I survived to make another! Presenting the 2016 Blacksmith Calendar 

Thanks to everyone who stuck with me the last few years as I wrung my hands through this one. It's always a little scary to take on a project after someone else who has done it well. I was able to keep moving forward, thanks to all the encouragement and help along the way. The last two pages were the hardest (NOT shown above) - there was an extra spread after December. Here's some of what I came up with: 

"In reviewing hundreds of images from a variety of sources, I was stunned at the similarities of the faces - century old and modern came to look the same. Last year was my first year to attempt to repeat what my friend Gill started over 15 years ago; I am so appreciative of all the kind and encouraging words offered to me by the blacksmithing community. And I am honored at the confidence placed in my abilities by folks I've never met. As I spent hours looking at all these old pictures, it seemed even the men and women in the pictures were cheering me on, too, as I endeavored to share their legacies.

Shown on the left is Bill Miller of Rochester, Washington. Bill's a longtime horseshoer, and a Farriers' Greeting Cards customer since our beginning. He started shoeing horses in 1947 and continues doing so to this very day. Bill graciously loaned me his entire collection of vintage photos for consideration on this calendar project. Next to him is an unknown blacksmith, a lookalike for sure, from a hundred+ year old postcard.

Not to be outdone - this year Bill offered to loan me his enormous collection of Vintage Blacksmith Magazines. Each one of these is a treasure in itself - with advertisements, articles, opinions and relevant quotations for the time. As I began the process of scanning the images on the pages, I quickly became enamored with the pithy statements in the "The Old Time Horseshoer Says" section that was featured each month in American Blacksmith and Tractor Shop.  I soon discovered this was a gold mine in itself, though there were no images with the text. As I looked for ways to incorporate this timeless wisdom and humor in the calendar - I realized that most of the pictures that I had chosen coincidentally had a blank spot of floor at the bottom - an uninteresting space just begging for something clever. So here it is. Nearly all the months in the 2016 calendar include a clipping of "The Old Time Horseshoer Says" like the one shown here from November. You can see how this fits onto the page on a couple examples shown here.