Dawn Raines is an artist blacksmith working in Austin, Texas. She began her career as a blacksmith after completing her Bachelor’s degree in Art at Texas State University where a lot of her coursework included the Metals and Sculpture Departments. After graduating she found a custom ornamental iron shop called Mind over Metal and apprenticed under Richard Schultz. She worked at Mind over Metal for over four years creating gates, hand railing, architectural hardware, furniture, and a slew of other things that came into the shop. She is currently teaching Welded Steel Sculpture at Austin Community College and also working in her own shop, Rusty Belly Forgeworks.

What We Talked About
· Dawn started working with metal at Texas State University while in attending college

· After college she started working at a metal shop called Mind over Metal for several years

· Then she worked at STI International where they made custom and competition pistols, she was in the final finishing part of the process.

· Then went on to working part-time as an assistant to the workshop classes at Austin Community College, which turned into a full time job

· Dawn teaches a class at ACC called “Welded Steel Sculpture” that covers welding processes, forging processes, finishing techniques and sculpture, 40 hours over 8 weeks, twice a week, 2.5 hours long at night, price is $431 (at the time of release, Jan 2015). This class fills up quickly every semester!

· Still does side jobs out of her Rusty Belly Forgeworks shop – railings, gates and sculptures

·The ACC metal shop is decked out with 5 power hammers, 3 forges and tons of hand tools

· ACC offers Associates degrees in Art Metals that includes blacksmithing, http://www.austincc.edu/info/artmetals

· Dawn tells us her pricing and time tracking strategies for her own business. We talked about time tracking apps, TDF tracker($9.99) and Office Time Lite (free app)

· She explains what her touchmark looks like

· Face Paddles she has made from 18 gauge sheet steel

· The “Ironwork Today 4 – Inside and Out” book and how she was contacted to be included in the book, http://www.schifferbooks.com/ironwork-today-4-inside-and-out-5594.html

Guest Links

Website – Click here

Facebook business page- Click here

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