BLESSED BY HEPHAESTUS

HOW STEEL WAS TEMPERED

The forge was humming cozily. The work (as metal objects to be forged are called by blacksmiths) was absorbing the red heat, merging with it, and finally, in skilled hands, was transformed into a rod, volute, strip, or an ornate rose. This is much more than smithing, akin to metal sculpturing, a craft mastered by few. There are blacksmiths in the countryside (as hardly a village can do without one these days) rumored to be able to forge a square to half a millimeter precision using no measuring tools. By sight.

Artistic smithing dates back centuries. Iron objects are seldom found in the Mesopotamian culture, in today's Iran and Syria. The oldest among these is the iron dagger worn by Meshkalamshar, ruler of Ur of the Chaldees (Third millennium BC), discovered among gold goblets, pieces of jewelry, musical instruments, and decorative elements of weapons. Steel was first tempered at the time of Heracles (using water, blood, or sheep fat). Even then craftsmen knew forging and casting.

Styles differed (e.g., gothic, baroque, rococo, moderne) and so did smithing.

FROM MINIATURISM TO MONUMENTALISM

Vitaly Omelyanenko entered the Kosiv school of folk crafts for practical reasons. His father said he should not only learn to paint, but also master a craft that would make him a steady income. Hence, he enrolled in the artistic metalwork department. In time he served in the army, worked for several years at industrial enterprises in Kyiv and his native Chernihiv. In 1976, he joined Chernihiv's art-on-metal studio and has since worked there, referring to himself simply as a blacksmith.

In the Carpathian Mountains, folk crafts are rather specific. At the Kosiv school, Vitaly specialized in miniatures, but then developed a fancy for monumantalism. That was when he took up artistic smithing.

The first model was built in the backyard of a private home (he had to drag the anvil all the way). There was no forge, of course, so he used a cutting torch to heat the work. Official recognition came years later, in 1990, when his works were first referred to as wrought-iron (he was then a member of the Artists' Union). Today, Omelchenko's name rings a sonorous bell in the artistic circles. His works embellish the interior of many buildings. Each being quite expensive, he has a steady prosperous clientele.

Not so long ago, Vitaly recalls, a private firm decided to replace its wrought-iron gate as the premises were refurbished and the old one did not fit into the new design. The new gate was brought and installed with the old one still in place. Some of the passers-by made acid remarks (spurred by envy, to be sure) about nouveaux riches getting stupid with their cash, having two gates where one would do just fine...

METAL FASHION REBORN

Artistic smithing differs from ordinary hand forging primarily because the former requires a keen sense of plastique. One can be a fifth generation blacksmith (so Vitaly thinks) and not know how to make his works look graceful.

"You can use any material in forging, but I prefer iron," he continues. "Using it one can make anything, from a pegging awl to candlestick to wrought iron gate. I have made chandeliers, other fixtures, fireplace components. I'm planning a series of street lamps now. Wrought iron things will serve man for centuries and people are becoming aware of their lasting beauty."

Once a rather prestigious craft, artistic smithing was crowded out by mass culture, mechanizing a lot of basic processes. Cheap serial output was now "in," with conveyor line cast and stamped articles. Under the Soviets, interior decorating was frowned upon as a sign of petty bourgeois decadence, with neighbors and public opinion actively campaigning against it (the former by reporting to authorities and the latter by responding, on authorities' instructions).

"Once you let wrought iron into your interior, everything else must be adjusted to it, from door knobs to beds," Vitaly sounds perfectly convinced. "Many people are afraid of dark metal. They can't even imagine things made from it, other than the fireplace. Fortunately, as time passes, the concept of having more things bought cheap is replaced by the notion of possessing fewer things, but really beautiful ones. It is then that they start looking for an architect.

TEACHING IS EASIER THAN CONVINCING

Artistic smithing begins with a kind of architectural sketch. Which is easier said than done, thinks Vitaly Omelyanenko. On one occasion he had to spend four months working on a sketch until what he saw on paper answered what he had in mind. Things are much easier at present, as one can find practically any sort of material (if you don't, you feel restrained by the kind you have). When it comes to implementing a project, Vitaly has a team at his workshop. All hand-picked and trained starting from scratch.

"Blacksmiths with some practical experience are always ambitious, considering themselves real pros. In reality, they often work as though their hands were tied behind their back. They have no sense of plastique," says Vitaly. Once a man with 35 years of experience tried to bend coils using a special mandrel that makes the process easier. When he was through and we checked the coils, all of different sizes. That's serial output for you.

His first big piece Omelyanenko made at a cramped city smithy. It was ornament work for a local Palace of Marriages. The project was spontaneous and Vitaly says he did not even have the sketches officially approved. But the whole thing was creative and he felt free. He was satisfied with the result. "The greater the challenge, the more satisfaction it can bring you," he believes.

His workshop is well equipped, with an anvil and a sledge that makes work easier. The sledge is no good for coils, but it is necessary. That's when his pupils step in. All are young, enthusiastic, and consider working here a privilege, as all were picked "in the street," without any references.

"It's best to write on a clean sheet of paper," he explains. "Some of them started as apprentices and in a week's time they could handle rather complicated tasks."

Vitaly Omelyanenko is convinced that to become a real blacksmith one has to go through all the various processes connected with metalworking: sketching, drafting, even a bit of architecture and engineering.

A WROUGHT IRON ROSE: NOT THE LIMIT OF PERFECTION

A blacksmith who could make an iron rose was traditionally considered to have reached the apex of professional skill. Vitaly has made quite a few of them, but he is sure that this not the apex.

"Some can make it better than the others, but you can trust my word: making it is not as difficult as newspapers say. Coiling four grapevines into a neat cone or forging a delicate strip, the basic ornamental element in the baroque style, is much harder." Valery thinks that this shows a blacksmith's true skill.

At times he trinks of exchanging changing smithing for pure art, metal sculpture.

Photos by the author:
Vitaly Omelyanenko, a blacksmith from Chernihiv.
Works by Vitaly Omelyanenko: section of a stairway and doors to the ceremony hall at the Palace of Marriages; wrought iron gate.