I made the voyage across the big lake again this past August, to the humble and welcoming village of Woodford, Ireland Co. Galway. This place, it’s people, the landscape, the pub, is growing on me. Sometimes it feels like a place from the past, sometimes like a place far in the future. Usually like a place plucked from this earth and placed down on another.
I spent a week here after traveling via vehicle and boat with a good friend from London, England. This was not before, however, some adventures worth noting: sleeping on the coast of Wales, going undercover as an “artist assistant” in order to sleep on the grounds of the National Museum in Dublin, and gold panning in the hills of County Wicklow.
The week in Woodford was more informative and energizing than I could have hoped for. I’m still unraveling everything I saw there. I used the week to focus on building and smelting in a bowl furnace. Similar to a standard shaft furnace with the primary difference being only 12″ tall from top to bottom. The design was based on the experiments of Lee Sauder. I also spent the week working alongside Jens Olesen of Denmark with the intention of learning as much as possible through observation and questions. I learned from him about the self-tapping blow plate shaft furnace: as elegant as it sounds. I also learned about various methods of charcoal making including in an old bathtub. Evenings were usually spent in the pub… as one might expect.
