Jun 22, 2015

Lorelei Sims is a contemporary blacksmith artist who started her career in Charleston, Illinois following her art education.  She has grown her blacksmithing business by forging architectural and functional ironwork.  As the best-selling author of “The Backyard Blacksmith” book, Lorelei is well respected throughout the blacksmithing community.  She teaches workshops and demonstrates at conferences across the US and Canada.

What We Talked About

• In 1993, she purchased her blacksmith shop in Charleston, Illinois, she was there for about three months before she realized that she wanted more blacksmithing instruction.  She attended her first blacksmithing conference soon after that; it was the Indiana Blacksmithing Association’s annual conference.  She ended up connecting with one of the demonstrators there, Elmer Roush and apprenticing with him for six months.

• Lorelei mentions that Southern Illinois University offers the best well-rounded and technical blacksmithing degree there is in the USA.  Here is an interesting Vimeo video of the program, https://vimeo.com/65933423.

• “Objects that have a purpose,” the utilitarian/functional art path is what Lorelei decided to concentrate on for her business model in the Five Points Blacksmithing Shop.  This career path came easily to her and was influenced by seven generations of coppersmiths on her mother’s side of the family.  Lorelei grew up with her grandfather’s copper pieces all around her house, such as lamps, sconces, and andirons, all intricately chased and repousséd in copper. 

• Her first seven years consisted of selling her artwork at art fairs and festivals.  Pricing the art for these shows was a learning process, and she learned how the “perception of value” translated into her sales and helped raise her prices.  If you have five customers wanting custom pieces and all five say yes to your pricing, then the pricing is too low.  If all five say no, then the pricing is too high, ideally you want two to three people out of five to say yes.

• In 2004, Lorelei was approached by a publishing company to write a book on blacksmithing for their “Backyard” series of books.  She instantly started researching blacksmithing books that were already available for purchase.  The first thing she noticed was the lack of color photographs in them; therefore she would have 40% color photography and 60% text in her book.  Since its release in 2006 it has been Amazon’s best-selling blacksmithing book and is currently in its 22nd printing. You can buy it from Lorelei’s website, http://www.blacksmithchic.com/book.htm .

• “Organic Metalworking” will be Lorelei’s next publication, similar to a magazine format and size it will concentrate on her floral and organic techniques.  This serial publication will be releasing in November 2015. To get up to date information on how to purchase “Organic Metalworking” visit http://www.blacksmithchic.com/ .

• Lorelei will be teaching basic blacksmithing skills at the CanIronX event this summer.  There will be four to seven anvil stations where you can have access to Lorelei’s guidance on a particular blacksmithing technique for 1.5 hours.

Guest Links

• Lorelei’s website - http://www.blacksmithchic.com/index.html

• BlacksmithChic Business Facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/fivepointsblacksmithshop?fref=ts

A Big Thank You to today’s sponsor – Cape Breton Blacksmith Association

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