Art from the Heart
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Everything about Kashief Booley, the Blacksmith of Prince Albert in the Western Cape Karoo, says Old School. And watching him work in the Striking Metal smithy on a rise overlooking the village, with the majestic Swartberg range sweeping across the Prince Albert Valley and westwards all along the Klein Karoo, is to segue back a few centuries.
There’s a flaming forge, rows of handmade tools, hulking anvil, hissing water bucket and the all-important hammer. But then there are signs of the times – T-shirt and blue-denim jeans with the Bruce Springsteen cut, gas burners and angle grinders.
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When I was a kid, it was, of course, all about being a cowboy one day when I grew up. Maybe a fireman. Now I’m a ballie, and all I really want to be is the village blacksmith. This guy. In this place.
The relatively well-heeled citizenry of Prince Albert and distant Cape Town fancy their custom-made goods, so there’s always a commission available for
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