About the Course
If you are a creative designer and have craved to have the ability to fab metal directly with your own hands, here is a work shop specifically for you. You will learn to manipulate steel using air/acetylene bending, twisting and curving. You will learn about the Tig welding process which can enable you to make blended joints and render your work to appear more as a casting than welded. Your can draw with steel and create textures. You are limited by your imagination.
Metal is a wonderful artist material. It can be a canvas for traditional paints or you can make colors with patina's derived from the metal itself. You can create complex and intriguing structures and these structures can have compelling exotic textures of metal molten and tortured in various ways. You can make furniture as art, picture frames that will compete with the art itself that it frames. Sculpture that you can build a strand at a time and take away if it does not work with your concept. Metal fabricating is a rewarding material and method to work with.
You do however have to learn some processes and work with some unique tools. This art welding class will acquaint you with the process of heating steel to a glowing temperature when it will yield to manipulation by hand or blows. You can make metal forms and then bend other metals and shape them around the forms to create repetitive structures that can be assembled in 3d space to create rhythmic elements. You can heat and beat textures into steel, you can pile shapes on top of each other to create complex elements. It's a new old world or metal working. You will learn the equipment used for heating metal using air/acetylene and oxy/acetylene heating & brazing. You will also learn the basics on Tig Tungsten Inert Gas aka Gas Tungsten Arc welding as this is a mellow welding process without as much drama as other processes. With practice it yields the cleans weld joints that can be ground, sanded and polished to the point where the weld just disappears which is important in the aesthetics of art pieces. Or you can make them gnarly if that is what you choose.
Classes are small with one on one instruction and supervision. Ages are from 16 to infinity and beyond. We are well reviewed on Google and Yelp (5 Stars). If you have any further question please call or text us at (310)936-9733. Note, if you decide to sign up by clicking the button you will be directed to our Meetup Group site that handles our scheduling or you can register directly as well. Thank you.
Your Instructor
Bill Needham
Bill received industrial arts training while in High School, which included training in all facets of welding. While serving in the military he continued his training and work experience. His experience spans 40 years working as prop maker in the movie industry, metal fabricator, motorcycle mechanic and marine engineer.