2014 was a very successful year for Mark Gilsdorf, Artist-Blacksmith, LLC. This was my first full year working full-time as a blacksmith, after seven years puttering around as a hobby. As my friend Lisa likes to say, I’m “free range” now. I was able to develop a number of small forged objects for sale, some of which proved to be very popular. One-hundred and ninety-one bottle openers found their way into people’s homes this past year, one-hundred and twenty-seven of them with smiling skulls on top. A big step forward for me was beginning to set up booths at local craft fairs and art shows. While some smiths turn up their noses at these types of events, I found that as an artist-blacksmith
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