Artist-blacksmith Alan Drew's new Old West creations

July 10, 2009 | 6:05 pm

Alan Drew started out as a young cowboy working the ranches of the Carmel Valley herding cattle and shodding horses. But he'd also grown up sketching and painting -- "my mom was an artist," he says -- and it wasn't long before he combined his two passions into the art of blacksmithing. The ancient craft of heating, hammering and forging metal is all about drawing out a material's depth of character and developing its patina.

Times staff writer Barbara Thornburg recently stopped in his workshop in the Central Coast city of Marina, where Drew fashions limited-edition collections for the hearth and fireplace. Think andirons, screens, tools, log holders -- as well as delicate Juliet balconies, intricate gates and lacey window grilles with leaf-handed latches. Read more about Thornburg's visit and see more photos after the jump.

The time-honored craft of blacksmithing is alive and well, as seen in Drew's website, www.winterdrewdesign.com, and the photos here. The fireplace screen and oversize poker to the right are fashioned out of hot-rolled mild steel.

Below, the former cowboy-turned-artist drives a tapered pin called a drift through a piece of steel destined to be a window trellis. His welding table weighs more than 2,500 pounds.

"Blacksmithing is very physically demanding," Drew says. "It's hot and noisy and you're exposed to a lot of metal, but at the end of the day I feel great -- like I've really accomplished something."

Below, center: A lacey grill covers an arch-shaped window, Below right: A detail of the window's artful wilted-leaf latch.

Above: A log holder features a bridle bit design and a twisted rope handle. Rivets along the bottom hold the piece together; others are simply decorative.

For a three-piece tool set designed for a hacienda and pictured below, Drew asked himself, "What would tools in a house where generations of people have lived look like?" His answer: an eclectic mix of pieces that he visually tied together with a ball-element motif. Andirons in the adjacent photo are also part of the Hacienda Collection. Below right: Drew's 48-inch oval chandelier features delicate pine cones and needles.

"It's a balcony that's all scrollwork, with a bowed-profile called a 'belly,' " Drew says. "Most of the time, Juliet balconies will be made flat then rolled to give them that bowed-shape profile. I built each piece, then shaped it to the balcony drawing, collected all the parts and assembled it like a puzzle."

-- Barbara Thornburg