Subject: Re: demonstrations

From: [email-masked] (Robert L. Vaughan)
Date: Sun, 4 Aug 1996 00:08:52 -0400

I have found that  small S-hooks and drive hooks are popular.  I
find the drive hook useful for demonstrations because you do not
repeat any actions.  As well many people are not familiar with
drive hooks which makes it more of a surprise.

I agree that the small, cheap items do well. Part to the mystique
is that people see you make the item from scratch and then take 
it away with them.   There does seem to be a belief however that
the blacksmith takes iron from the fire, hits it a few times
with a hammer, quenches it, and presto!! you have a twelve candle
chandelier, with hanging chain and all the candles lit.

It is useful to display some pieces that take longer to produce,
in the hopes that people can learn this is not an "instant 
gratification" craft.

Robert

--
Robert L. Vaughan
[email-masked]
Ottawa, Ontario, CANADA

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From: Aaron Britton <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 3 Aug 1996 21:57:21 -0700 (PDT)

When we do demonstrations at fairs, little stuff sells the most but does
not bring in the mo$t money.  The little stuff that sells the best are
wizard head key ring fobs and mini-horseshoes that you can put someones
name on.  We will demonstrate how to make these items and it seems to help
in sales.  A new item we have been doing is nails.  These are fast to make
and easy to explain the stages of developement to the audience.  They have
been selling good also.
	Bigger items that sell well are BBQ sets (Spatulas, forks, tongs,
and meat turners), triangle belss, and fire place sets.  These items make
the mostt money at demonstrations.  What is nice about these itmes are how
easy they are to carry out by the customer too.
 Aaron Britton
Mike Carson Blacksmith
Woodland, CA 
(916)668-5937

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From: [email-masked] (Frost, Jerry)
Date: Sun, 04 Aug 1996 01:33:59 -0800

I like to make leaf coat hooks, I can pack quite a few different 
processes into a fifteen minute project without repeating any. It's an 
8-10 minute project if I'm not answering questions. Another good demo is 
a dragon head bottle opener. The audience loves it when I cable twist 
the body, it's kind of a long project for a demo though, so I have to 
keep the patter going. A good way to approach this kind of thing is to 
keep several in various stages, that way you can do a little on each one 
and still finish one in a reasonable time.

I also like to work heavier iron at demos, The crowd loves it when I 
pull a piece of 3/4" yellow iron out of the fire and take a big hammer 
to it. Door pulls and knockers are good heavy iron demo projects.

Dems my two cents,
	Frosty
-- 
If it ain't forged
It ain't real
wrought iron is
The FROSTWORKS