Stick-welding, a non-technical but none-the-less accurate and definitely personal explanation for non-welders: Stick-welding, also know as arc-welding or SMAW, is classically used for heavy structural work. It is done with a big clunky–looking and buzzing painted metallic machine with knobs, dials and levers, which looks like a magician box out of a century-old circus. Or maybe an early Japanese giant cubic robot-crab. Out of this box come two cables that close the electric circuit, each ending in a powerful claw. One claw clamps onto the piece (or onto the metal table the work rests on), the other holds the welding stick, the part you hold and drag along the weld in a sputtering of smoke, intense light (the electric arc), noise and smell, with occasional crackling and exploding. You replace the welding sticks (rods) as they melt and disappear into the weld like glue sticks in a glue gun. It is exciting and makes me laugh, and I love the smell. I am not afraid of getting dirty (a good thing!). Stick-welding is fast, unlike torch “oxy fuel” welding used with thinner steel, which to me is tedious and, although hypnotic, somewhat boring. Stick-welding makes visible, fat seams (and blobs) that esthetically delight me, unlike the clean, more precise and versatile welds of the newer, more sophisticated MIG (wire-fed) welders. The welds are an important visual part of my sculptures.