This workshop takes place outside.
Make an iron flower.
Forging is the shaping and ‘kneading’ of white-hot iron using a hammer and anvil. First one learns to tame the forge’s fire and to subject it to our laws. Body position and the right attitudes are most important to work safely without hurting the body.
Then follows the correct use of the hand hammer… The basic operations soon follow: stretching, cleaving, butting, folding, swelling.
The blacksmith uses many typical tools, which he can make himself. In the past, the blacksmith was the most prominent of all craftsmen: after all, every craftsman needed the blacksmith to make his iron and steel tools.
Michel Mouton graduated as a master at the Marie Haps Institute for Translators and Interpreters in Brussels. Shortly afterwards he came into contact with Alfred Habermann Sr, who would become his ‘craftsman father’. Habermann, a leading figure in European contemporary forging, would introduce him to the world of metal, and wrought iron in particular, with an eye for beauty and craftsmanship, and taught Michel how to work with respect for the body.
Michel Mouton‘s professional career consists of working with groups of people to pass on knowledge. He has been leading these types of workshops for 20 years and combines professional knowledge with didactic qualities, passion with patience.
He is multilingual, but mainly speaks the language of iron and fire.
Watch a video about Michel Mouton here, made by Erfgoedcel Brussel.
This workshop is made possible by Erfgoedcel Brussel.