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Description
This is my sculpture from our metal arts show/installation at our college library titled " How arc you? I'm Doin' Weld!"

This piece earned a place in the local newspaper during the 2008-09 semester.

It's composed of steel scraps, some welded and others epoxied especially on the circuit boards. The body was assembled first, using a combination of Oxyactelyne and Arc welding. The face was hand forged by heating the steel and bending it while it was hot using Oxyactylene, then the mesh and steel nuts were arc welded into place.

The shovel body was difficult as the cast iron bearing had to be arc welded, though the arc was running hot and eating into the metal. Once the arm was welded on, I used Oxyacetylene to weld in permanently in place.

I then wired the body using intercom cables, phenolic prototyping boards, capacitors, resistors and L.E.D.'s (Light Emitting Diodes). Various knobs and metal scraps were adhered by epoxy to the boards. Then using an gas welder torch, I exposed the wires and boards to unadjusted flame, creating the illusion of a short circuit. Unfortantely, because of the camera flash you cannot see the L.E.D.'s in the head and the face on. They are hard wired to a battery which was strategically hidden.

The illusion worked so well that one observer pulled the sculpture from the wall to see how it was operating. I was surprised when they realized it wasn't wired to anything. The hook (not shown) was hand forged from the same steel as the face and latered drilled to attach to the wall and supports this 30 odd pound sculpture's weight.

Description
This is my sculpture from our metal arts show/installation at our college library titled " How arc you? I'm Doin' Weld!"

This piece earned a place in the local newspaper during the 2008-09 semester.

It's composed of steel scraps, some welded and others epoxied especially on the circuit boards. The body was assembled first, using a combination of Oxyactelyne and Arc welding. The face was hand forged by heating the steel and bending it while it was hot using Oxyactylene, then the mesh and steel nuts were arc welded into place.

The shovel body was difficult as the cast iron bearing had to be arc welded, though the arc was running hot and eating into the metal. Once the arm was welded on, I used Oxyacetylene to weld in permanently in place.

I then wired the body using intercom cables, phenolic prototyping boards, capacitors, resistors and L.E.D.'s (Light Emitting Diodes). Various knobs and metal scraps were adhered by epoxy to the boards. Then using an gas welder torch, I exposed the wires and boards to unadjusted flame, creating the illusion of a short circuit. Unfortantely, because of the camera flash you cannot see the L.E.D.'s in the head and the face on. They are hard wired to a battery which was strategically hidden.

The illusion worked so well that one observer pulled the sculpture from the wall to see how it was operating. I was surprised when they realized it wasn't wired to anything. The hook (not shown) was hand forged from the same steel as the face and latered drilled to attach to the wall and supports this 30 odd pound sculpture's weight.