Local blacksmith creating new giant Colorado Troll statue for Palmer Lake
Bradley Davis
MONUMENT, Colo. (KRDO) – The state’s third giant troll will soon make its home in Palmer Lake. It joins the two in Victor and Breckenridge.
It’s the first created by a Colorado artist, and the first made of metal.
“The first time I heated metal up and hit it, it was like I had been dating all these different techniques, and they were okay, but then I fell in love,” troll artist Jodie Bliss said.
The troll will sit on a beam of the Palmer Lake Pedestrian Bridge. The project is an initiative by the Awake the Lake organization.
Bliss’ metalwork studio is in Monument, less than a 10-minute drive from Palmer Lake.
“I’ve invited multiple members of the community to come out and leave their mark on the trail,” Bliss said.
Danish artist Thomas Dambo created the other two giant sculptures, primarily using wood. Bliss said she’s partial to blacksmithing.
“If you come onto an idea where you don’t have the right tool for it, well, you make it! And I think that’s what make Blacksmiths the king of the craftsmen; the queen of all the craftsmen,” Bliss said. “If we’ve got any woodworkers who are insulted by that, come at me!”
Bliss said she would love to be the resident “troll” artist for other cities across Colorado.
“If anyone else wants a troll, I’m your girl,” Bliss said. “I think [the other artists] would agree that there’s nothing wrong with a little healthy competition.”
Being local has afforded Bliss some unique opportunities with the design.
“You know who this old man is modeled after? It’s this girl!” Bliss said.
Bliss said she was having trouble visualizing how she wanted the troll to pose, so she sat on the bridge.
“I sat there, and I took pictures of myself pretending I was holding a lantern,” Bliss said.
Bliss led blacksmithing classes for the community members who created their own pieces to add to the troll. She also taught KRDO13’s Bradley Davis the basics of working a forge.
“I never would admit that I like teaching, but I seem to be planning it more into my life routine!” Bliss said.
Bliss said the goal is to have the troll completed and sitting on the bridge by the end of December, but said it could be a little later, depending on how the final processes go. On Monday, she gave KRDO13 a blacksmithing demo and a look at her progress.