Recreating a 19th c. Japanese Tsuba.... Really fancy metal sword part.

[Wm. R. Robertson]

http://makezine.com/2011/03/07/recreating-a-19th-century-japanese-tsuba/

Here is a link to this incredibly inspiring short documentary of classical Japanese metal artist Ford Hallam recreating a lost masterpiece by the 19th century Mito tsuba artist Hagia Katsuhira.

What is amazing is the many pieces of different metals inlaid to mimic the stripes of a tiger..... Amazing work!

The “tsuba” is the decorative sword guard, and like every other piece of a samurai sword, it’s work of art in and of itself. This video documents Ford Hallam being commissioned to create a tsuba for a Katana (long) sword to match an existing tsuba created by Hagia Katsuhira for a wakazashi (short sword). The painstaking, precise nature of the work is dizzying.

Enjoy!

[ElgaKoster]

Amazing work, this requires so much patience, but you can tell he is enjoying it as well.

It is funny how you can recognize your own country, when they showed his garden, I thought that looks so like South Africa and then suddenly Table mountain appeared in the background.

[Wm. R. Robertson]

Does he live anywhere near you? Maybe you can go visit sometime and tell us more......

[ElgaKoster]

Nope, Cape Town is a thousand miles away from me, but I am going there for a week in September, the thought did cross my mind...

[ElgaKoster]

I just looked at his website and discovered he just recently moved back to England :-(

Here are links to his website and forum

http://www.fordhallam.com/#!about/c22j5

http://www.followingtheironbrush.org/activitypage.php

[Bill Hudson]

Ford has moved back to England. He will or is teaching classes in the US. I would like to go but the tools alone are expensive, Travel and lodging for a week added on plus his fee is beyond my wallet.I follow him and many other such artist on his forum @ http://followingtheironbrush.org/index.php There are several other types of artists on there too that do good work. I post as Bill H Ford is also putting out a book.