- Interactive Bloomery Smelting Workshop with Dr. Andrew Welton
- About Dr. Welton
- Spectators, Participants and Voluneteers
- Daily Highlights to Check out
- Fundraiser
- Thank you to our Sponsors
Interactive Bloomery Smelting Workshop with Dr. Andrew Welton
Monday, April 13-Wednesday, April 15, 2026
Where: Red Barn Plaza (outside the Red Barn/SAC) When: approximately 9 am-5 pm daily*
*Due to the nature of the workshop, times may vary based on the actual timing of the smelt process.
During this 3-day interdisciplinary and interactive event, which will take place outside of the Red Barn (SAC), Dr. Andrew Welton will demonstrate and teach the historical technology and craft of bloomery smelting. Like Blacksmiths in Ancient and Medieval Europe, Africa, and Colonial America, participants will build a clay furnace, then transform stone into metal. On the third day, participants will be able to use the bloom to do some forging with Dr. Welton. Dr. Welton also will give a public lecture on the first night (4/13 at 6 pm in GH 303), which will serve as a foundation for the experiential workshop.
About Dr. Welton
Dr. Welton has a Ph.D. in History, with an emphasis on the archaeology of medieval weapons, gender and burial practices, and the history of medieval blacksmiths and iron recycling. They currently are a blacksmith studio artist and have taught this type of interactive bloomery smelting workshop on several other U.S. campuses. They have significant safety training and have been a safety educator in a blacksmith space for several years. https://andrewjwelton.com/
Spectators, Participants and Voluneteers
We welcome spectators, participants and volunteers. Spectators can stop by anytime during the workshop to watch. You do not need to sign up or submit a Participation and Release form to be a spectator, but you will need to remain outside the safety barricades. Anyone who wants to participate or volunteer, must fill out the form (in the webpage below) to confirm they will follow all safety requirements, and submit a signed Participation and Release form. Only participants and volunteers who have acknowledged safety requirements and submitted the Participation and Release form will be allowed within the safety perimeter. To volunteer to help (set-up, clean-up, work the table, watch the site before and after the workshop, etc), you should also sign up for specific times (the spreadsheet is linked in the form). Participants do not have to sign up for specific times, and can stop by to work the smelt whenever they are available and for the activities they are interested in (provided a participation and release form has been signed and they are dressed according to the safety guideline, see the link below for details).
The volunteer/participants webpage above also has a more detailed schedule for each day.
Daily Highlights to Check out
Monday, April 13, 2026
10 am-2 pm*: Watch as participants prepare materials for the smelt on Tuesday and Wednesday, and ask Dr. Welton questions about bloomery smelting, blacksmithing and their research on ancient and medieval world *Due to the nature of the workshop, times may vary based on the actual timing of the smelt process.
6 pm: Dr. Welton’s Public Lecture in Gottschalk Hall 303
“The swordsmith's promise, the warrior's fear: New perspectives on early medieval pattern-welded swords from experimental archaeology”
Lecture abstract: Medieval swordsmiths decorated weapons' blades with intricate patterns woven in welded and twisted iron. These patterns have enchanted archaeologists, reenactors, and poets for centuries, but scholars struggle to explain why they exist: laboratory analyses show no performance advantage to this labor-intensive technique, leading some to speculate that pattern-welded swords were merely conspicuous consumption. In Monday's talk, Dr. Welton will argue that pattern-welding was, to early medieval smiths and warriors, a technology of emotion that addressed deep-seated anxieties about the inherent limitations of early medieval metallurgy. Welton bases their analysis on a decade of hands-on experimental archaeology, smelting iron in medieval-style furnaces and forging recreations of early medieval blades. This hands-on experience provides a new way to interpret surviving artifacts, and helps explain textual references to pattern-welded swords that break in combat. Welton concludes that pattern welding is the material trace of promises performed between swordsmiths and the warriors who used their products, communicating the makers' reassurances and begging warriors for trust where medieval engineering and technology had reached their limits.
Wednesday, April 14, 2026
9 am-1 or 2 pm*: Watch participants feed charcoal and iron ore into the chimney around 1 or 2 pm*: Witness the “Bloom” (solid lump of metallic iron) as it is removed and used for some forging *Due to the nature of the workshop, times may vary based on the actual timing of the smelt process.
Fundraiser
To help raise money to pay for the workshop, we are having a Percentage Night at El Tarasco on Saturday, April 4th. A percentage of the night's sales will be donated to make the Bloomery Smelting workshop happen. So, come out, have fun, eat good with friend and family and support the smelt!
When you pay, be sure to tell them you are with the Eta Sigma Phi Smelt Fundraiser (otherwise we will not get the percentage of your purchase).
Percentage Night details
Where: El Tarasco on 2247 S Preston Street When: Saturday, April 4th from 3 pm until closing ***Do not forget: Everyone will have to say they are with the Eta Sigma Phi Smelt Fundraiser when paying so that we will get a percentage of the night’s sales.
Thank you to our Sponsors
This Bloomery Smelting Workshop and Lecture are co-sponsored by the Liberal Studies Visiting Scholars Project; Phi Alpha Theta-Nu Xi chapter; the Departments of History, Interdisciplinary and Public Humanities, and Anthropology; the Kentucky Chapter of the Archaeological Institute of America; with support from Eta Sigma Phi-Zeta Lambda chapter and the UofL Sculpture Program.