Love Notes

Have you ever gotten a note from a loved one? Stuck somewhere they know you will find it, and you do at just the right moment.  It says exactly the right emotion to make you remember why life is worth the hardness.  Have you ever found a note like that from yourself?  How hard is it to love ourselves?  How many other people will resent us for it? Can we love ourselves when others misunderstand?

So here is the challenge.  Do you have love in your heart for someone you see every day?  Or talk to regularly? Could you have that same kind of love for yourself?  Can you take care of yourself as well as you care for your loved ones?  Can you take care of yourself as you expect those you love to care for themselves so they will be healthy and available for you?  Can you care for yourself on your behalf?

Can you do both—love them as you have and incorporate loving and caring for yourself equally as well?  If so, what would happen?  Would you notice?  Would they?  What would change?  How would that be?

A good place to start may be to write that sweet note, in your best “I love You the most” handwriting and stick where you will find it, and at just the right moment get a true sense of unconditional love from your nearest admirer—YOU!

Kansas City Bound!

The bus to Kansas City leaves this Sunday evening and I am so excited! My mother is meeting me there and we are spending the week together watching competitions, shopping and enjoying the conference & city.  Then I get to go home and visit my family in Arkansas!

The Spinning SnowMill is a success!  Sadly, welding class is over, but I am a certified welder!  I have to admit, I am very proud of myself, graduating a welding course is not something I thought I would do in this lifetime!  And I got certified and completed two sculptures with time to spare!  Not to mention all the stuff  built for the glass studio towards the beginning of the course.

The initial concept for the Spinning SnowMill started with my state welding art sculpture, which is also a snowflake.  That project started with my idea to make the tips of the snowflake, or icicles with stainless steel ball bearings around a brass casing on a brass plate.  A fellow welding student suggested I make it spin.  While I appreciated the grandeur of the idea, as a person who had just been introduced to metalwork, I felt I was already under enough pressure to learn how to braze the casing to the ¾” thick brass plate as well as learning how to create a metal sculpture for the first time.  It turned out beautiful! And it would be

neat if it could spin!

The windmills in my home state of West Virginia are another part of my inspiration .  We have a line of them all the way across the horizon! They are now part of my view on my commute to welding class; it has been fascinating watching them be built!

Another inspiration was Spirograph, the children’s game/toy.  When the patterns overlap, they create a new pattern.  I had a purpose to install 3 layers of dendrites to create a more elaborate impression once spinning. Clearly in my mind I could see two sets spinning while the third stands still creating different effect.  I also hope the movement will remind the viewer of snowfall.

I set out to learn how to make a metal snowflake that spins!  In addition to my vocational instructors, I am blessed to have many resources available to instruct metal work.  After inquiring more about the process & materials, the plan changed to use only steel.  Eliminating brass from the second project also eliminated the possibly that the entire project would fail when I attempted brazing the casing to the steel base.  It also made it much easier to find tubing sizes that fit together closely, as the brass piece I was able to find was a bit odd & small. 

I love love love the plasma cutter!  After studying photos of actual snowflakes, I had two possibilities intended for this project: much lacy & intricate detail on the icicles & each one to be hand cut, polished & unique.  As I noticed on the magnified photos of actual snowflakes, they are everyone unique & so is each of the six icicles, or dendrites.  So I cut the 18 dendrites individually, by hand, and intentionally created some differences. Then I ground off the slag, & improved cuts & holes with pneumatic tools, before adding facets & details with the intention of individuality.  The finished project has symmetry, just as a natural snowflake, and has a distinctive handmade feel as I’d hoped it would.

The best match of tubing sizes was still off approximately 1/16" which would essentially flop rather than spin. Immediately upon arriving to welding class that day I started asking how to resolve that. The best solution was to cut open the rings with a grinder & once we closed them around base tubing I welded them shut. I am very pleased with this because they welded shut beautifully on outside & the inside of the ring retained a smooth surface for spinning.

I also used the plasma cutter to create a bevel on top of foundation to balance base tubing.  Much grinding & polishing ensued at & outside of welding class.

Once the dendrites were cleaned up enough, I welded them onto rings using the Gas Metal Arc Welder.  At this point I'm saving the detail work for after the heat of welding. A temporary assembly looks like it will come together as planned!

I used the Shielded Metal Arc Welder to weld together foundation & base parts. Everything fit together, but it still was not permanently assembled, it must be one piece when complete.

Details details details X 6. And much polishing.  Overall it took much more time to make the dendrites than anything else, the assembly hardly took any time.

It is my very last welding class...every piece is clean polished detailed & loved. Now is the moment for the final assembly. I added another GMAW weld underneath the base tubing to push the back ring forward a tad. Then I added 3 somewhat symmetrical button welds around base tube to make sure it stays straight. Next the rings were added, in the correct order & fronts forward. The grand finale--four buttons welded around front edge of base tubing in the small space available without welding the ring to the tube!

At first it was bit disappointing. The back ring would hang on the new weld underneath & seize up, sometimes locking up all three rings. Upon closer examination I saw that two of the front buttons were oddly shaped & rubbing against front ring. It proved to be quite easy to grind them down & free up the entire set.

!!! Hooray !!! A Spinning SnowMill!