Combat Ready Art

06/04/2026

Breanna was back in the forge today! She made a cutlery dragonfly!

06/04/2026

Dale and Cathy were back yesterday to start their first Billet Knives! They're doing a great job!

06/03/2026

...And we're back! Did I get my overly ambitious To-Do list of organizing and cleaning every inch of the forge and storage areas done? Of course not. A start has been made, but definitely a work in progress. But I did have time for all the unexpected things that happened, so I'm grateful for the break.
Plus I came back to gifts! Boy Scout Troop 12 and Wounded Warrior Project with sent me thank you gifts for their classes this year. I truly love all of them. The metal piece was made by one of the Warriors. They will all get a pride of place in the forge! Thank you!!

And now we roll into summer!

05/30/2026

"Learn something new. Make something." I took the last week off as a "vacation" (work-cation, stay-cation). It's a good time to pause before summer starts.
Today was my turn to be the student! Went to Tandy Leather to take their Pauldron class. Caleb was a fantastic teacher for the harness part! I learned so much, and he was just fun to talk to. Elijah was great as always with the shoulder parts, and teaching me how to use the round knife for leather. We ran out of time today, but I'll be back to use their workshop to finish making a couple more pieces and then assembling it all together.
Classes at Tandy Leather are great, you learn a lot and get to use the speciality equipment! They also have workshop time (think of it like open forge). And they're awesome people!

05/28/2026

Today was the last Homeschool class of the 2025-2026 school year! Ben continued working on the sword he started, and will finish in Level 3 in the fall. Cruz finished his short sword! Beautiful blade with a copper guard and wood handle. Cruz is graduating this month, so this was his last homeschool class. He has done such great work over the last 2 years!
And Cruz's father finished his billet knife that he started last month. Really nice knife! I think we may see some father & son classes in the future!

05/22/2026

05/22/2026

Anniversary Flower Making! Julia and Stephan celebrated their 11th anniversary in the forge tonight! Their steel flowers are just gorgeous!

05/21/2026

Level 2 Homeschoolers did a great job with their leather sheaths today! And it was the last class before they become Level 3!

05/18/2026

Well this is fun news! I found out today that the episode about the forge on Kalamazoo Lively Arts, from WGVU, has been nominated for a Michigan Regional Emmy Award! Congratulations to Alan, Collin, and Shelley! Does this mean I can say we're an Emmy Nominated Forge? 😂😉

Park Trades Center Discover Kalamazoo Downtown Kalamazoo Downtown Kalamazoo Collective Arts Council of Greater Kalamazoo