Dancing around the topic of welding

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I don't know what I was thinking when I signed up for that welding class. Now I wonder if I really need to learn to weld in order to build bigger, stronger armatures for my sculptures. They do need to be welded...

I light the torch and the acetylene flame bursts forth. Adjust it until the red and orange and yellow feathers dance like a bird in a wind storm. Add a touch of oxygen and I create a glowing blue fountain pen at the tip of the torch and I craft a line of puddles in the steel plate. 

My thumb aches.

I tremble.

I wish this torch had an auto-off feature when I invariable drop it. 

After burning holes through the steel, creating swaths of iridized blue, I keep practicing. 

I will learn something in this class, if only which of my classmates will be willing to weld my joints together in the future.