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A Native American (Navajo) silversmith works with a hammer and anvil - 1890/1910

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Edison B. Weahkee from Zuni Pueblo making jewelry, New Mexico

Creator: New Mexico Tourism Bureau Date: 1950? Negative Number HP.2007.20.949

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Okay guys, for writing/general reference, a bit about what a ‘blacksmith’ is and isn’t:

A blacksmith is a generalist, a person who uses tools and fire to work iron.  Some blacksmiths work more specifically, so you get, say, an architectural blacksmith, who focuses more or less exclusively on things like gates, rails, fences, or an artist blacksmith, who makes wacky sculptures or what have you.  These days, though, that’s a pretty blurry line.  ‘Blacksmith’ is a pretty damn broad term, but it’s nowhere near broad enough to cover everything encompassed in ‘metalworker’, which is how I often see it used.  There are a LOT of different skills for working metal, and no one knows them all.  Some other terms:

A farrier shoes horses.  They may make the shoes, or they may buy them and then size them, but they actually do the shoeing.  Unless the blacksmith is also a farrier, they don’t know shit about horses’ hooves and are not qualified to deal with them and probably don’t want to.

A blacksmith works IRON (or steel), usually almost exclusively.  They might work with bronze or do a bit of brazing, but those are really separate skillsets.  If you work, say, tin and/or pewter, you are in fact a whitesmith.  You could also be a silversmith or a coppersmith, and so on.

Knifemakers and swordsmiths have their own highly specialized and fairly complex specialties, and usually a blacksmith wouldn’t mess with that unless they want to pick up a new skillset or if they’re really the only game going for a long way around.  By the same token, a swordsmith might never have learned the more general blacksmithing skills.  They’re not the same thing is what I’m trying to say here.  Likewise armorers.  There’s overlap but it’s not the same thing.

If you make metal items via molds and casting, you work at a foundry and are a foundryman.

Look, when metalworkers and individual shops and masters were the height of industry, this shit got REALLY specific.  There were people who spent their whole lives making pins.  Just pins.  Foundries specialized and made only bells, only cannon, only cauldrons, etc.  This is scratching the surface, I just wanted to make the point that ‘blacksmith’ is not the same thing as ‘magical muscly person who knows how to do everything related to metal’.

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ariana’s deleted tweet

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staff i am BEGGING you to let me reblog this fucking ad

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me, hitting a grown man’s arm: meat

me, holding a baby: meat

me, staring long into my own eyes in the mirror and touching my face with growing sense of awe and horror: meat

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someone who actually works as a graphic designer reposted my shit on redbubble to sell 😐

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u ever think about cicadas. they scream. fuck. die. absolute legends.

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me gazing out into the ocean: sure is some scary soup

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i worked at a giftshop that sold replica swords from t.v. and film once and my most vivid memory of it is the guy who would come in once a month FIRST THING IN THE MORNING wearing sunglasses regardless of the time of year and would spend an hour talking to me about how he practiced with his swords in his backyard

and then he wanted to go over all the gemstones in the shop and talk about their reiki properties

sometimes he’d buy a sword and i’d make all my sales for the day right there and then

wonder how he’s doin

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so im layin there,,,,,,,,,,,,tits out for Aphrodite……..

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sometimes i catch myself being salty and im like damn????? take a nap?????

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tonight’s mood is the deep desire to be held close in a dimly lit room, covered in blankets while rain is softly falling outside

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Please don’t take your pets for granted. Even if you’re frustrated that your dog has been barking all day or your bird has been screaming for attention, remember you are all they have in this world. Give your fish that extra water change. Give your dog or cat that tummy rub they’ve been begging for. Chop up some fresh fruit as a treat for your rodents or reptiles. Just spend some time with them. Be compassionate to your animals. They are living creatures that are alive simply because you wish them to be. They may only be a small part in your life, but to them, you are their everything.