This week I’ve got Michael Budd back on the show, he’s a very talented artist blacksmith from Sligo Ireland. We talk about his trip to Tomsk Russia this past summer, where he was invited to demonstrate at a festival called “The Festival of the Ax”.  What We Talked About He attended a festival, the Festival of the Ax, as a demonstrator in Tomsk Russia, so he tells us about the festival and how he got invited. There were artists from over 100 different countries and 15 blacksmiths We really go deep into introducing the craft of blacksmithing to college students and how the use of past publications could be more available in college libraries. We touch on the “crowdfunding” idea for blacksmith conferences  We talk about how hard it is to be an artist and to make a living at the same time.   Guest Links Website - https://www.annarkoplik.com/ Instagram @michaeljbudd