the blacksmith I work with...

[Jon]

Greetings rangers!


I've just finished helping with a website + video for a blacksmith here in Tunisia. I've been working with him for almost a couple of years now (he has been at it for 35), and its been a great pleasure, he's such a nice guy (people find it strange an intriguing that an Englishman and a Tunisian work metal together!)

While not having anything directly to do with ranger activities, I just thought I would post a link to the video so you can see some of his work. It's in arabic/french, so you may not understand much, but heck!
(there's also a link to the website, if you speak french??)

However what does set him apart is that he is trying to revive an ancient art here in North Africa. Traditional forging and metalworking is pretty much obsolete as the country is quite newly industrialised, and most people just can't see the point of it. He is the only man of his trade in the whole country. Which is pretty awesome. He does do regular work as well, to make a living, but a lot of what he has done is completely traditional and by hand (literally - often not even a grinder or jigsaw).
Again, not strictly middle earth (he doesn't make swords and armour and stuff), but it is traditional metalworking a lot of the time... and him taking me on as an apprentice is just awesome.

The footage is from perhaps 4 years back, and since he has increased in this area of work, yet not as much as he has wanted due to customer demand for more 'regularly made' things. Anyhow, it's good to see that this type of the thing is spreading from our western world to other cultures. Who knows what we may see in this area of the world in a decade's time!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... zu8uEOS_JY

[Peter Remling]

Dirhael,

Thanks for sharing, I particularly liked the hands on the chair, the female statue and while the trunk itself didn't turn me on the handles for that trunk were beautifully done. About 5 minutes before the end he was talking about what he was wearing
; the tunic, the bracers and the belt. Could you interpret what he was saying ? Is it a traditional outfit, everyone else was wearing more typical clothing.

[Straelbora]

Somebody needs to cast this guy in a fantasy film.

[Jon]

Peter, it's not a traditional outfit of the culture, though I think his intention was for it to be slightly Roman-esque.

From the bits I can understand, only speaking some of the language, he is just saying what they are, and how they are different from what most people wear. Also that if he is forging things traditionally, he must... look the part! The bracers apparently because of the heavy hammer work, and because they look 'plain awesome'