Rocky Mountain Smiths is pleased to offer a three-day conference
featuring master smith Anton Yakushev, and tool guru Allan Kress demonstrating 2 sessions each. We will have a group project, and Saturday evening will be a forging competition. Conference will be held from 9AM Friday thru 5PM Sunday at Dan Nibbelink’s property, 1932 1st Street Berthoud, CO.

Overnight accommodations: Several hotels are within 10 miles with easy access to the Conference site. Space is available for overnight camping with either tents or recreational trailers, however, utility hook-ups are not provided. Campers can arrive after noon on Thursday the 15th.

Anton Yakushev is an artist, metal sculptor, designer of contemporary metalwork, educator and mentor, lives and works in Oregon, US. Anton creates metal sculptures and works of art of varying themes and dimensions, each hand crafted with extraordinary attention to detail. Every intricate piece is hand forged from bare metal, no casting involved. Made from steel with occasional accents of copper and bronze, and finished with a custom crafted patina designed exclusively for that piece. Works include sculptural, functional and decorative forms, jewelry, series of compositions, etc. Every work of art is one of a kind.

Allan Kress is an experienced blacksmith and toolmaker from Alabama. Allan splits his blacksmithing time between making power hammer and hand tools to sell at conferences, making tire hammers, and making sculptural art pieces to sell at art shows. In his many years of tool making and selling to other blacksmiths he has been given the opportunity to receive feedback, suggestions, and tweaks to make the
tooling better. He often makes tools which will perform several different tasks. In his personal work he uses many jigs and fixtures to simplify, speedup the processes and aid in the duplication of the same things over and over. As a demonstrating artist for over 30 years he has a unique insight into that world and ways to boost your production while keeping the creative juices flowing.