[ INTERVIEW ] J. Arthur Loose (J.Arthur Loose, Metalsmith)
Today’s guest has been already featured on the blog, but it is only fair that he gets his own interview as well. Art of Swords sat down with J. Arthur Loose to talk about his sword making experience. Enjoy!
Art of Swords: Can you tell us a bit about yourself?
J. Arthur Loose: I have been interested in myth, folklore and archaeology since I was in high school. I went to Maine College of Art and majored in Jewelry & Metalsmithing, where I got a very solid education in basic techniques and visual thinking.
I worked for various jewelers, traveled, and finally settled into a position to start making knives & swords. It’s been 20 years of economic ups and downs, lots of trial and error, and slow progress learning and refining technical skills and artistic expression, but I think I’m finally getting to the place where dreams and ability come together.
Art of Swords: What ignited your passion for swords and the art of swordsmithing and how long did it take for you to learn the skills required?
J. Arthur Loose: My parents were archaeologists in the American Southwest. As a child I saw these Hopi, Navajo and Zuni people wearing incredible amounts of jewelry- it set them apart culturally, and as I started reading up on the history of myth and culture worldwide, I became fascinated with Northern Europe’s metalworking traditions.
So many stories to tell in those lost, encrusted objects of iron, silver and gold! I took some jewelry classes at 16 years of age and went off to art school at 17. So I can safely say that it has taken over 25 years to learn the skills acquired, but certainly not the skills required. I’m not done with this journey, by far.
Art of Swords: Do you make swords for fun or professionally?
J. Arthur Loose: I am a self-employed artisan, so while I do make them professionally, I think it is very difficult in this day and age to make them exclusively for a living. I sell silver and gold jewelry, stainless damascus jewelry, knives, drinking vessels, and I teach. Sometimes it is fun, and sometimes it is not so much fun, but always, it is necessary. I must make swords.
Art of Swords: Do you have an area or period or style you specialise in?
J. Arthur Loose: I specialize in Migration Era / Viking Age pattern welding and blades, but I don’t specialize in specifically historically accurate pieces. I want them to tell a story, or reflect something in the modern age that is ancient.
That doesn’t mean that they shouldn’t be fully functional, or that they shouldn’t conform to functional aspects of a given style of blade, but I want them to reflect the great lacuna that exists between history, myth, and the contemporary industrial age.
Art of Swords: Do you have an all time favorite blade that you forged throughout your smithing career and if so, why?
J. Arthur Loose: It’s probably Elding, because it was the first sword I made that really captured the symbolism and technically historical techniques that really inspire me. Elding is a very intriguing Old Norse word with layers of meaning.
It means dawn, and fire, and lightning, and the darkness, over a long period of time subtly shifting in meaning. The symbols are European fire / sun symbols, inverted and repeated in niello, a wonderfully ancient alchemical technique of fire and smoke and poison. It certainly marked a dawn for me.
Art of Swords: What were the bigger obstacles you had to overcome when learning the art of swordsmithing?
J. Arthur Loose: The biggest obstacle has been economic survival, and balancing the time required to make a sword with the time required to earn a living. I think many smiths would agree that the market these days has a hard time supporting a full time swordsmith. It’s actually a symptom of the modern malaise that many of my contemporary artist swordsmith colleagues seek to oppose in some grand collective Quixotian vision.
Art of Swords: Can you also handle a sword?
J. Arthur Loose: I have played in various re-enactment fighting groups since I was a teenager. While they aren’t precisely the techniques one would use with true swordsmanship, they are a great primer for studying sharp-edged, live steel techniques.
I am presently looking into some of the more historically inquisitive Viking Age organizations who try to examine these issues, as well as later, Renaissance era great sword techniques for which we have actual books and manuals. It’s very exciting to see more of this kind of thing happening, which was fairly unknown when I first decided that I wanted to make swords.
Art of Swords: What would you say is the most challenging aspect of making a sword?
J. Arthur Loose: Patience. A good friend and colleague once said, “I’m not a patient man, I’m a stubborn man.” There is s subtle difference, and the same is true for me.
Art of Swords: What would your advice be to anyone interested in learning swordsmithing?
J. Arthur Loose: Don’t give up.
For more information about J. Arthur’s work, check out his website!
Source: Copyright © 2015 Art of Swords
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