All I can say is, it’s about time!

It’s about time somebody put up a statue in honor of the working women of WWII, and it’s high time I find out about it (it’s only been nearly a decade)!

Now, if we could just get some of the other states to follow suit…

Tinker statue commemorates working women

Journal Record, The (Oklahoma City)
Apr 3, 2000 by Bill May The Journal Record

When Elizabeth Ward decided to apply for a job at Tinker Air Force Base, it was no precedent-shattering event.

“I just walked in and got my job,” she said. “It was because of women like her, that it was that way.”

The “her” she referred to was Frankie Collier, 73, who went to work for the Douglas Aircraft Plant, now building 3001 at Tinker, the day she turned 18 in August 1944.

As an inspection clerk, Collier didn’t handle the wrenches, tools and rivet guns that gave the name “Rosie the Riveter” to a whole generation of women who took over defense manufacturing jobs to free a equal number of men to fight World War II.

“I worked there until the end of the war, then they just let us go,” she said. “There was nothing done about it, nothing said. They just told us to go home, the war was over.”

In the 55 ensuring years, Collier — like so many of her generation — got married, raised a family and continued with a teaching career.

One thing was missing, though. There was no memorial, no statue, nothing to commemorate the tough work these women tackled during the nation’s dark days.

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I’ve heard of method actors delving deeply into a part, but method welders?  Could be!  While Joseph Jilbert was welding his latest sculpture, a 16 foot tall crawfish, he ate and studied the crustacean for two weeks straight as preparation!

Boiled, fried or welded

By Jeff Moore • For the Daily World • January 3, 2010

When roving artist Joseph Jilbert landed in the Crawfish Capital of the World, he found an obvious subject for his larger-than-life sculptures.

Jilbert recently unveiled the product of that inspiration —
a 16-foot crawfish made of recycled scrap metal.

Dubbed Le Clarkii, for the crawfish’s scientific name, Procambrus Clarkii, the towering decapod is currently on display at Louisiana Purchases in Breaux Bridge.

Jilbert said the underbelly of the crawfish was made from old tractor parts, while the shell is made of parts from an old sugar-cane factory. The sculpture weighs in at a hefty 4,500 pounds.

“It’s more intense than any sculpture I’ve ever done,” said Jilbert, who ate and studied crawfish for two weeks straight while creating the sculpture. “I’ve gained a lot of respect for crawfish.”

Jilbert plans to eventually sell the crawfish and has several potential buyers lined up.

His next creation? A 45-foot version of the piece to be displayed at the Breaux Bridge exit of Interstate 10.

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Are you free the 20th or 21st of February?

Come join Jim Watson, aka Joe Welder, and Ron Covell of Covell Creative Metalworking at Hot Rods & Custom Stuff in Escondido, CA for Covell’s Beginning and Advanced Steel Workshops!

Ron is one of the preeminent fabricators in the custom automotive industry and has been a good friend to us here at Arc-Zone.com!

You can head over to our webstore to check out a few of his welding DVDs.

If you don’t live in Southern California or can’t make it on this particular weekend, you can head over to Ron’s website and check out a complete list of his workshops in the upcoming year.

Who knows – he just might be coming to your neck of the woods soon!

In college, if you major in English, you get to write a paper.  A drama major will act in a play.  And a welding major?

Well, he might just get to weld an elephant…

Sculpted elephant shows tradesman’s artistic flair

By Kristi O’Harran
Herald Columnist

The circus is coming to Camano Island.

Well, not the whole ring and tent, just a fanciful retired elephant.

James R. Shields III, who grew up on the island, fabricated the pachyderm at Everett Community College.

She’s a beauty — in metal.

“Elly started with a three-way, 4-inch pipe fitting that looked like the beginnings of a trunk, and grew into a partial head when the body showed up,” Shields said.

The body is a working air compressor tank from the 1940s that was bound for the college scrap pile.

From there, pipe fittings made the legs, thanks, Shields said, to Rick Brydges, who teaches pipefitting. Fittings were also welded to make the legs and trunk.

The spine and tail are fashioned from rebar.

“I got to use 350 pounds of scrap welding wire, and spent more than 200 hours, to make Elly,” he said. “She will be on display at Freedom Park at Terry’s Corner on Camano Island.”

Elly has bright eyes, tusks and a trumpeting trunk on a wrinkled body that truly looks like elephant hide.

Children can climb aboard when they go on safari.

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Did you know what you wanted to do for a career when you were a freshman in high school?  I didn’t!  I don’t really know anyone who did — isn’t that what college is for?

Lyndsi Tingle did.  She wanted to be a welder, and she and her teachers agree — she’s on the right track to succeed.

Frankfort Face: She makes sparks fly

By Katheran Wasson

Lyndsi Tingle wore men’s welding gloves for three years before she realized they made smaller pairs for women.

The 17-year-old Western Hills High School senior welds, cuts and bends metal alongside the boys at Franklin County Career and Technical Center.

She spends four hours a day in tan Carhartt overalls and a T-shirt, safety goggles propped on her blonde head.

“Most of the guys kind of look at me as mama,” she said, sitting in the workshop before winter break.

“If something needs to be done, they know that I’m going to be on them to do it.”

Lyndsi has known since freshman year that she wanted to make a career out of welding.

After graduation, she and five of her classmates will head to Tulsa Welding School in Jacksonville, Fla., to study the craft.

She hopes to eventually become an inspector, checking the welds on bridges, power plants and pipes to make sure they are secure.

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