Metal was fascinating to me long before my first encounter with a torch.   I appreciate art, but didn't know I was an artist myself until one day I spotted a refrigerator compressor that someone had set on the curb for the garbage.  Within that discarded compressor, I was able to see a turtle.  I just needed to cut it in half and add a head, a tail, and some feet to it.  That's exactly what I did, creating the missing body parts from pieces of scrap that were laying around the shop in my welding class.  I gave the resulting turtle to my mom for Mother’s Day.  She loved it and I've been re-purposing ever since.
I find great pleasure in finding beauty within something that has been cast aside by the original owner.  Rather than just shaping metal into whatever form I am trying to achieve, I prefer to find the shapes within multiple existing objects. It's fun for people to identify the component items in the finished product.  I’m always hunting for materials at thrift stores, flea markets, salvage yards and things people bring to me.  I use an angle grinder, torches, and saws in the process of extracting the shapes I’m looking for.  I use a welder to assemble the combination of items into their new form.  My creations come to life in a maker space called Sector 67.  The people there often lend a helping hand in encouragement, opinions, friendship, and physical assistance.