Tsur Sadan contacted me a few days before his arrival in the U.S. to teach a workshop at Marv Campodonico’s shop in Topaz Nevada.  Tsur had been contacted by Thelma, Tom’s widow to make the urn for Tom’s ashes.  He asked me if I could help with a design.  I was honored that Tsur asked me and I set to work on some drawings.  We decided that the urn and a Memorial sculpture should be separate as he had already made an urn.  We talked at length about what it was that made Tom so special and also what it was that he enjoyed more than anything else.  The one thing that stood out was his signature hammers of which many people have as treasured tools for forging.  Tom made hundreds of these hammers and Tsur made many of them with Tom.  We decided on one drawing that shows a hand holding a hammer.  Not just any hammer though, it had to look just like Tom’s.   Tom’s legacy lives on in the teaching that he did all over the world and the tools that will be used for years to come.   I called my friend Frank Trousil who was also a good friend of Tom’s and he agreed to help in the creation of this sculpture.  My thanks to Frank for his expertise in executing the piece.,  None of us had made a hand before, a truly difficult task.   It was an international effort.  Frank: Czech Republic/USA, Tsur: Israel, Myself: USA.  Tom would have loved that!  

To all of you who knew Tom, I know you would have done the same.  Enjoy.  TC