Welding

This weekend I took an 8 hour ornamental welding class with Mimi Riley. It was really fun! I'm amazed at how (relatively) simple it is. It would be expensive to get set up and do at home, but maybe someday!

I had several ideas of projects I wanted to make in the class, but I didn't end up having enough time to finish the one I chose. I decided to make a table top music stand that could also double as a cookbook stand. Here's all I ended up doing, and a Paint Shop Pro sketch of what I intended to do.
I play banjo and flute, thus the two instruments. The little song snippet is Give me the roses while I live:

Wonderful things of folks are said when they have passed away
Roses adorn the narrow bed over the sleeping clay

    Give me the roses while I live trying to cheer me on
    Useless are flowers that you give after the soul is gone

Let us not wait to do good deeds till they have passed away
Now is the time to sow good seeds while here on earth we stay

Kind words are useless when folks lie cold in a narrow bed
Don't wait till death to speak kind words, now should the words be said
-- traditional

I think I'll go ahead and buy some metal rods and bits to saw and bend the remainder of my shapes, and then rent a welder to finish the job some weekend. It looks like I could rent the welder for about $35, but then I'd need wire, a helmet, a work surface ...