The Three Village Patch is running a neat piece on some tavern puzzles and their maker, Dennis Sucilsky. The puzzles are made by a blacksmith and hark back to a different time in history, one before cable television and the internet. They published some nice pictures of his impressive workshop and selections of puzzles he carries in inventory. Both look great! More puzzles are shown on their website.

The Stroud News and Journal is reporting on the opening of a Forge over at the Ruskin Mill College in Gloucestershire, UK. The school teaches crafts to students with learning disabilities, including those that fall into the autism spectrum. It sounds like a great place and I'm always happy to hear about a new workshop opening up.

The Sun Times is running an article about the Rice family and their tradition of smithing. The older tools were donated to a local museum and the family continues to put them to use and demo the craft to visitors. Information about the museum can be found at www.greyroots.com

The News Advance out of Lynchburg, VA covered a recent gathering of the N. C. Artist Blacksmith Association. They have a nice photo in there, and a decent round up of what sounded like a good gathering.

There is new art up at everyone's favorite blacksmith themed wedding destination (I assume it's everyone's favorite since it is the only one I'm aware of), and it's big. Which makes since I guess, since marriage is a big commitment. It's all steel and looks like it will take on a nice rust patina. There is a story with a picture up here.

Turns out Cuba has a hard time getting enough farming implements out into the fields, so the government is sponsoring the restoration and repair of the tools they currently have. There is a short and interesting story about it up on a small news portal run out of Las Tunas, Cuba.

Simon Grant-Jones is once again featured in the news. We've talked about him before here, and you can see his work at his website, it's quite impressive. This time around the Telegraph has run a piece talking about the craft of blacksmithing in general.

The Great Falls Connection has a story up about blacksmithing traditions being alive and well over at the Colvin Run Mill. They are hosting live demonstrations that are open to the public. If your in the Virginia area it sounds worth stopping by. More information about Colvin Run Mill can be found here.