Ask
any young girl, from any era, this one, or from one long ago, what sort of bed
a Fairy-Tale Princess sleeps in, and she will likely sigh, and wistfully reply,
"A fancy, beautiful, Iron Decor!".
It's easy to conjure up that romantic image; an ornate iron bed, hand-crafted
by a skilled artisan. A wrought iron bed to beat all other wrought iron
beds--replete with luxurious linen sheets, a coverlet made of fine brocade, or
perhaps a silk damask--an array of plump pillows layered against a finely
detailed headboard. Cast your eyes upward to waterfalls of gauzy fabric
cascading from the canopy frame atop this magical iron bed. Whether you're a
young girl, or a bit more mature; to sleep in such a bed is almost a universal
fantasy.
Wrought iron has been in use more than five millennium. For both construction
and decorative purposes. During the Middle Ages, the use of wrought iron
surpassed the previous front-runner, bronze, for the crafting of swords, axes,
plows, various weapons and tools, iron beds and other furnishings. With the
introduction of the blast furnace in the 15th century, wrought iron became much
more plentiful, and iron-craft soared, creating a period in the late 1600s,
known as the Great English Ironwork.
With the mid-19th century invention of the Bessemer process, (named for its
inventor, Harry Bessemer) steel became an affordable material to be able to
mass-produce on an industrial scale. This process was known long before, but
only the Bessemer process allowed for such large-scale production. The main
principle behind the Bessemer process removes impurities from the iron by a
dual action of oxidation and air injection; oxidation also brings up the iron's
temperature allowing it to maintain a molten state.
It's understandable how wrought iron fell into decline as a construction Wrought Iron Decor.
Today, steel is one of the most common materials worldwide, with just over a
billion tons produced each year, but prior to the advent of steel, and its
subsequent explosion throughout industry, wrought iron was the go-to metal, and
very often was a structural component for buildings, bridges, ships, columns
and colonnades. It played a starring role in early railway infrastructure. It
defined and improved the look of cities, and bestowed elegance to personal
gardens, railings, gates and grates.
Today, wrought iron is often more artistically expressed as ornamental and
decorative pieces, but not always strictly as art. As was the case centuries
ago, talented blacksmiths still marry form and function to create wonderful
wrought iron furniture, from iron beds, light fixtures, tables, wine racks,
candle holders, garden chairs, trellises, plant stands, and plant hangers,
graceful wall decorations, fireplace tools, and much more.
Historically and culturally, one of the most enduring items imprinted upon our
minds, would be those classical wrought iron beds. Whether they're embedded in
our personal memories, or seen in films, or described in our favorite bedtime
stories and beloved novels, the iron bed is definitely an iconic fixture. It is
perfectly natural to expect that wrought iron beds will live on in our homes
for centuries to come.
