Perfect day for a bit of welding ...

This time every year the Surrey Artists' Open Studios event takes place, and for a couple of weeks artists open up their studios to the public; creating fabulous opportunites to meet and talk with all kinds of artists.

Some also offer workshops, so at the weekend, I joined some friends at a metal workshop run by Alison Catchlove, to make a metal flower.

The workshop was held at an open studio in Esher, which also showcased 7 other artists.

We worked in the very pretty garden area.










None of us has used any kind of welding equipment before, let alone cut, file,  and hammer bits of metal! We used mild steel, apparently quite a difficult metal to weld, so after the safety stuff we all had a practice at welding - I found it quite difficult not to create holes!

Then on to designing, cutting, shaping, and texturising our flower pieces, before welding it all together.

The results of all our efforts!

I love the colour change that can be achieved by the heating process.









Fabulous fun, and now I understand the processes, this is something I would do again.

I've put my flower in a bud vase - not bad for a first attempt!

Whilst at the open studio I signed up for a drawing workshop ...

Happiness is learning something new!