I’m drawn to the physicality of fabrication, whether I’m working the soft, brown dough for custom gingerbread houses or painstakingly pinning plywood into house frames. My early exposure to carpentry at a local woodworking shop enabled me to develop my artist muscles, teaching me the virtue of persistence and patience as I watched protean pieces of wood become marvelous works of art after hours of sanding. 

It was Chris Hackett’s The Big Book of Maker Skills that inspired my turn to metal. At Adam’s Forge, I was as captivated by the high-pitched clanging of hammer heads striking high carbon steel as I was intrigued by how the chemical composition of an alloy dictates its use. For making tools, I rely on alloys with a higher percentage composition of carbon. Heat treating metal to create a desirable balance of hardness and toughness is entirely based on the transformations of its atomic structure from ferrite to austenite to martensite, as the metal undergoes gradual or rapid heat changes.

Standing over the anvil and purposefully whacking metal is meditative for me. I find joy in creating functional and decorative pieces, taking pride in my connection to artisans past and present.