The Creation of a Turret Clock

"The spirit is willing, but the flesh is spongy, and bruised."
 - Zapp Brannigan

  Got back into town late Friday and woke up early Saturday to pack up the truck for another demo at an SCA event.  I was setup by 11 and spent all day working on the forge.
  I started with a gate hinge.  Using a pattern I found on a Texas blacksmithing site, I put a fleur on the end of the hinge.  This was (I think) the second time I tried to do a fleur.  It actually came out pretty nice.  With a minimal amount of practice, I could do a fleur in probably about 30 minutes.  However, I was busy explaining some blacksmithing techniques to someone and burned part of the hinge.  It probably could have been salvaged but I wasn't worried about it.  I went ahead and waxed the piece but really don't plan to do anything with it.
  The next item I did was a pair of scissors.  I've never made scissors before and I was able to make these in under an hour.  Once again, I didn't worry about actually finishing the scissors, I was just playing around.  Although the scissors did end up looking like a pair of child safety scissors.
  I briefly toyed with making a tool I need, but I didn't have the right size tongs so I put that aside.  My final project for the day was a ladle.  I want my setup to look more medieval and my current water can is little more than an old tin can with a handle.  So, I do want to make one.  The ladle didn't come out like I wanted so I stoped that as well.
  I've really come to the conclusion that at events I don't like to work on personal projects.  It is much more fun for me to experiment at events.
  Something else that is happening more and more is that I am getting people asking me to do commision work.  I very rarely do any kind of commision work.  The main reason for this is that I don't like production work.  I really want to learn how to do more advanced items and its easy to get stuck in the rut of making what sells.  Somewhere down the road, I may do commisions but not yet.  I'm not in the blacksmithing for the money, I do it for the joy of learning.
  I received 3 serious commision offers and probably about 10 casually requests for stuff yesterday.  I do feel bad turning people down but until I finish certain projects, I don't want to get sidetracked.
  I did accept one commision though.  One of the groups in SCA is getting elevated in its status to barony.  He asked it I could do some combination pole holder/list poles for them.  Since this is for a group and not an individual or household, I decided to take it on.  Also, I have a long time to get the items together.  I'm not charging for my time, just materials.  Its part of the way I can use my skills to give back to the SCA.  Another group that I used to be part of wants something similar.  However, I would like to be a little more decorative with those items and I have to figure out what I want to do.
  And finally, there were some reporters in the campground yesterday for the Palm Beach Post and they ended up talking to me for at least half an hour.  I know a lot of photos were taken.  I'm going to have Swapna's skin tone in the photos if they use them.  It was a windy day and by the end of the day my face was very sooty.
  Today I am just going to relax.  I am beat, tired and sore but feeling good...  If I get a chance, will post some pics after I unload the truck.