Join us for Forge After Dark–a blacksmithing evening event.
Forge After Dark is a nighttime gathering illuminating the art of blacksmithing. Experience the night’s enchantment as blacksmiths forge items for the Blacksmith & Fine Craft Auction. Enjoy food trucks, axe throwing, music, and more.
This family-friendly event is free and open to all.
Notice: The live auction, typically held in conjunction with Forge After Dark, has been moved to March 6, 2027, to end Blacksmith Work Week.
Learn More About Clay Spencer
The Last Forge: Clay Spencer’s Legacy at the Folk School
Join us as we honor the remarkable career of master blacksmith Clay Spencer, whose decades of teaching and craftsmanship have shaped generations at the Folk School. Read the full story and celebrate the legacy of a true Folk School legend.
Interested in Donating?
Thank you for considering a donation to our Blacksmith & Fine Craft Auction. By donating a piece that represents your best work as an artist, you contribute to our mission and future. Our auction helps support programs, equip our studios, and care for our beautiful campus.
Frequently Asked Questions
When will the live auction be held?
After careful consideration, we are pausing our live auction in 2026 to allocate time and resources to enhance and promote the 2027 event.
Our next in-person auction will take place on Saturday, March 6, 2027, from 11:30 a.m. – 4 p.m.
11:30 a.m.- 1:15 p.m. – Preview Reception and Silent Auction
1:45 p.m. – Silent Auction winners announced
2 p.m. Live Auction begins
Our live auction will still feature work made by regional blacksmiths at our Forge After Dark event set for Nov. 6, along with other donated work.
The live auction has been moved to March 2027 to coincide with the end of Blacksmith Work Week. Blacksmith Work Week has been a long-standing tradition at the Folk School for well over two decades, where blacksmiths volunteer their time, energy, and mild chaos to keep the blacksmith shop running strong and make campus beautiful. Items created at the November 2026 Forge After Dark will be prominently featured in the 2027 Blacksmith and Fine Craft Live Auction, and many of the makers will be on campus at the close of BWW.
When will the next Online Auction take place?
We are pausing our Online Auction as we make this scheduling and format transition. We will determine whether to move forward with this event in 2028.
If I’m interested in submitting an item, what’s next?
If you are interested in donating an item, please click here to provide more information about your item. If you are having trouble completing the form, please contact 828-837-2775 ext. 139 or giving@folkschool.org.
What is the deadline for submitting my work, and where should I drop it off?
To donate an item, please mail to:
John C. Campbell Folk School
c/o Development
1 Folk School Road
Brasstown, NC 28902
You can also deliver your gift to our Development office in Keith House by Monday, Nov. 2, 2026. Items received after the deadline may not be featured or may be used in a subsequent auction. This deadline ensures we can adequately promote your item to generate excitement for the Blacksmith and Fine Craft Live Auction.
Have a Question we didn't answer here?
For any further questions, please contact our Development Manager!
Barbie White
barbie@folkschool.org
Blacksmithing: News & Stories
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October 30, 2025
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October 29, 2025
As part of our 100th...
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April 2, 2025
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March 20, 2025
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November 26, 2024
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November 21, 2024
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August 19, 2024
Blacksmithing and bladesmithing are ancient...
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June 4, 2024
Robert Burns is one of...
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May 23, 2024
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April 1, 2024
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March 5, 2024
Winning Forged in Fire and...
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March 3, 2024
Following the tradition of Francis Whitaker, students will have the opportunity to focus on fine ornamental iron work for a personal, predesigned project. In addition to working on individual projects, students will share and learn from the techniques used in their fellow classmate’s work. Students must be able to perform a dropped-tongs forge weld, make upset square corners, and freehand scrolls. Predesigned projects must be submitted to instructors before class begins.
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February 29, 2024
Renowned blacksmith and bladesmith Elmer Roush regularly teaches at the Folk School. Watch a video featuring Elmer produced by CRKT as part of their Forged by War program featuring veteran. Elmer talks about his time in the service and how he got started in blacksmithing.
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February 13, 2024
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September 22, 2023
The John C. Campbell Folk...
