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Blacksmithing with Bill Epps
22ccc-6 Freelance
Blacksmithing with Bill Epps
Video Series from Love of Art Productions Love Of Art Productions 4609 Swiss
Ave, Dallas TX, 75204
1-800-382-5967
Internet:  http://www.teachingtapes.net/
Bugs and Flowers, $ 24.95.  Forged Animal Heads, $24.95.  Leaves and Flowers, $32.95
and Making Tongs, $24.95.  There appears to be no set price for all four video tapes.
It appears that the company does not take credit card orders  via the Internet.
Subjects: Blacksmithing - video tapes, etc.  Video tapes - Blacksmithing.   Epps, Bill

I was fortunate to meet Ron Hardy of Love of Art Productions at the 2002 ABANA conference this year. Ron sent me home with several titles of his recent video productions to review. I tend to be overly critical when it comes to video since quite a few years of my misspent youth involved working
in television and video production. To me, poorly executed video productions stand out like a cell phone in a love scene. Yet these titles stand out for an altogether different reason. They are  notable because they are so well done. They are "three-camera shoots,"  in other words, three cameras were
set up and recorded simultaneously while Bill Epps demonstrated at the forge. The resulting footage was edited together, giving you the best possible view of the work being done. Another fine point is that Bill makes many of his comments and instructions not while he is forging, but as an off-camera "voice over." This little detail helps greatly to keep the tape moving and makes it easy to watch. This sort of production does not just happen, it takes a great deal of planning and coordination. The content of the tape is useful and interesting as well, especially for the beginning to intermediate smith. Bill Epps has been a professional blacksmith for 16 years, and his skills are considerable. On "Forged Animal Heads," the first in the series, he shows how to make a dragon, a longhorn steer, a ram, and a
horse. If you like critters, then "Bugs and Birds"  continues the animal theme with a (stylized) scorpion, snail, dragonfly, hummingbird, swimming and winged swan. The "Leaves and Flowers" tape shows five leaves and five flowers: cut vein, folded, raised vein, Peapod, and Oak leaves, and Trumpet, Morning Glory, Dogwood, Calla Lily, and Rosebud flowers. The final tape is "Making Tongs," where Bill shows the twisted, traditional and champion style joints, and three types of heads:  rattail (or scrolling) tongs, "wolf jaw" tongs, and bolt tongs. Bill Epps' style of smithing may or may not match your preference, but it is  valuable to learn, particularly if you are a new smith. These are fun things to make, and these tapes are an enjoyable and accessible way to add these skills to your blacksmithing bag of tricks.
Brian Gilbert
Reviewers Consortium
Chattanooga, Tennessee