What makes you nervous?

The Oxy-Acetylene Torch

Over the weekend, my family took a little road trip to Providence, Rhode Island. My son has been interested in welding as both an art form and a trade to pursue as a career, but finding a place where he could get his hands on the tools and try it with professional supervision was a challenge.

Then we found The Steel Yard in Providence, Rhode Island. It’s about two hours away from our Fairfield County suburb. Kids as young as 15, like him, can take weekly classes, workshops, and camps in welding, blacksmithing, jewelry making and ceramics.

We booked the two day, thirteen hour welding workshop, and we headed off with the whole fam for a RHODE TRIP!

Day 1 of the Weekend Welding Workshop at The Steel Yard

In front of The Steel Yard shop is a park with artists’ previous work. Some were large scale and I could tell there were kinetic elements.

There were five students total, and an awesome instructor, Manuela. She’s an artist all types of mediums, and she sells stickers online.

Shop Tour

We received a tour of the space, including the areas they use for ceramics, jewelry making, and blacksmithing.

In the office Manuela showed us a plant stand she helped create when she was still relatively new to the tools.

The bathroom was decked out with handmade tiles and ceramic art.

In a warehouse area, we saw some of the signs that welders have fabricated for the city.

Also of interest was an area where the artists in residence work. They have several opportunities for artists in residence.

I’m unsure of the artist’s name who made these works, but I’ll update the post when I find out. I love how they created texture in dreadlocks.

And I LOVE how they used natural materials for these mixed media feet! It looks like the drawing are made of soot remnants from wire brushing welds, but maybe it’s remnants from the blacksmithing department.

In the blacksmithing room, there was simple advice that made for good metaphors for life.

Tools Demo’d

The first day, we received demonstration on how to use a horizontal band saw, angle grinder, plasma cutter, and mig welder.

I took a beginner welding class about 13 years ago, back when I lived in Houston. It was a few hours long, at some guy’s shop. He taught us a bit about welders and showed us how to use things, but our first-hand experience was all seconds long and I didn’t feel more confident about doing anything except for shopping by for a welder I couldn’t afford back then.

This experience was way different. Everyone was given ample time and a small project for each tool, so we gained a lot of confidence and competence on the first day.

We wrapped up the day by practicing welds on a T joint.

Day 2 of our Weekend Welding Workshop at The Steel Yard

On day 2, we received a demo for a final tool: the oxyacetylene torch.

Like I mentioned earlier, this thing made me nervous. If I dropped it or it got twisted around—Ho-ly. Pretty scary.

But also powerful. Some people love the power of holding a gun. Not me, I don’t like that one bit. I loved the power of being able to bend metal. What a superpower!

After that demo, we had the rest of the class day to work on our own projects—anything we wanted!

The night before, I settled on a dragonfly. Dragonflies are ancient creatures and indicators of a healthy ecosystem. The symbolism is there for me, too:

The dragonfly, in almost every part of the world symbolizes change and change in the perspective of self realization; and the kind of change that has its source in mental and emotional maturity and the understanding of the deeper meaning of life.

This and more symbolism that hit home for me on Dragonfly.org

There were many fresh steel sheets and rods, but I preferred using scraps that others had discarded

I used the plasma cutter to cut those marked areas and the angle grinder to polish. Then it was time to use the oxyacetylene torch to bend rods for the wings.

Other students did, but I didn’t achieve mastery with this tool. It kept making popping noises at me and going out when I’d try to start it up (I was too fast and jerky with the oxygen, maybe I didn’t bring down the oxyacetylene enough, too?), but it was toward the end of my project and class when I got to using it, so I received a lot of one-on-one help. I’ll need more guidance to use it again in the future.

I surprised myself

By finishing everything only 3 minutes after the end of class. I created all six legs with only 30 minutes left on the clock! I felt like I was on a maker reality show, trying to complete it on time.

And I did!

Tobias and I were the only students that finished our projects, but we’re also the only ones that weren’t local. Locals can come back as much as they want for a small shop fee during open shop hours.

Our First Mother and Son Welded Steel Yard Art

…is all set up in our front yard! I can’t wait to do it again. Welding a sculpture has been a goal/bucket list item of mine for over a decade, and I’m so proud of the results!