Edu-blog Reflection Post

As part of my Metal Arts & Jewlery 12 class, I’ve started making wall art. For the design I’ve chosen a flower. I started the project by drawing the design on a large sheet of paper and starting to cut out the pieces. I scotchbrited everything and then used the belt sander to sand it down. After that was done, I bent the petal shapes with the di-acro bender. Once everything was bent and sanded, I used electrical MIG welding to get the pieces together. To finish it off I used the drill and wire wheel to clean the welds. After the base was done, I started the tedious process off cutting a lot of smaller rods, scotchbriting them and finally belt sanding them down. I planned on placing them in the petals in horizontal lines. I started electric MIG welding the pieces to the flower base by welding from the thinker metal to thinner. So far, I’ve finished the process for all the petals but one. After I finish that I am planning on wrapping thin copper wire around the middle to create the filament of a flower and welding on a thick stem. So far, I have been successful and hopefully I will continue to be. The only thing I would do differently is not spending a day trying to get my flower petals completely straight and just using clamps to hold it down when welding. I am very proud of the shape of my petals and the way the base turned out.