Since I have gotten into welding I have been thinking of making a statue and using it for my showcase. I wanted to make a statue both because I wanted to improve my skills in welding and to make art of something that meant a great deal to me. This statue was made during my first year of learning welding and it has taught me a lot in the field. The character it’s made to resemble is Sun Wukong, a main character of the book The Journey to the West.
I learned to make a skeletal base of the statue I needed to learn how to use the plasma cutter from the welding lab. Next, I received instruction on how to build out the body and how to complete MIG welding, which sped up that process that would have taken longer if it were done with Oxy-Fuel. Lastly, I learned how to use a grinder as well so I could smooth out pieces and edges.
The Journey to the West, the story Sun Wukong is most known from is a 16th century Chinese novel about the journey of enlightenment. The story involves major religions of the time like Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism which were also commonly practiced in Thailand where my grandmother was born. Sun Wukong has also had a major role in modern media by being the influence for the character Goku from Dragon Ball Z which helped me in finding the story of The Journey to the West and Sun Wukong.
I made this statue with welding partly because of my Grandpa who was a welder as well as it would make a statue that would last longer than other ways it could’ve been made.
One thing I would have done differently would be to plan out the entire structure before putting the skeletal base together. I rushed to put the pieces together when I got them which caused some mistakes in the process.
The one thing I’m most proud of in this showcase is being invited to put it into a state competition. The competition is yet to happen but I hope to rank highly.