Forged letter 'H'

A daughter commissioned this piece for her mother, whose last name begins with the letter ‘H.’  This custom forged ‘H’ was to be hung on the tile backsplash behind the kitchen stove.  Stylistically, the new piece needed to complement an existing kitchen light fixture with a half-penny snub end scroll design.   

When designing this piece, I included collaring and a variety of scrolls for visual interest.  

Disclaimer!:  I tend to make my own versions of established scrolls/elements.  I’m more interested in the flowing form and shape of the elements, rather than producing exact replicas of traditional scroll work.  

The ‘traditional’ scrolls that served as inspiration for this piece, however, are as follows:  half-penny snub end scroll, fishtail scroll, flared/beveled scroll.  And whatever the name is of the scroll with that little ball on the end.  

The forged letter ‘H’ started off life as 1/2”-square steel bar.  A power hammer was used, along with a good ol’ hammer and anvil, to shape the steel.  Flat dies on the power hammer were used in conjunction with a fuller for spreading.  The fuller left behind that nice texture you see there on the steel.  

I sealed the piece with paste wax, buffing it by hand to a nice shine.  I installed the ‘H’ on the backsplash in the Horseshoe Bay, TX, kitchen.  The final dimensions of the letter are 18” tall x 14 wide x 1.5” deep.