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July 24, 2023
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May 31, 2023
Owen Riedesel began blacksmithing when...
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May 16, 2023
April Franklin is an accomplished...
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May 10, 2023
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April 17, 2023
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February 14, 2023
Curious about what's new in...
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July 25, 2022
Building on your feedback, we're...
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July 22, 2022
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March 10, 2021
Blacksmith and Metalworker Elizabeth Belz...
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February 1, 2021
In December of 2020, Lynda Metcalfe and Elizabeth Belz came together to teach two 2-hour long blacksmithing classes in the Clay Spencer shop to 7 staff and residents from the Cherokee and Clay County Women’s shelter, REACH.
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May 31, 2016
Learn a little bit about Tim Ryan the gardener, auctioneer, medicine showman, raconteur, kettle cooker, blacksmith, instructor, former Folk School Board member, bibliophile, and storyteller. We recently sat down over lunch to talk about many things. Enjoy our interview!
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March 24, 2016
This week for our celebration of Scandinavian heritage, Elmer Roush is teaching Viking-style Ironwork in the Blacksmith Shop. Students are focusing on reproducing 10th-century Viking relics including spearheads, axes arrowheads, and locks. Elmer is renowned for creating hand forged functional hand tools, weapons and implements from 10th Century Viking to 18th Century American styles. He often teaches historical styles at the Folk School.
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April 30, 2015
A big congratulations to Brasstown artist Lynda Metcalfe for being the recipient of a NOMMA (National Ornamental and Miscellaneous Metals Association) Top Job 2015 Silver Award. I was delighted to sit down with Lynda and learn about this exciting project and what it’s like to be a local artist in the Folk School Community. Enjoy our interview!
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October 17, 2014
I stopped by the Oscar Cantrell Blacksmith Shop, the current shop of Resident Blacksmith, Paul Garrett. Paul and I talked about the upcoming Blacksmith & Fine Craft Auction on November 1, a special event planned for October 31st, and about Folk School life in general. Enjoy!
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April 22, 2014
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November 4, 2013
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May 2, 2013
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April 15, 2013
Part III: Folk School Staff with American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) Connections
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April 11, 2013
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April 8, 2013
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July 12, 2012
I recently got the chance to take my first Woodworking class here at the Folk School. It was the “Making a Traditional Moulding Plane” class, where we made a variety of 19th century quarter sawn beech planes using antiques as examples, and using many antique tools to do the work. It was a great class that had been very skillfully prepared and presented. It was taught by Bill Anderson and Peter Ross.
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May 16, 2012
I sat down with Paul Garrett, the Folk School’s resident blacksmith, to find out a little bit more about the mysterious and unique annual event known as Blacksmith Work Week.
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February 23, 2012
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July 21, 2011
Last week we welcomed Bob Rupert of Pennsylvania, and his assistant Gary Cooper to the Spencer/Whitaker Blacksmith Shops for their first visit to Brasstown. They both quickly acclimated to the new Five Star facility, and found it easy to fall into the spirit of the Folk School during the week.
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April 26, 2011
Blacksmith Work Week is a wonderful annual tradition at the Folk School where blacksmiths from all over come and volunteer their time to do smithing projects around campus and make improvements in the Shop. It’s been 15 or 20 years that they have gathered here every spring, for Blacksmith Work Week, so Paul Garrett, the Resident Blacksmith tells me. When I visited, there were about 20 men and at least one woman circling like bees. They are all over the balconies, in corners and down on the floor. Red hot metal is being pounded beside blazing forges, power hammers have metal running through at a rapid speed, and components are being welded together. It is high-level intensity with professional focus in the shop today. No students are here; the blacksmiths are giving their time and talent to retrofit the Francis Whitaker Blacksmith Shop. What was the primary blacksmith shop is now being set up for material storage, welding, grinding, and drilling. A few forges have been left in place for this studio.
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March 31, 2011
Charley Orlando and Doug Merkel taught “Early Scandinavian Ironwork for Everyone” during Scandinavian Week.
