Welders & sandblasters & plasma cutters, oh my!

   Today the AU Crew met bright & early for our annual work day at Machinehead in the Crossroads downtown—fueled by coffee, doughnuts & subs in that order. In just about 8 hours we busted out 40+ metal art pieces for the humane society.

   Lauren, who stopped in to help between a live TV appearance & a pet adoption event, brought lil' Dudley, a 1-year-old beagle/dachshund mix. Folks, if you are looking for a fun, NICE dog, go to hsgkc.com and get him! He was very quiet & patient in the lobby, despite all the racket we were making in the shop.

   On to the work! First step in the process, the plasma cutter. It's so cool to watch it work! (Just don't look too long or or you'll melt your retinas. This thing literally gets hotter than the sun.)

   Jason preps the files of my artwork in AutoCad, and Dick lays out the pieces on a digital grid that matches the size & shape of the metal to be cut.

See?

Then the magic machine does the rest

(click title to watch on Youtube):

Dick pulls out the first kitty head & delivers it to Randy & Jason:

Who grind off the metal filings on the edges:

And polish or grind cool finishes onto them:

Then it's sandblasting time—my favorite!

It was great having Lauren help us:

Ta-daaah!

   On the other side of the shop was Beth Nybeck's sculpture (she's taking classes at the Arts Incubator and is Dick's new assistant):

"Janamal" is a welding machine!

Jason always invents creative ways of putting the pieces together:

I made these look like Kelly's cats: Boozer & Judy!

This is the piece I got to take home (with bases added):

Cutest pitchfork ever:

Here we are: Jason, me, Randy, Dick & Connie with our creations:

   Time to go howe... Surely Dick won't mind if I "borrow" his forklift... just a half mile to the highway & I'm outta here!

   I'm not going to lie: the forklift may have been my favorite part. I think my next car will be a forklift. Once I paint some flames on the side... look out!