I’ve wanted to learn how to weld since last summer, but didn’t know how to get started. After some searching, I found Women Who Weld. Nine women from around the country met in Brooklyn last month for a week-long intensive workshop.

To be surrounded by women following their curiosities - magic.

Sparks flew, heart afire.

I wanted to see if I could learn how to miter edges to form a hexagon wood frame. But then curiosity kicked in and asked what if the hexagon was 3D…?

@MatthiasWandel

Now to translate this to the table saw.

Really proud to see the mitered angles were actually meeting up, but realized the finished piece would stick out too far from the wall if I continued. So I went back and adjusted the angles and began again.

Aligning the edges and taping the 6 panels to get ready for glue.

The pieces raised into place, the next step - harder than miter sawing wood - is having to wait 24 hours for the glue to dry.

I found myself wanting to skip steps and go up to the finer grit sandpaper right away. Instead, I had to make my way through the levels. Coarse, medium, fine, very fine and eventually superfine. There’s a metaphor for me here.

sandpaper.com

The exterior of the hexagon sanded, painted and complete, I began painting the interior along with a backplate for the work.

The whole time I kept reminding myself I’d hardly be able to see all this work in the finished piece. It didn’t seem to matter though. I decided to take my time with each color, with each set of fine lines. That these vibrant sections existed underneath, inside - even though ultimately they’d barely be visible from the outside - became the whole point.