The Making of Melody

This is my first large scale public metal art Project. Literal blood, sweat, and tears went into this project. The sweat is easy to account for. The blood, a couple small accidents, nothing to tell mom about. The tears, those are a little harder to express. I know one was a moment of ‘I’m doing it!” The others were the calls of my dad, whom I lost long ago. I wouldn’t say that I’m trying to get his approval, but I will admit he admired metal art, and it is part of the reason we end up here. Although only part of this project is recycled and painting was a new skill I took on, this project let me get some essential tools and rewire my garage so I no longer had to deal with continuously popping my breakers. I now have a plasma cutter, a air compressor, a 220 welder, and a cutting torch. I am so exited to have all the tools to make my skillset shine. This project started with a random thought, turned designed, then the cutting started. First paper, then cardboard, then steel. I was able to use some recycled steel, with building the body of the butterfly I continued to use recycled pieces in using retired fire extinguishers. In the paint I sat down learned the basics of spraying a car from youtube bought the equipment, high end primer, and clearcoat. Then I crossed my fingers and prayed to God. It turned out great. Melody is located in Graton ND.