IMAGINE being a blacksmith with a forge working in original settler buildings in the Hawkesbury district.
Meet Wayne Wagstaff of South Windsor, the blacksmith at the Australiana Pioneer Village, where Channel Seven's period drama Wild Boys was filmed.
"To be able to work in a genuine 180-year-old forge with history behind it is just something every artist dreams of," Mr Wagstaff said.
"The hot iron, the hammering, the smell and the sounds, forging pieces out of immovable items and turning it into something that is quite a flowing form of beauty . . ."
Mr Wagstaff, who runs a business custom-manufacturing brackets for rehabilitation wheelchairs, took up ornamental blacksmithing in 2008 because he wanted to make his own tools.
But even he was surprised when he discovered a gift for artistic forging.
‘‘I was with Telstra for 20 years, which is straight-down-the-line technical, so art was never in the picture,’’ he said.
Mr Wagstaff will display and sell his work at the 23rd Arcadian Artists Trail open studio weekend alongside painters, sculptors, and makers of glass, jewellery and books makers, among others.
ARCADIAN ARTISTS TRAIL
See 54 artists on November 9-10.
Entry to each venue is free and three will provide either Italian delicacies, devonshire teas or cakes and biscuits with tea and coffee.
Click on each address below to learn more about the artists you will meet:
■ 3 Geelans Road, Arcadia (Wayne Wagstaff will be here);
■ 25 Muraban Road, Dural; and
Details: 9am-5pm, free, arcadianartists.com.au
