On Saturday, December 13th, JCPL will be hosting the 3rd annual Artisan Fair! This festive event will feature curated vendors, live demonstrations, holiday music, and food trucks to celebrate the season.
Each vendor has been hand selected to display their craft or artwork, sharing their talents and unique gifts and products for the community to enjoy. It’ll be a perfect stop for those looking for thoughtful gifts, holiday cheer, and artistic inspiration.
One of these vendors this year is Dan Bourlotos from Maelstrom Forge. He specializes in making jewelry, knives, and other metal creations. Bourlotos has also competed on The History Channel show, Forged in Fire.
As we approach Artisan Fair, we reached out to ask him a few questions.
Can you tell us a little about your craft and what has drawn you to it as an artist?
The craft of metalsmithing goes back thousands of years. Whether it was copper, gold, bronze or steel, metalsmiths produced jewelry, weapons and tools that shaped civilization from the smallest farms to the largest empires.
While not as important as they were in the past, metalsmiths today do many of the same things, utilizing a wide range of skills and techniques to provide hand-made tools and works of art.
For myself, it is the satisfaction of blending form and function to create an object as beautiful as it is useful.
In addition, the science behind it fuels this satisfaction.
The feeling of preparing a meal for my family with a knife I hammered to shape, from steel I carefully prepared, is hard to describe and I hope to help share that appreciation with everyone I can.
What is something people may not know about your craft?
People may not know that when you take away all the modern tools and technology, this craft is ultimately unchanged from when ancient smiths used their skills to build civilization.
Today, metalsmiths use nearly the exact same techniques and tools that were used in antiquity.
When I am frustrated or curious on how to proceed with a project, I remember that every weapon, tool, or work of art that I have seen in a museum was made by someone with the same tools I have.
It helps not only to appreciate the past, but appreciate what I have here in the present.
If you could give advice to someone who is new to your craft, what would you say?
This hobby is as complicated as you want it to be. You do not need to have a fancy forge or a huge, expensive anvil.
You do not need a 2000 square-foot shop to do what I do.
With a campfire, a sledgehammer for an anvil, a set of channel locks and a claw hammer (with a surprising lack of parental oversight), I started making hooks and tools in my backyard.
You can get started so easily, and have a great time, if you throw out the preconceived notions about what your tools or your shop should look like.
What can people expect to see from you at the Artisan Fair this year?
This year, I will be doing what I can to educate and spread the art of metalsmithing.
I will be speaking a little about the history and science of metalsmithing, as well as demonstrating many of the techniques I use to make the tools and art I sell.
In addition, I will have a collection of blades, tools and jewelry for sale.
Join Us at JCPL’s Artisan Fair
Stop by Maelstrom Forge’s booth to see their handmade wares and watch live metalsmithing demonstrations.
You’ll find all this and more at JCPL’s Artisan Fair on December 13th from 10 am to 3 pm.
We’ll see you there!