Building Red Mountain Forge & Blacksmith School

REWARDS:

$100 donation
hand-forged heart-shaped coat hook

$250 donation
1 day training at the forge for basic blacksmithing

$500 donation
2 days of training at the forge for basic blacksmithing

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Help us reach our first milestone!

Phase 1:  Construct building foundation ($10K)
* Local community contractors will be used.  
* Once the footings are poured, materials diverted from the landfill will be used to construct foundation walls.  
* Floor will be made out of salvaged brick.  
* Vocational training opportunities will be offered to local youth and volunteers.  

Phase 2:  Steel framing and roof ($7K)
* Local community contractors will be used.  
* Vocational training opportunities will be offered to local youth and volunteers.  

Update 8/15/19:  I received a donation of steel that can be used to build the framework of the shop. Fundraising goal subsequently reduced from $50K to $45K.

Phase 3:  Walls, doors, and windows ($10K)
* 2- or 3-day adobe brick-making workshop taught by Erasmo
* 4-day adobe wall construction workshop led by Erasmo
* Local community contractors will be used to install doors and windows 

Phase 4:  Installation of forges ($8K)

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Richard Connolly is a skilled artisan who cares deeply about training the next generation of craftspeople to carry out the timeless trade of blacksmithing. Launching an apprenticeship program at Deep Dirt Institute is timely, given the resurgence of interest and demand both in the skill of blacksmithing and in its evolution as a means of artistic expression.

Your support will help establish Red Mountain Forge, a new blacksmith school at Deep Dirt Farm in Patagonia, AZ. As a program of Deep Dirt Institute (a non-profit permaculture training farm and demonstration site) Red Mountain Forge will enable Richard to teach workshops and offer formal apprenticeships.

Although blacksmithing is an ancient and vital trade, Red Mountain Forge will be one of only a dozen or so blacksmithing schools in the country!  It is Richard's dream to pass on the skills and respect for this trade and art to individuals who will carry it forward far into the future.



PROGRESS TO DATE:

The spot for the main school structure at Deep Dirt Farm has already been graded and leveled. 

We have acquired or fabricated all the tools necessary for teaching, and we have obtained many of the materials required for the building itself, including sheet metal, doors, etc. 

It is now time to pour the corner foundations and erect the walls and roof! 




FUNDRAISING OBJECTIVES:

Once we reach our fundraising goal, Richard can set up the new forges and start teaching. The 160-square-foot shop will have five forges in all:  Richard's own demonstration workstation will be in the center, with a separate forge in each of the four corners for his students. 

Richard will teach basic blacksmithing methods, as well as more advanced techniques such as annealing, forge welding, and hardening and tempering of tool steel.
Students who complete their training with Connolly should not only be able to design and create objects of use and beauty, but fabricate the tools needed to make them as well.




MORE ABOUT RICHARD CONNOLLY:

For 45 years, Richard has been in his element at the forge. He was hired as a carriage smith by restorationist Doug Thaemert at Patagonia’s Museum of the Horse, Anne Stradling’s museum dedicated to all things horse. (More info at http://www.cowgirl.net/portfolios/ann... ) 

Thaemert and his talented team of artisans eventually opened their own business called the Southwest Wagon and Wheel Works, taking on projects for Hollywood movie sets, Budweiser, National Park Service, museums and private collectors. 

Today, Richard forges functional art and custom tools, repairs equipment for ranchers, farmers, ditch diggers, gardeners and miners.




Your donations to the Red Mountain Forge campaign are considered GIFTS to an individual, so they are not tax-deductible.  If you would instead like to make a charitable donation for the purpose of developing curriculum and educational programming at Red Mountain Forge (once it is built), you may donate via Deep Dirt Institute − a 501(c)3 charitable organization − and let them know how you would like your donation to be used.  Visit:  www.deepdirtinstitute.org

Thanks for your support!