Teddy2808

It’s supposed to be a heron and Mount Fuji😬, but it’s open for interpretation and it’s an I testing way to look at it. As for a Godzilla tsuba, that would be quite interesting and I feel like making one would be a fun journey. I probably wouldn’t make one unless someone wanted to me to though as I have a long list of ideas I want to execute. I like hearing that some people are open to modern designs on tsuba, and soon I might play with that idea. I saw a video of a horimono artists talking about engraving anime designs on katana once and found it interesting that he did modern motifs.

Geraint, Having the bird obscured by the seppa was a conscious choice. The reason is I wanted the bird a certain size so it could be the focal point, and at that size, I couldn’t shift it over any more to the right without hitting the rim. I’ve put a seppa over it and it only obscures the beak of the bird so I think it’s fine. Lots of tsuba have designs that go into the seppa dai. Also this tsuba wont be mounted as I don’t even own a katana.

It’s almost astounding to me that they could be so crude. With the amount he’s made you’d think he’d have some improvement overtime. Even from one of my tsuba to the next I feel as if I make significant improvement. This guy has made so many and if he put minimal effort in he could produce good quality pieces if he also fixed his “patina”. It almost looks like he just free hand the cut outs with a jewelers saw and outs zero effort into design.

Thanks Dale, I hadn’t thought about having them taper near the top. I’ll do that later Regarding the signature, I felt a had a steady hand and was in a good mindset to sign so I did. I think Ford talked about it being in the right mindset in one of his videos.

Jean, I’ll think about reaching out to him. Although I feel somewhat bad considering his recent health issues. I’m a member of his patreon and his used to do weekly q and a’s before he had his recent complications. Maybe I’ll wait till those start back up.

I have something you might be interested in. PM me.

Hello everyone, Recently, I’ve been working on the tsuba pictures below. I’m looking for feedback on the Omote which has the bulk of the work completed. I still have a few more hours of smoothing out the surfaces carved out from raising the depictions. I’m looking to see if there is anything I’m missing or should add, as once I’m working on something for long enough I don’t have an objective viewpoint anymore and it can be easy to miss simple flaws. Overall I feel as the piece is coming along well and I’m pleased with the omote , although it will be adding to my pile of unmounted tsuba lying around. My plan for the ura is to have an another lying below a willow tree. Hopefully I’ll be more efficient in the carving for it. This piece was my first time experimenting with raised depictions and I’ve learned a good deal. This reminds me I’ll have to make some more scrapers for the ura as I’ve been trying to get by on only one, but it’s starting to become a little troublesome. Thanks for reading, I’ll post when I’m done.

Quite stunning, excited to see the daisho.

How much?

Beautiful, one day I hope to enter.

Thanks I’ve been trying to track down copies but it’s very hard to find.

Darrell, I appreciate your critiques and yes my craving technique needs lots of work and practice . Although I’m yet to see a dremel version of a nanako punch or kebori chisel. I know my technique isn’t anything special but it is all done by hand. Larason, I really appreciate your kind words. I appreciate that you can see the work that goes behind it! Obviously, I have much more maturing to do but it’s always nice to hear some encouragement.

First I hear your point. Second cutting it from sheet metal has no disrespect for the tradition I recommend you watch Ford Hallam Hosa Kusa series to see this in action. He makes a Tsuba from a copper sheet blank and recommends that anyone does. I think it is better to get people more access to making tsuba and the other techniques involve than placing a significant barrier of casting in the process. Saying my Tsuba is made from “sheet metal” is completely misleading and just an attempt to discount my work to others when making it from “sheet metal” is accepted by the greatest authority in the making of tsuba. Even after I cut the blank out by hand with a jewelers saw for hours(not with a bandsaw or bench guillotine or a CNC like is “traditional”), I cold forge the blanks to get a slightly domed shape as should be done. Then I polish out hammer marks etc. Also I have made Tsuba from forged wrought iron but it’s expensive and not everyone can afford to do that themselves or afford the whole casting of alloys process. Maybe I should drop the craft altogether instead? I’m not made of money. I’m not a nihonto owner, I’m a student. Second I used to reach out to people and that was wrong. I do not do that anymore and I don’t take any commissions. I don’t have these for sale on Reddit and simply post progress now. I have almost every step documented and it’s not some sort of scam. I’m not sure who samurai monkey is, but I’m not trying to take advantage of people. Three saying that I am killing the art is quite disrespectful in my opinion because other than the blank being made from sheet metal which is completely acceptable as explained earlier. Everything I do is as Ford explains on his channel. I don’t use electric gravers, I make my own chisels, I do everything by hand. I appreciate your concerns but i also have to disagree where yiu say at I’m killing the craft. I am just a young student who is trying to learn something new. I regret my previous marketing of my work but have not done that for months and only post for people interested.

I would just like to say thank you. That film along with yugen has helped to significantly change my life for. The better. It sparked me to recently begin my journey in to producing fittings and although I have only made around 5 but after each one I can tell my skills are drastically improving. My goal is to one day produce a similar film and tsuba if I can get someone to film me or attempt to do it myself. I can not emphasize how much I appreciate the Katsuhira’s Tiger film and the project as a whole!

I wish more people would realize this. I’ve tried selling some of my tsuba and I’ve had people come to me and say here’s this absolutely horrendous cast tsuba thats 90$ I’ll buy yours for 150$ because otherwise I could buy a cast one for better value. I would barely make my material coat back much less be compensated for the high amount of skilled labor. People don’t see the countless hours that go into the production of fittings and unfortunately the majority don’t view it as art either just a product.

God this makes me so incredibly angry. Knowing the amount of work that goes into the production tsuba firsthand and then having it so poorly ripped off makes my blood boil especially because of how great of a person Ford is.

Thank you for your kindness Brian. I will post other tsuba I have done soon. I can’t believe I didn’t started using this forum sooner. Teddy

First time posting here and still very much a beginner made maybe 5 tsuba. Also big thanks to Ford Hallam for all the instruction he puts out online. Also if some of the info is self explanatory I copied a pasted my description from instagram. It’s iron patinated black through a painstaking process of building a rust coat boiling for 5 minutes then scrubbing with a toothbrush then rinse and repeat 10 times. The flower is inspired by a flower I saw on a tsuba by the renowned Goto Ichijo who was part of the Goto school which served the imperial family for over I think 17 generations. It’s meant to be a simple understated piece of a simple flower in the wind so I decided not to date it in order to stay with the minimalistic approach. All most of the engraving was done with a combination of two kebori(V)chisels along with a .5 mm nanako punch for the center of the flower which broke midway through leaving a somewhat messy result. Other than that I’m happy.