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February 7, 2011
We recently had local artist/blacksmith Joe Miller back to teach his popular “Critters” class in the blacksmith shop for one of January’s advanced weeks. The class is a combination of forging and fabricating, and the students make a critter or two of their choice that might be some kind of a fish, a bird, spider of a animal of just about any species.
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July 18, 2010
Today, we opened the new Clay Spencer Blacksmith Shop. After a week of moving some of the tools and tables and things from the the old Francis Whitaker shop, we are ready to teach classes again, and welcome instructor Judy Berger, her son David, and the students of Intergenerational Week.
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July 18, 2010
The second weekend of July saw the last forging class in the historic Francis Whitaker Blacksmith Shop. Jerry Darnell was here to teach his “Colonial Lighting” class. Interestingly, Jerry was here for the first class that Francis ever taught here at the Folk School in the mid-seventies, and said that he drove something like six hundred miles to be here and see this man that everyone was talking about. That class was in the older shop across the street – the Oscar Cantrell shop.
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July 7, 2010
A couple of weekends ago, we had a few blacksmiths over for a mini work weekend. Really just a continuation of our annual work week, it was a chance to get some more work done in the new forge building, now officially the Clay Spencer Blacksmith Shop.
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April 16, 2010
Every time I come to Brasstown, I’m not sure what to expect. So many things happen here, each studio existing as a world of it’s own, and there is always so much to see and be a part of.
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April 14, 2010
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March 18, 2010
Last week, metalwork instructor Bob Trout stopped by my office to talk about the upcoming Gala and Benefit Auction (June 12) and to let me know that he and his fellow instructor, John Rausch would both be purchasing beams in the New Forge Building. Bob, being the enthusiastic supporter that he is, asked if he could speak at “show-and-tell” to hopefully encourage fellow students to match their generous gifts. It is always wonderful to see students and instructors who are so passionate about the School!
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December 16, 2009
Just like it was in my stock car driving days where the last race of the year marked not only the end of the season, and gave us a chance to breathe for a week or so, the last regular class of the year was last week here at the Folk School, and now I have a chance to relax a bit before the 2010 class schedule begins in the first week of January.
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November 22, 2009
The blacksmithing program is one of the most popular at the John C. Campbell Folk School. With the New Forge Building underway, many people are working hard to raise funds for the new studio. The first Saturday in November, the day of the annual Blacksmith auction, was dedicated to the cause…
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November 20, 2009
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October 1, 2009
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June 17, 2009
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June 3, 2009
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June 1, 2009
Today, the wood chips started flying, and there is sawdust everywhere. I love the aroma of fresh cut pine as it reminds me of trout fishing next to a small sawmill where I grew up in western Montana. Here, it mixed well with the smell of coal smoke wafting it’s way up from the blacksmith shop and from the small forge that I set up amongst the timber framing.
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May 20, 2009
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March 2, 2009
What I didn’t get to photograph was Paul’s Plant hanger that he made for his garden. My camera died the moment I was about to snap the shutter. It was a longer take on the rest of our plant hangers and had a neat decorative twist in the “leg.” At the base, for stability, he joined a spike by a mortise and tenon joint, another method of joinery Susan taught us.
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February 28, 2009
A book written by Kerouac, but also an apt description of my status. I originally happened upon the John C. Campbell Folk School when I was looking for classes to jump start my education in metal work and blacksmithing. For the past month I have been traveling visiting with smiths and trying to glean every piece of knowledge that I can while I’m on the road.
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February 26, 2009
I’ve caught the blacksmithing bug. I’m here writing but would rather have a hammer in my hand, an anvil to my right and a forge to my left. Today has been the most productive day in the shop. Early on Paul, the resident blacksmith (a job smiths would die for), came in and helped me with my hammer grip. He and Susan, my instructor for the week, both trained with Uri Hoffi, an Israeli smith. Uri not only patented a way of striking, but makes his own hammers. Every now and then he travels to the US, teaches classes, and visits smiths.
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Locate & Contact
Please contact Development for more information about this event.
The John C. Campbell Folk School
Development Office
Barbie White, Development Manager
1.800.FOLK.SCH (365-5724) x39
Mailing Address
One Folk School Road
Brasstown, NC 28902