Course Description:
This course enables students to develop and appreciate the human imagination and understanding the value of personal creativity through metal sculpting using welding techniques and design.
Research Paper
For my research paper, I decided to focus on the Inuit artist Kenojuak Ashevak (pronounced ken-OH-jew-ack ash-eh-vac). She is a celebrated as a leading figure of modern Inuit art, and helped bring her people's tradition and culture to the rest of the world through her art.
metal_sculpting_research_artist_paper-pdf.pdf | |
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Box Project
Considering this is my first experience with any type of welding, I would say I did a pretty alright job. However, I did learn that I have lots to improve on to perfect getting a good bead down. At first the most prevalent thing I struggled with would be getting the levels correct; heat, amount of metal needed, speed, etc.
The heat itself on the metal was a bit touchy because even when I got that perfect temperature, I just didn’t use the correct amount of rod to get enough or I went too fast so when I tried to go back over the bead to clean it up it would just melt through the metal there and create a giant hole that I would have to patch. For sure I would like to work more on getting the metal to heat to speed ratio down, but I do believe I have a pretty good base to jump of off here. |
Rose Project
I would say the rose project by far was one that I had the most fun, and most challenges with. It really pushed me to learn different techniques and test just how much information I had retained from the instructor for the course. It taught me that it is good to have patience, and that patience is needed to complete this project.
Hammering away at the anvil, and then having to undo the progress you just made due to an angle being too sharp or the curve of the petals wasn't right did get frustrating and there were a few times that I wanted to give up. But, sticking through and working the metal into the proper shapes, not allowing it to bend in the way it naturally wants to but the way I wanted it to was well worth the effort. |
Final Project
For my final project, I was heavily inspired by those cardboard animal craft kits that you often see in gift shops or at the zoo right as you are walking out. Elephants themselves are pretty important to me, as they were my paternal grandmother's favorite animal and the two of us were very close before she passed on.
I learned a lot from this project, especially using MIG welding as opposed to the Oxy/Acy rod welding I has used for the two previous projects. Getting the wire speed and heat to match took some time to get down perfectly, and there sure was a lot of trial and error when things weren't exactly at the levels they needed to be at. But, I had fun during the process, even if my thumbs got more burns than I would care to admit. . .
Overall, I would highly recommend anyone to at least experiment with a metal sculpting course. You truly learn just how much you are (and aren't) capable of. The craft itself is also a great stress reliever for when you just need to hammer way at stubborn steel. On the plus side, you can use all that aggression to get a beautiful sculpture out of it, so I definitely see that as a positive use of emotions.
I learned a lot from this project, especially using MIG welding as opposed to the Oxy/Acy rod welding I has used for the two previous projects. Getting the wire speed and heat to match took some time to get down perfectly, and there sure was a lot of trial and error when things weren't exactly at the levels they needed to be at. But, I had fun during the process, even if my thumbs got more burns than I would care to admit. . .
Overall, I would highly recommend anyone to at least experiment with a metal sculpting course. You truly learn just how much you are (and aren't) capable of. The craft itself is also a great stress reliever for when you just need to hammer way at stubborn steel. On the plus side, you can use all that aggression to get a beautiful sculpture out of it, so I definitely see that as a positive use of emotions.