This is a little background about me and how I got started in welding.
I grew up in a little town in rural mid-Michigan. My dad is a sculptor and exhibits designer and has always had a lot of projects going. He used to take me with him to his job sites and workshop. I would want to do what he was doing and some of my earliest memories are of being given a pile of cut up boards of insulating foam, a box of nails and a hammer. The foam was soft enough that I could pound nails through it and I would ask for pieces as needed for my projects. I moved on to using a flat head screwdriver as a chisel to pound out simple designs in the pieces of scrap wood that came in the flower boxes my uncle delivered. These sorts of projects and others were my introduction to hand skills. I don't remember when he switched me over to power tools and real materials, but I was fairly young.
Ever since then I've always been making something. I've always liked studios and shops and tools and materials. I get a little thrill out of new tools and have bought ones I don't know the function of simply because I liked the look of them. I like seeing racks of steel stock and smelling the oil and rust. I'm a sucker for big unwieldy pieces of metal or wood or big bags of wool or bolts of cloth waiting to be turned into something. I love the transformation and I love learning new skills.
All this led me into art school. I had a few jobs that taught me new skills over my college years (I say that as thought they're over- ha!) and my sculpture practice centered on my metalworking and seamstress skills along with a lot of mixed-media ideas. I finally graduated with a Bachelors in Fine Arts from Grand Valley State University and was diverted from my do-or-die working artist path by falling in love. Falling in love by itself isn't a huge game-changer except that in this case I fell in love with a guy who had two children attending school in this area. So I stayed. That in itself is a whole different storyline, but the short version is that plans changed.
My boyfriend was working as a welder around the time we began dating, and the money was pretty dang good since he was (at the time) traveling for work. I had a little exposure to welding through the art program and really enjoyed metal work in general. We discovered a grant program that helped people get extra training to make them more employable in their field- or hopeful field. I wanted to do the welding program at Grand Rapids Community College- had thought about it for a while- and this was my chance. When actually faced with a semester of classes on top of work, I hesitated, but the boyfriend talked me into it.
I went into it clearly stating that I did not want to work in industrial welding- this was part of my artistic skills development and would look great next to my bachelors degree in sculpture. I worked at jobs that were interesting, with people I admired at tasks I believed in. But the thing about these sorts of jobs is that they don't always pay a lot. One of my professors got word of a shop hiring welders to do aluminum TIG, suggested I apply, and put in a good word for me. And here I am.
I have been with my company about six months now and don't have much to complain about. It's the cleanest metals shop I've ever been in and they take organization and safety very seriously. The work isn't always super exciting, but I'm about 800% better at aluminum TIG than I as six months ago.
I think that brings the story up to speed. Hopefully this provides background for where I'm coming from when I share my stories, but feel free to ask if anything needs fleshing out.
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