Blacksmithing Skills Featured At Brookhaven Cherry Blossom Fest

BROOKHAVEN, GA -- Local artisan Sean O’Shea is slated to bring the pioneer charm of blacksmithing to 21st century audiences at this year’s Brookhaven Cherry Blossom Festival. The festival returns for its fifth year to Blackburn Park, 3493 Ashford Dunwoody Road on Saturday and Sunday, March 30-31, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Admission is free.

The Doraville resident will join nearly 100 arts and crafts professionals in the festival’s popular artist market where shoppers will have access to incredible handmade items featuring jewelry, pottery, paintings, yard art, mixed media, photography, folk art and much more.

O’Shea balances a full-time job and activities with his family with his love for an art form that was, until recent years, on the verge of disappearing from the American cultural landscape. By day, he is chief financial officer for a software company in Alpharetta, but evenings and weekends often find him in his 1,800-square-foot shop off Buford Highway heating, hammering and creating functional pieces of metal art.

“I prefer making functional pieces as opposed to just creating observational art that sits on a shelf,” says O’Shea. “Functional art includes items like letter openers, candle holders, door knockers and other pieces that you come into contact with on a regular basis that you can handle, touch and use every day.”

Honing his blacksmithing skills over the past 15 years, O’Shea’s interest in the art beckons back to his childhood when he used to tag along with his father who did housing renovations. “I

picked up electrical and carpentry skills in different mediums like wood and plexiglass along the way,” he recalls, “but realized I needed to know how to work with metal as well.”

Taking classes in welding at DeKalb Community College and Gwinnett Technical College piqued his interest in metalwork, but it was a visit with friends to an Appalachia blacksmithing demonstration that sparked a real attraction to the craft. “I was fascinated seeing a blacksmith take a 5’ square metal column and twist and manipulate it into a work of art,” says O’Shea. This fascination, combined with curiosity and a creative streak, morphed from a mere interest into a full-fledged hobby.

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The craft is just a hobby for now for O’Shea, with friends, family and word-of-mouth customers forming his client base. His skill level ranges from replicating movie props such as the dagger used in the tv fantasy show, Once Upon A Time, to candle holders and shelving to mail box stands. One of the most challenging was a mail box stand made for his personal use that included a tree trunk, branches and nearly 150 intricate individual leaves, each welded onto the branches. The mailbox also required detailed engineering to meet postal regulations and took nearly four months to complete.

O’Shea credits participation in a local blacksmithing guild as a resource for enhancing his skills. He serves as treasurer for the Alex Bealer Blacksmith Association, a group of blacksmith enthusiasts who meet monthly to share skills and newly-learned methods. The group is hosting the bi-annual Southeastern Blacksmith Conference in Madison, Georgia in May that draws blacksmith craftsmen from throughout the southeastern United States. There are classes and competitions offered that provide opportunities for participants to learn from each other. The namesake for the local guild, Alex Bealer, is credited nationally with helping revive the blacksmith movement in America.

This is O’Shea’s first appearance at the Brookhaven Cherry Blossom Festival. He plans to conduct demonstrations, including one crowd-pleaser in particular. On site, he will be heating double-headed construction nails to 2,000 degrees in his portable forge and hammering each one into a miniature sword in about 45 seconds. Once the tiny sword is cooled with a quick dip in cold water, it will then be offered for sale to bystanders for a very minimal cost. O’Shea also plans to have a limited variety of other metal pieces he’s created available for purchase.