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Introduction to Metal Arts

Metalworking is a term that applies to everything from industrial projects to the most precise flourishes on a piece of metal art. The range of tools and techniques and their corresponding metals is vast and its beginnings predate recorded history. Steel and bronze are popular with metal artists however, gold is the only metal that arrives in nature whole unto itself. All other metals must be extracted by smelting an ore with heat or other arduous processes. Finally, it stands alone, ready to be made into something new. Metalworking processes usually fall under the umbrella actions of forming, cutting, and joining the metal. There are so many types of metals to work with and techniques to apply that metalworkers can define their style in a variety of ways. Some metalworkers use lost wax casting to form small organic materials into metal jewelry. Others employ a new direct-metal printing method. Still others choose to cut steel, and that's just the short list. One particular artist who makes large metal oragami sculptures first sketches a model on paper and then marks the metal where it will be cut into pieces. The pieces of metal are heated with a blow torch then shaped with a hammer against an anvil. After cutting, she forces the pieces together with oxyacetaline welding--just one of a variety of options. This is called "welding": heating a metal rod to another piece of metal so that they fuse together and form a permanent bond. Finally, she takes the pieces to be professionally galvanized. They are purified and dipped in zinc, the chemical reaction coating the metal and making it noncorosive. A metal sculpture can be a commanding thing and can present a heavy, imposing image. Yet many artisans choose to shape soft curves into the solid metal, sometimes worked so delicately that then can recreate the texture of cloth or the contours of a human face.

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