Another fantastic weekend at the Fethard Heritage Festival has come to an end, and we'd like to say a huge thank you to everyone who came along, picked up a hammer, asked questions, shared their skills and generally helped make it such a great weekend.
This year's theme was Teach & Learn, and there was plenty of both going on around the forges. We spent lots of time with our Junior Members, who got stuck in and learned new skills, forging nails, pokers and plenty more besides. It's always brilliant to see young smiths getting hands-on and having a go!
Of course, there was also some experimental smelting...
And by experimental, we mean that sometimes things don't quite go according to plan. 😂
When we smelt iron ore, the aim is to produce a nice forgeable bloom of iron. Sometimes, however, things go wrong and we end up making unforgeable cast iron instead. This happened last year during a smelt at the Greenan Festival in Wicklow.
But there are no mistakes... only opportunities for further experimentation!
That cast iron, made from Irish bog iron ore, made its way to Fethard, where the Forged In Ireland crew melted it down and cast it into 'Cat Woman' - the Sheela-na-Gig on the Rock of Cashel.
So, from bog iron ore... to a failed smelt... to cast iron... to an Irish medieval carving. We'd call that a pretty good recovery! 🔥
There was plenty more happening throughout the weekend too, with lots to see and do around the festival - all of which can be seen in the gallery below.
Thanks again to everyone who joined us for another brilliant weekend in Fethard. Whether you were forging, teaching, learning, experimenting, visiting the festival or just stopping by to see what all the hammering was about, we hope you had as much fun as we did!
And, most importantly, we're pleased to report that there were no llama-related incidents this year. 🦙😂
Gallery
Click a picture to view it in full.
