Numbers and Letters
Beginners and experienced smiths are invited to try their hands on basic and more demanding designs. Beginners will be shown how to taper ends of round and square bars and bend both free hand and with bending fixtures.
Not scheduled right now. Last taught 2026.
It's saved in this browser. Sign in to keep your saved workshops on any device.
The workshop
Beginners and experienced smiths are invited to try their hands on basic and more demanding designs. Beginners will be shown how to taper ends of round and square bars and bend both free hand and with bending fixtures. Experienced makers will be shown and encouraged to try more ambitious designs using flat bars, bent on the flat with parts forge welded or joined with rivets, which can then be widened and tapered to form more decorative fonts.
Interested students are encouraged to take Forge Welding, a one-day workshop offered the day before (independent of this workshop). It is a valuable operation for joining parts of numbers and letters.
.
Materials Fee: Included in the cost of the workshop
Special Tools or Equipment: Eye and ear protection, gloves, and aprons are available to students. Comfortable closed-toed shoes and street clothes are recommended. If you have forge tools you like working with, you are welcome to bring them.
Before you come
Details for students
Where
One of the farm's studios, confirmed at check-in. See the campus
Staying on the farm
Housing, meals, the daily schedule, and places to stay nearby are on Prepare for your workshop.
Your instructor
Garry Kalajian
Garry Kalajian began blacksmithing full-time in 1993 and currently works out of his studio in Bradford, N.H. producing work based on both historical and original designs. His work is distinguished by its refinement and a faithful application of traditional tools and techniques. Garry has been a resident artist at Bow Middle School and a teacher at Holderness School and has been awarded seven Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Grants from the New Hampshire State Council on the Arts as Master artist. He demonstrates at public events, including at the League of New Hampshire Craftsmen's annual fair at Mt. Sunapee State Park since 2000. In 2002 he helped establish the teaching program at Sanborn Mills Farm, and has led workshops for the Ontario Blacksmiths Assoc., in Lerum, Sweden, and at the Adirondack Folk School.
Questions about this workshop, housing, or meals? Email registrar@sanbornmills.org or call (603) 435-7314. Please read the workshop policies before you register.