Wigs Wonky Forge

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Cwmbrân, Wales
Wigs Wonky Forge

I'm an amateur blacksmith working from my Wonky forge in South Wales. https://linktr.ee/DMBBMS
(2)

05/11/2026

Part 3 of 4: commissions and memorials 🔥

I was really lucky. A few people got back in contact; I did a couple of official stalls and started selling on Etsy and Facebook Marketplace. People started reaching out, and some really great experiences came from it.

Individual pieces: bird planters, feeders, some torches, a Viking frying pan that spun round. Nice bespoke garden pieces ⚒️

Then memorial pieces. A few people reached out for baby loss, family loss, su***de. I wasn't expecting that to come about. I felt very touched to be included in that part of their process for grief and memory. For me, I feel grateful 🖤

It's just grown and grown, hence the bigger forge, with much support from Spike as always. Here I am in 2026 with a hobby that's completely contaminated me in my 40s. I wish I found it earlier, but I probably wouldn't have been in the right space at the right time 🔥

⚒️🔥🖤🤘

Video: Wig talks in front of the forge. A card says "Part 3 of 4, Commissions and memorials". Wig tells how people began asking for individual pieces, then memorial pieces. It ends on the Wig's Wonky Forge logo.

02/11/2026

Part 2 of 4: why I started 🔥

It's a very expensive hobby. So I made a choice: sell on Etsy, do some stalls. If it makes enough money to pay for itself, we carry on. If not, we knock it on the head. I was really, really lucky. Who gets a hobby that pays for itself? ⚒️

Some creative people, blacksmiths, wood carvers, sewers, say, "I don't want to sell it, I just want to do it." Fine. But you don't have to make it a corporate commercial monster. It would be nice to be paid for yourself, and that measures your worth. Giving stuff away is fine, but there are only so many things you can give away for Christmas or Birthdays!

Think of it as the ability to keep doing the thing you do, and let other people share it. And it is possible 🙌

Thank you, Spike Blackhurst's Artistic Blacksmithing Courses, for the support and mentorship 🖤 Other blacksmith creatives too: SaulForged, KV Artist Blacksmith and Torbjörn Åhman Blacksmith, quite inspirational 👉

Thinking about getting into something creative? Reach out to me. I'm happy to talk you through the boring business stuff, the sad spreadsheets and the questions to ask yourself. Or the blacksmithing steps and the advice to try it in a safe space without being stressed about it 👇

⚒️🔥🖤🤘

Video: Wig talks in front of the forge. A card says "Part 2 of 4, Why I started". Wig tells how a very expensive hobby turned into selling on Etsy and doing stalls. Two things sold in the first 10 minutes at the first stall. It ends on the Wig's Wonky Forge logo.

29/10/2026

Part 1 of 4: how did I get started? 🔥

About four years ago, my partner bought me an experience at Oldfield Forge, where I made a cheese knife 🧀 Got completely hooked.

Then I found a wonderful person called Spike Blackhurst. A great mentor 🙌 With them I built my own forge…Geordi, in his previous form. The axles on my car nearly broke on the way back with all the scrap metal 😅

Dysgu, something they believe in. Check them out 👉 Blackhurst

If you want to get started off, it's quite easy. You can just start off with a ball peen hammer, a piece of metal and a fire. But that only gets you so far if it's something you want to get properly into ⚒️

Want more information? Reach out to me 👇

⚒️🔥🖤🤘

Video: Wig talks in front of the forge. A card asks "How did I get started?" Wig tells how Spike Blackhurst helped build Geordi, the old forge. Photos show the welding and the scrap he brought home. It ends on the Wig's Wonky Forge logo.

23/10/2026

Prynhawn da, shwmae 👋

The forge is back up and running 🔥 Geordi's back in the corner, just in case. But this one I still need to name…

Thanks to everyone for your patience with the commissions and requests coming in. Everything's working now and it's flowing 👌 I'll be back at my bashing soon ⚒️

So I thought it was a good opportunity to reintroduce myself 👇

Wig: a childhood nickname that kind of stuck.
Wonky: I can make you something as a set, but maybe not a pair 😅 Can't make the same thing twice.
And wonky in Welsh is sgiw…Wig's backwards. I love the palindrome.

More over the next couple of posts and stories. If you thought you knew me, stick around 🤘

Got any good names for the forge yet? 👇

P.S. A few discounted pieces are still on Facebook Marketplace. They're under Dan Boyland, not Wig's Wonky Forge. Link in bio.

⚒️🔥🖤🤘

Video: Wig talks in front of the new forge, with a photo of Geordi, the old forge. A card asks "So, who is Wig?", then Wig explains the name, with a few photos of past pieces. It ends on "Follow and like for more" and the Wig's Wonky Forge logo.

