The Aspiring Metalsmiths team I belong to has a monthly blogroll challenge.  I missed the one last month (I managed to take photos and start my post and then my computer crashed and I lost it), and I'm late with this one, but better late than never, right?

The topic this month is "What skill do you want to learn next?"  I found it incredibly difficult to choose just one thing.  I love learning new skills and, still being very much an "aspiring" metalsmith, I feel that I haven't really solidified the basic skills I am using day to day.  However, I am passionately and forever in love with fold forming, a technique which is very similar to origami, but a bit more challenging and unpredictable.  It involved heating the metal with a torch, which softens it, folding and heating and unfolding and so on.  I feel so connected with the metal and the design while doing this.  A very meditative, albeit at times frustrating process.

I have been exploring fold forming for a few months off and on, but feel that I have just barely started discovering all of the possibilities.  I have been creating simple things like this:



and this:


What I'm aiming for is to be able to create something like this:


So, before I move on to something new, I would like to perfect my fold forming skills just a little bit more. I think I have a bit of experimenting, and practising and reading to do!

Check out the blogs of my fellow Aspiring Metalsmiths and see what new skills they would like to learn: