WHEN TV and film producers need a blacksmith or an authentic weapon, they call on Saintfield craftsman Steven Murphy.
Since becoming a blacksmith, Steven has appeared on many local productions, including all of the Games of Thrones series, featuring as a blacksmith or as an extra for over 10 years.
He and his work can be seen in the forthcoming Hollywood movie, The Northmen, starring Nicole Kidman, which was filmed last summer. He was also working as an extra in a film production this week.
The film and TV work is an interesting side occupation for Steven who describes himself as an artist blacksmith, prop weapon maker and leatherworker.
Steven, who’s married to Harley Matthews, keeper of collections at Down County Museum in Downpatrick, first got the film bug when he was an extra in the 2012 film, Good Vibrations, about Belfast punk impresario Terri Hooley.
He also created prop weapons for the Jesus Christ Superstar stage musical which was performed at the Grand Opera House in Belfast and props for The Frankenstein Chronicles and the TV series Penny Dreadful.
He said: “I have done more work as an armourer and as a blacksmith than I have ever as an extra. It’s normally my metal-working skills that gets me the work.”
But it’s not just his physical presence or expert work at the anvil that film producers want Kevin for, his metal work also features heavily – if you have the expert eye to spot it.
“I’ve made the shield weapons for Game of Thrones, some of the siege equipment like the big scorpion and I’ve made various weapons, some for the principal cast or the background cast. I also made the climbing picks for Jon Snow and the Wildings to climb up the huge ice world that separated Westeros from the North,” explained Steven.
The scorpion was used in Game of Thrones by the Lannister army to take down one of Daenerys Targaryen’s dragons.
“They had to be functional even though a lot was done with CGI. I’ve always been happy to work on the Game of Thrones. I was excited about it being filmed here as I had read the books beforehand.”
Steven originally wanted a career in the armed forces, having joined the RAF at the age of 17. After he was medically discharged, he turned his attention to his first love, engineering.
“I’ve always had an interest in metalwork and working with my hands. After the RAF, I was looking for something with an engineering background to get into. I was struggling to find something in Northern Ireland but found a BTEC blacksmithing course in England. I decided to pack up and go over there to see what it was all about,” said Steven.
That led him to do a BA blacksmithing degree course at university where he was able to combine his love of art with engineering and design.
He was fortunate enough to apply to Craft NI who launched its Making It programme to encourage craft artist to open up their own workspaces and studios.
Funded with £5,000 to buy equipment and materials and a free workspace for two years, Steve established his own business.
He has since moved to open Cold Iron Forge on the Saintfield Road in Ballynahinch where he combines his film and TV production work with commissioned and bespoke designs of gates, railings and balustrades in steel, even creating unique fireside sets.
For further information about Steven and his work, visit www.cold-iron.co.uk.