Base Plate, Copper

The magical process of creating these amazing, beautiful and useful pieces starts with acquiring the best copper found in the region, making sure that the sourced material meets the workshop’s quality standards, recently, with sights to the future, workshops in the region have begun using more recycled copper in their forges, committing to a lower impact to the natural landscapes of their charming region.

In its most traditional process, the precious copper is forged by digging a hole in the ground, wide enough for it to house holm oak logs and coal, with the copper slab in the middle. Using blowers to feed the heat that will burn the logs and coal inside the pit, heating up the copper piece at the heart of the flames until it melts, at around 1980 ºF and until the firewood consumes, ensuring the metal achieves a “slow-forging” state, where it has no oxygen inside it, and granting more malleability to it.

The product of this traditional forging process is a “tejo”, which is the traditional name given to the copper after being forged due to its peculiar yew shape.

A party is assembled, and in a near perfect choreography, the artisans at the forge hammer the “tejo” in a quick succession, one right after the other, to what becomes an almost hypnotic display of precision and coordination to watch. The copper can either be spread or made into a convex shape, depending on what the piece that it is planned to become.

This “dance of the hammerers” happens several times over the span of several hours, because the piece needs to go back into the fire to keep its malleability and retain the strength it will acquire through the constant hammering of the artisans, this is a process that can sometimes go for long periods of time.

Once the base shape of the piece is rendered after the hammering-and-heating process, the piece is then taken to the anvils, awls and chisels of the workshop, where with extreme dedication and passion, the artisans instill every bit of the traditional memory that has been taught one generation after the other for over a 100 years, so deeply rooted to the towns inhabitants, that children from ages 5 and up start learning about their parents’ craft in a dedicated workshop at their school.

One careful and precise hammer-blow at a time, fantastically intricate details, patterns, textures, and shapes appear on and around the already passionately forged canvas that this beautiful metal has come to be.

For the finishing touch, a finishing coat is applied to the piece, ranging from deep earthy tones, all the way to the energetic, yet soothing, turquoise tones found in natural copper patina, or even a shiny and reflective copper aesthetic, giving the piece a whole new dimension and presence that you’re sure to enjoy every day.

With its 25-year tradition of craftsmanship and a commitment to inspiration, the 14 Artisan families living at Bodega Artesanal’s Workshop, in Santa Clara del Cobre keeps on bringing amazing and useful works of art that proudly tell their stories, all while serving their functions elegantly, in a perfect blend of artistic form and function that dance close, all to become a solid experience.

Copper lies in vast supply in this town and its surroundings, however, the magic happens when an experienced artisan’s hands masterfully transform this already beautiful and interesting material, with their traditional copper-hammering technique into ornaments, statues, tools, cookware, you name it!

And the result of these transformation processes is always sure to fill your spaces with every last bit of that passion that the craftsmen at Bodega Artesanal have to offer, in each and every one of their pieces!

Plus, each piece you purchase helps this amazing Artisan community thrive and grow, get one of their awesome and inspiring pieces today!