- Metalsmithing is dirty.

It's hard.

It is very physical, and, and it is, it is not an easy craft to do.

I am Benjamin Caldwell, but I go by Ben.

My tools are very simple.

The, the technology is probably mid to late 18 hundreds in terms of its technology.

I don't really use any computerized things, CNC machines or anything like that.

Everything's pretty much all done by hand.

And so I make a lot of my own tools because being a silversmith and coppersmith, there's not many of us around.

So there's not a lot of those tools that are being manufactured for my trade.

I think my serving utensils are very popular.

The antler handled things are very popular.

I'm kind of known for my antler bowls, particularly.

They're, they're actually very hard to make, and that's why you don't see antler bowls around.

It's, it's not so much the bowl.

That's the hard part though.

It's hard to make those by hand.

But is, is the stand, is making the stand work for the bowl?

'cause you have to have all these points of contact just right or else the bowl or the stand will fall over and there's something about something being handmade.

I believe that the spirit of the maker goes into the piece, and that's why we feel something when we hold something that is, that, that is handmade, the energy of that person goes into it and the soul of that person is in there.

The manufactured things are good, they are less expensive, and that makes a lot of things accessible to people.

And that's a good thing.

But on the other hand, you lose something because if a machine makes something from beginning to end, it has the soul of a machine and not the soul of a human in it.

And what I like to do is I like bringing a little bit of myself into a person's home.

My presence is there and that the love, the care, the craftsmanship, all of my creativity and everything is expressed in this and that, that will enhance and beautify someone's home.

And that's my job in the world, is to make the world a more beautiful place.