Its All About Me!

"... stylish, elegant, and bespoke metalwork ..."

<< Blog; 8th Nov 2018 >>


I guess this could be considered rather an introspective post. I was recently approached by a photography student; Scott Ellison. One of his assignments was to create a study of a craftsman's hands and some of the results are shown here.

I found the process quite revealing. Like most blacksmiths, I rarely focus on my hands and tend to concentrate on the hot metal. For obvious reasons! A lot of people assume blacksmithing is all about the dominant hand, in my case the right one. However, these photos demonstrate that both hands are equally as important. To me, the right one is the engine and the left one provides the intelligence.

Other things I learnt were that I'm getting older, my hair is more grey than salt and pepper, my weighing scales aren't lying and I really must take more care of my hands. I've literally thousands and thousands of tools in the workshop. All of which can be replaced. By far and away the most important two cannot be.

David Hyde contemporary artist blacksmith