20/10/2026

More more discounted wonky items in 🔥 👇

🔸 Worm hook. Just a natural shape…with my background in biomedical science, I've always been fascinated by natural shapes. £15 (was £28)
https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/2565074147321508/

🔸 Horseshoe hook. Just something I was playing about with. Saw something pretty. £15 (was £28)
https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/1625577612436911/

🔸 Treble clef letter opener. Who gets letters anymore? You might want to stab your bills rather than open them. £10 (was £20)
https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/1427377268815860/

🔸 Chunky blacksmith's cats. Just the two left, needing loving homes. £12 each, or £20 the pair (was £25)
https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/2269837810251248/

🔸 Toasting forks. Square, with a reverse water twist. Love the square edges. £25 each, or £35 the pair (was £46)
https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/2181641199424610/

🔸 Horseshoe trivet. Something I was playing about with in the kitchen. £10
https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/1117178334392185/

🔸 Fern curl fire poker and log hook. Somebody's already bought the rake…it'd be nice to send them off together. £30 each, or £50 the pair (was £48)
https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/1439336705922703/

🔸 And six crown top bottle openers, all different variations of one-offs I've done 🍺
Channelled spiral with a foam scraper, the way the Dutch or the Germans scrape the head off a b**r. £20 (was £38)
https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/1139183562139251/
Devil's horn opener with a foam scraper. Open-sided, so it's a bit individual. £20 (was £38)
[link 13]
The chunkiest opener I've got. Hooks onto a belt, or your bar, garage or man cave. £15 (was £34)
[link 14]
Reverse twist, channelled, traditional. £15 (was £34)
[link 15]
Pineapple twist. Shaped, twisted, then reworked…quite a lot more work. £15 (was £34)
[link 16]
Rubik's cube twist with a devil's horn open side. £15 (was £34)
[link 17]
Fancy a pair? Two foam scrapers £30, one of each £28, two smaller ones £25.

All finished in linseed oil.

10% of every sale goes to Tidy Butt, for supporting me with my mental health 🖤

First come, first served. When they're gone, they're gone. Happy to drop off within 5 miles of Cwmbran, or I can post: Royal Mail 2nd Class tracked, £3.65 (£5.55 for the fire tools).

Want more details on any of them? Just message me 👌

⚒️🔥🖤🤘

Photo: six hand-forged steel bottle openers in a row on a wooden floor, each with a different twist.

20/10/2026

She's built ⚒️🔥

More and more requests for bigger pieces. And I was scooping coal in like an old steam engine in the films 😅 So the forge got rebuilt.

About four times the size. A proper hood. A proper chimney, up through the ceiling. Massive thanks to Spike Blackhurst for the design help, again 🙏

Ordering it all as a small maker wasn't quick. Then the chimney taught me fluid dynamics…the Venturi effect, priming the flue, pushing the cold air out. Amateur physicist now 🤓 The old forge sat at the front of the garage, so airflow never mattered. Now she's at the back.

My welding looks like stalagmites. Or stalactites. Whichever ones hang from the ceiling 🤔 The water test kept finding just one more drip…a few grinding discs later, sealed. Rough and ready. Functional. I like it.

Oh, and I fitted the leg supports the wrong way round. The coal bucket doesn't fit 🤦‍♂️ Welding in an angle iron this weekend.

Already fired up…one memorial love stake already done, and 5 ammonites ready for their new loving homes. Getting my eye and arm back in, and learning how she behaves. Then back to the commissions, which are booked up to December 👌

Geordi was a he. This one feels like a she…something solid and nurturing about her. But she hasn't got a name yet.

What should I call her? 👇

19/10/2026

Clear-out time 🔥

The new forge is nearly ready…so it feels like a good time for a clean space.

So I thought I'd show off some of the one-off items I was talking about…discounted 👇

🔸 Reverse twist drawer handle. Just the one. £10 (was £17.50)
https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/1574715823961077/

🔸 A kind of scribe wand with the little cut-outs I was experimenting with. £10 (was £29)
https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/1867103521115322/

🔸 Little ammonite style, fern style hooks on a scorched wooden board. £15 (was £40)
https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/965043060015337/

🔸 And this poker 👇 Square stock, but the hook turns on the diagonal…on the edge rather than the square. Then a ball inside a cage. I'd never put anything inside one before, so I wanted to see what it looked like. Love it. £25 (was £50)
https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/1774823193725148/

All finished in linseed oil.

10% of every sale goes to Tidy Butt, for supporting me with my mental health 🖤

First come, first served. When they're gone, they're gone. Happy to drop off within 5 miles of Cwmbran, or I can post: Royal Mail 2nd Class tracked, £3.65 (£5.55 for the poker).

Seen something that sparks an idea? Message me. That one gets made from scratch, and priced on its own 👌

⚒️🔥🖤🤘

Video: me in the forge showing the four pieces, with captions.

17/10/2026

Ok I think she’s ready ⚒️🔥🖤🤘

More info to follow in the next few weeks but Diolch got all those with the patience to stick with me.

13/10/2026

These ghosts have been around for a while now 👻

They came about from a random throwaway comment. Someone had seen the metal heads…and I wanted to practise forge welding. So: pipe, forge welding, random idea…ghosts.

I sketch every face first. They never come out quite how I designed them…so each one has its own character. Best part. Also the worst part 😅

Then I got distracted and one stayed in the forge too long. Now he's got a pox-marked face 😳 Anyone want to give him a home?

Pop a tea light in and the flame comes through the holes. Made to order…want one in time for Halloween? Message me 👻 Or have a look here 👉 https://wigswonkyforge.etsy.com ⚒️🔥🖤🤘

I'm back soon, honest 😅 Update on the forge rebuild shortly.

27/07/2026

I did a thing on the weekend ⚒️🔥🖤🤘

Address

Cwmbran

Website

https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/WigsWonkyForge, https://wigswonkyforge.my.canva.site/, https://wonkyforge.co.uk/

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