Mosaic river panels

It's not every day a commission comes along in your favorite colors AND your favorite theme. But that's exactly what happened here! This client was looking to add something special to the entry of their riverside home. We created two mosaic panels inspired by the James River in shades of cool greys and blues.

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We used this sampling of colors found throughout the house to create the palette for the mosaic panels.

Abstraction of natural imagery is one of Johannah's favorite inspirations. For the mosaic panels, she created waves of color to reflect the shimmering movement of the river. You can see some of the notes she used to create the shading of color in the photo above.

More progress shots, from complete color palette in the top left to grouting in the bottom right.

First panel installed! With the door slightly ajar, you can see how well the mosaic colors coordinate with the palette in the house. Success!

The second panel, and the gorgeous view of the river from the house. The wall of windows directly across from the entrance where the mosaics reside immerse you in the greenery of the lush woods along the river's edge. What an honor to be part of this beautiful retreat from the world.

Hand-forged Gifts

If you're looking for hand-forged gifty type items, you're in the right place! Whether for a sixth year iron anniversary gift, something unique for that craft beer lover in your life, or something special for yourself, we've got you covered.

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Our hand-forged bottle openers have been one of our standards for awhile now. This year we've added the option to personalize your opener with initials or a date.

Kyle recently revived a favorite item from the early days of his smithing journey, the hand-forged letter opener. We introduced these this spring in time for Mother's Day, Father's Day, and graduation, and we're happy to say they've been a hit!

We've been selling our bonfire pokers at craft shows for a few seasons, and recently added them to our Etsy shop. At approximately 40" long, they're longer than your standard indoor fire poker, and just perfect for your outdoor bonfire.

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Here's Kyle (on the left) and his assistant Kallen (right) forge welding the poker end of a recent batch of bonfire pokers.

Three hand-forged fireplace tool handles with cursive-style metal letters

In addition to our standard designs, we also create custom fire pokers with initials or a monogram in the handle in our all-metal Etsy shop, Lucia Metal Studios. At 24" for indoor use or 40" for outdoors, a personalized fire poker makes for a unique and useful gift.

Lucia Metal Studios on Etsy

"Nothing Gold Can Stay" custom mosaic

We recently finished up a large mosaic commission a year in the planning and execution. The inspiration for this piece was the idea of impermanence. We designed a triptych of 12" x 18" panels in Mexican smalti, a type of thick, opaque glass. The title of the series is Nothing Gold Can Stay. Here's a sampling of the boat loads of process shots we took while working on this project.

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Sketch on paper and a mosaic maquette or preliminary model on the left, bags of smalti ready to go on the right.

It's such a pleasure to work with the rich color and texture of smalti. How about those trays full of prepped and sorted material? This project was interrupted from time to time with shows and other smaller commissions. Those trays have been a life saver moving sorted material and projects around the studio as needed.

Kyle installed the finished triptych in his handmade reclaimed oak frames. Johannah signed the backs, and then it was time to come up with a way to photograph the piece. We turned our whitewashed pallet wood wall 90 degrees and hung it from the gantry crane to create a backdrop large enough to hang the three pieces together.