Barcelona 2

Blog Post 8

11/18/2022

48O50’53” N 2O21’5” E

After our stint in Madrid, we went just outside Barcelona to an ancient Roman town known for its hot springs. There we stayed at a hotel with a sprawling complex of cave-like rooms full of healing hot spring water. But alas, I only know this from the hotel's propaganda pamphlets because I was busy day in and day out.

We went to Caldes De Montbui to the blacksmith. The day before class started, we visited the smithy for a tour, but all the sleepless nights must have caught up with me in the form of a migraine and I nearly fainted in the hot, loud, and bright blur of a shop. Although the first sign was foreboding, the next day I felt fine enough to go to the shop and start work.

I will not go into the endless and boring details of the work here, but instead I will post a separate infographic that will illustrate the process. Often the processes for the crafts are long and complex, so I have been thinking about different ways to relay them to you. The first time I simply described the process in text, the second time I included images, and the third I made a video. This time, I will make an infographic. But I am quickly running out of methods of explaining the different artisan practices in interesting ways so if you have any creative ideas please contact me.

But, back to the matter at hand: Blacksmithing. Even though blacksmithing is always depicted as brutish, and though it is true that everybody at the shop was big and hulkling, there is something undeniably beautiful and delicate about blacksmithing and particularly blade smithing. I was at the shop to forge a sword, but I learned that (I know, I know this sounds cliche but bear with me) you form a sort of relationship with the metal. You learn about the billet of steel, how it likes to warp in one direction, how fast it heats up in which part of the furnace, and even how it picks its own final shape. You see, steel is fickle; if you heat it too much it burns, too little it fractures. If you even so much as look at it wrong it may decide to spite you by contracting a warp. All that aside, it is still indescribably fun to forge steel. No words I can write will describe its allure, so all I can say in the end is try it yourself.

There were so many interesting people and moments that occurred at this apprenticeship, but unfortunately, I had to omit them in favor of a love letter to steel. So you can expect multiple smaller posts about them and the extremely interesting politics of Catalunya in the future.