Date(s) - 10/09/2015 - 10/11/2015
9:00 am - 4:00 pm
Colonial Williamsburg workshop with Jay Close at the NWBA Mentoring Center.
Three Days
October 9 – 11, 2015
9AM – 4PM daily
Projects will be Colonial Hearth and kitchen ware.
Cost $350.00, inclusive of $150.00 deposit. $50.00 Class audit fee for people just wanting to audit the class per day.
Register and reserve your space today!
Contact Rashelle Hams for reservation, 360-901-1365 iamrashelle@yahoo.com
Payment by check, money order, credit card or paypal accepted.
To pay by credit card or Paypal contact Scott Rash, 503-502-8409 scott_rash@hotmail.com
Make checks or money orders payable to NWBA and mail to:
Northwest Blacksmith Association
4742 42nd Ave SW #185
Seattle WA 98116
Jay Close Bio:
In 1975 Jay Close saw his first working blacksmith, and a fire was lit that didn’t go out.
Years later, studying Industrial Arts, he worked summers as a gunsmith interpreter at Colonial Williamsburg. At the end of his third summer , he accepted a temporary position at the Deane Forge where Peter Ross was master. The temporary position became a fulltime job by the spring, an apprenticeship by the fall of 1987. He completed his apprenticeship and was promoted to journeyman by Peter Ross in 1994.
Jay has been a demonstrator (along with the rest of the Williamsburg crew) at three ABANA conferences. He has demonstrated at regional gatherings like the Potomac Blacksmiths’ Guild Spring Fling, the Alabama Forge Council’s meeting at Tannahill State Park, the Quad State Round Up, the Guild of Metalsmiths’ Conference and Dan Nauman’s Bighorn Forge Conference. He has taught workshops on historical ironwork on both coasts and he has assisted Peter Ross and Tal Harris teaching classes at the Campbell Folk School.
Jay left Williamsburg in 1999 relocating to near Charlotte, NC. He continued doing reproduction ironwork for historic sites and teamed with Tal Harris on an extensive architectural commission and on work for the Mel Gibson film “The Patriot”.
Jay’s interests have broadened to include the architectural forgings that characterized the English 18th c. “gatesmith”. He is actively studying the design and processes of English baroque work, the last decorative arts style un-influenced by the Industrial Revolution..
In 2005 Jay was hired as the first “Professor of Forged Architectural Ironwork” at the newly formed American College of Building Arts in Charleston, SC. He was charged with putting in place the workshops and curriculum for a four year liberal arts degree centered on the skills of the architectural smith. He also contributed a case study on the role of the smith in support of Tudor brick masons, a study that was published in Gerald Lynch’s book, The History of Gauged Brickwork.
He resigned from the college at the start of 2010, but still considers himself a professional blacksmith educator. He was one of the original members of the Controlled Hand Forging committee of ABANA and wrote several of the lessons published in the Hammer’s Blow.
The photos below are examples of the kind of projects that will be included in this 3 day workshop.
Polished Ladle
Skewers and rack
Kitchen Ironwork CloseUp
Chain trammel flatrings