Meet the Artists

 In 2006 Dad took over the plasma cam in his retirement to take the boredom out of his day, not realising the mountainous task he had set himself. With no knowledge of how a computer system works or what is involved with a computer he picked up the Plasma Cam manuals and sat at the monitor display. Combining his knowledge of welding and what he was learning from the Plasma Cam manuals, he was able to put theory to practice and cut a line, learning about penetration depths, speed control and trial & error he was able to cut an image out of a steel sheet. It wasn’t just all about the machinery, we had to learn how to clean the product, paint the product, how to create a production line.

All the while still learning what the plasma Cam could do, dealing with faults, how to fix them, how to avoid them, how to make it easier for ourselves.

We went from creating a very poor 2 dimensional image to creating an image with a 3 dimensional effect, by far this was the most awkward of tasks, with no skills of artistry and much trial and error we taught ourselves dimensional angles.

What part of the image needed to drop out to create a silhouette image was a test of time and endurance, working of a black screen with pink, white and green lines was in itself a task that required us to think outside of the box, we found that by working at the smallest of scale we could create an image that stood out, all it required was patience and tolerance.

In crafting our images we find that our limitations are only set by basic parameters, this being where you do not want lines to intersect, this dictates the scale of the image. Small image less detail, large image more detail.

The materials that we utilise are for an economical benefit, Aluminium is light weight and easy to work with, our clean-up time in contrast to using steel is quicker to clean up the edges. Also our freight charges are less than would be with steel. We use Zincalume steel instead of using Core-ten steel, its rather an easy process in removing the protective coating then creating a rustic patina to the image using a peroxide and vinegar wash to start the process. We also use 2nd hand saw-blades that we have sourced locally from timber mills, because these blades have been tempered to a hardness and when placed under a high temperature a tarnish of varying hues & colours remains after the image is cooled.