Working With Metal...

 

For the last two days, which are usually my days off...I have had the pleasure of working with some good friends at their Metal Fabricating Shop.

And by working I mean I've been introduced to metal cutting machines, shocking metal (which is a process of almost instant rusting large sheets of metal) getting to know the lay of the land, filling orders, packing boxes, making jewelry, being creative, and generally getting down and dirty.

Working with metal can be a dirty job...but only in the best of ways.

My friends Kari and Jay own Universal Iron Works here up in the Northland of Arizona and it is awesome!

They supply metal to a whole lot of people in the world, including Snap Snap.  They can do anything you want, which I kind of already knew...but after having the pleasure of stepping into their world for the last couple of days, I have a whole new appreciation for their entire operation.

This is a true Made in America company where everyone rolls up their sleeves and dives in...and while it is a lot of fun and a well oiled machine, I am finding myself a bit exhausted from running around...but in a great way for sure.

Everyone is super creative and highly skilled at what they do at the shop mixed up with the whole element of being laid back and having fun...truly enjoying all their work.

Plus?  There's about a million and one things to do, and that work changes from moment to moment...which means that there's never a dull minute of the day and there's something exciting going on around every corner.

Lucky for me, I've been invited to join in the operation and will be heading out at least one day a week to lend a hand wherever they need it...

Though I'm not sure I'll be welding.

Or branding...

I'll be leaving that to Jay and his helper thankyouverymuch...welding and branding is hot work and looks a little more firey and scary to me than I'm use to.  I mean, I hardly ever use fire in my line of work, what with clothes being so flammable and whatnot.

And as an added bonus, I get to help create new ideas (which is almost too easy, because we're working and throwing out new designs to each other all day) and also grab exciting metal goodies to put in Snap Snap...like a whole slew of new jewelry I helped design, or rather glue.  Which was kind of a hysterical mess at some point seeing as I started gluing my thumb to things and then to itself and at one point glued a pair of needle nose pliers to my person as well.

Sigh.

At least I'm good comic relief.

It's almost too enjoyable when I'm there to call it work...maybe it's just because it's a wonderful change of pace from what I do in my regular working day, which adds just the right amount of the inspiration I crave...