting your taste buds, we've selected a few of our garden accessories to highlight in this summer's newsletter. These accessories are only a few chosen from our Garden section. These are great additions to any garden, front porch, or greenhouse!

	Pie/Plant Stand - Classic design and an example of true craftsmanship, this iron stand is beautiful as i/t displays your favorite plants, pottery, etc.!
	Heart Garden  Ornaments Sold in sets of three or as a single, these decorative garden ornaments highlight any garden and are perfect for supports for climbing plants!	Leaf Plant Bracket   Featuring one of several designs of plant holders. Hang any plant from these sturdy and characteristic brackets!	Dinner Bell   Call all the family in from the out of doors with this great dinner bell! Styled after the authentic western chuck-wagon bell, but with its own flair of artistry!
Click to go to the Garden Section of our Online Catalog

Village Ironworks Update


Village Ironworks has been busy recruiting interested individuals in the new home sales program being offered! We have had several great contacts made and we are looking forward to seeing the pleasure of many satisfied customers through this program. If you are interested in finding out more about Village Ironworks, please click here VILLAGE IRONWORKS or email us at:
                  ironworks@badgervillage.com 

Meet a Master ...


Francis Whitaker made an indelible mark on Steve Hackbarth's artistic craft in accepting him as an advanced student in 1990. Known internationally, Francis Whitaker also left his mark on the world with many masterpieces of ornamental ironwork.

Starting at the tender age of fifteen, Francis Whitaker knew that the art of blacksmithing was an enormous part of his future after meeting the famous Master Blacksmith, Samuel Yellin.  "That night I couldn't sleep for the visions of the singing anvils, the dancing, sparks, the forged gargoyles, and those humble artists in grimy clothes producing true works of art," Whitaker writes in his autobiography, "My Life as an Artist Blacksmith". 

Seeing Yellin at work and then apprenticing beneath him, Francis Whitaker attests that his viewpoint of the traditional blacksmith changed entirely. His eyes were opened to the intricate field of the Artist Blacksmith and no longer did the field of blacksmithing define itself as a "brawny men who sweated a lot and ... put shoes on horses."

Francis traveled to Germany where he spent a two-year apprenticeship under another master blacksmith, Julius Schramm. While designing a large stand to hold a large bowl, Master Schramm questioned Whitaker regarding his design concept.  "How will you support the bowl in the stand?" he asked Whitaker.  Whitaker writes, "This was something I hadn't thought of yet. Thinking quickly, I answered, 'I will put some little supports ... where they cannot be seen.' I'll never forget his [Schramm's] reply, 'Franz, there is never anything that will not be seen!'" 
This concept of perfection in blacksmithing craftsmanship evolved into Whitaker's work and the marks of true master craftsmanship are his carefully designed, crafted, and forged pieces of art. 

Through the twentieth century, Francis Whitaker became internationally known for his fine craftsmanship in ornamental ironwork. Customers recognized and appreciated the artistry of Whitaker's ironwork and were willing to invest in the pieces as icons of quality and design. Pieces to mark the era of the rebirth of ornamental blacksmithing in North America. When ABANA, or the Artist-Blacksmithing Association of North America was founded, Whitaker found his "calling" as he so aptly put it. Many young smiths desired to bring back the art of blacksmithing and it became Whitaker's mission to connect them with the earlier times of blacksmithing and the present state of the art. He became the link to keep the true craft of blacksmithing alive and expanding! And so he did.

Francis Whitaker passed away at the age of 93, in October of 1999. He achieved awards, not the less of them being the National Heritage Award. His cause to continue the art of ornamental blacksmithing in the United States has been revered by many. Those who have come to appreciate and acknowledge blacksmithing as an art form, hold Whitaker in high revere and at the top of the list of Masters of Blacksmithing that have touched our world with their art form and left behind pieces of craftsmanship that will last for decades to come.