The British Blacksmith: Still Teaching, Tinkering

By Mary Beth Roach

Mark Teece said he’s always been a tinkerer ever since his childhood days in England. He especially liked working with metals.

Over the years, Teece, aka The British Blacksmith, has forged that interest into a business. He creates works of art, both small and large, offers classes and produces pieces throughout the Central New York area.

“I like to take something that’s hard and inanimate and form it into something that looks soft and beautiful,” he said, as he shows off a metal bouquet of flowers that he created in his workshop.

Teece, 55, has been in the United States for 29 years and has a workshop in Kirkville. He makes a wide range of items, from ladybugs that can fit in the palm of your hand to a 12-foot by 12-foot gourd.

Crafting such items takes an enormous amount of patience, attention to detail and focus.

“You’re focused when you’re holding something that’s red hot. You get rid of that white noise,” he said.

And with a temperature of 2,300 degrees inside the forge and with metal that comes out at about 1,800 degrees, you’d better remain attentive.

 

And it requires a lot of tools, which he also makes.

“I have a ridiculous number of tools,” he joked. “Every time you want to make a new shape, you want to make a new tool.”

He likes to work with surplus steel and recycled metal. He has several drawers in his workshop filled with an assortment of pieces — for example, pieces of an old bridge from Oneida, partial links from an anchor chain in the Great Lakes, part of an old mine track from Jamesville quarry — and even an axle from a NASCAR car.

When he does a commission piece, he said he’ll often ask the client if there’s metal from the property that they might like forged into the piece.

“I like the idea of steel with a story — gives a second life to that piece of steel,” he said.

Teece worked as a chemistry professor at SUNY ESF for 25 years, before retiring just a few months ago. While he may have stepped out of the world of higher education, per se, he still is teaching.

His blacksmithing classes are one of the most favorite parts of his business. He’s been teaching the craft for about eight years.

The majority of people who take an introductory class has never forged before and some may never have swung a hammer, he said. But at the end of the three-hour session, they have completed a fire poker, a herb chopper, a steak flipper, a candlestick or maybe even a wine bottle holder. He has storyboards as well, which show the progression of the projects.

“I love seeing people when they understand what’s happening or they make something. That’s the big joy for me, when somebody realizes, ‘Oh, I can actually do this,’” he said.

He told of a recent class with four women, average age of 72, who were celebrating one of the women’s birthday. They made an herb chopper, Teece said. They used it to cut up the birthday cake after the class was over.

He posts the classes being offered a month in advance on his website — thebritishblacksmith.com — with each class specific to one particular item. Each session is $170 and includes the materials; the use of tools; protective eyewear and earbuds; and snacks.

There is no alcohol allowed. Those taking the class must be able to lift a two-pound hammer.

He also offers private classes for small groups such as friends and families and they can choose their item from a list that Teece provides. More advanced classes are a little more expensive because they run longer than the three hours.

Teece also takes his craft — and sometimes his forge — out into the Central New York area.

“I like trying to take art into the community,” he said.  “I’m trying to build a community of blacksmiths, craftspeople.”

He has hosted classes at Clear Path for Veterans; he’s visited Frazer School in Syracuse and worked with the fourth-grade students to create 3D drawings out of small individual copper sheets; and he’s been involved in creating railings at the Erie Canal Museum in downtown Syracuse. He met with visitors at the museum in late July to get input about their images of the famed canal and those will be reflected in medallions he is incorporating into the railings.

Probably his most unique commission was the 12-foot by 12-foot gourd-shaped trellis for Gourdlandia in Ithaca.

According to Gourdlandia’s website, it is an activity destination, where visitors can learn how to grow, dry and create art out of gourds. Teece crafted the enormous sculpture at his workshop in Kirkville and then transported it to the site.

Gourd vines are starting to creep their way up the trellis and Teece was at Gourdlandia in September to teach interested participants how to make iron tendrils for the trellis.

As for taking art into the community, a 12-foot by 12-foot gourd sculpture will certainly make an impact.