Kansas City fabricator's first metal sculpture a giant success

Jay Lockett, owner of Jay Fabwerks LLC, Kansas City, Mo., stands next to his creation Silica Rose, which currently is on display in downtown Lee’s Summit., Mo. Images: Jay Lockett

Jeremy “Jay” Lockett of Kansas City, Mo., will be the first one to tell you that everything welding-related that he’s done in his career has been a little out of order.

Instead of carefully and methodically working his way through welding theory, terminology, and then hands-on application inside the safe confines of a classroom and welding lab, the 29-year-old jumped into it headfirst with gas tungsten arc welding (GTAW) or TIG. He’s never looked back.

Today, the fab shop owner has entered the world of metal art with the installation of his first public art sculpture, opening the door to a new world of possibilities.

Jumping In With TIG

By his estimation, Lockett ran before he could crawl.

“I did all the hard stuff first. I started first with TIG, which is an art form in the sense that it’s very precise and you have to have a steady hand and good hand-eye coordination,” Lockett explained.

From there he was introduced to gas metal arc welding (GMAW), which seemed a lot less complex than TIG initially, until he started playing with different weld orientations and parameters. After that came shielded metal arc welding (SMAW), which helped him start his mobile welding business. Lockett earned a structural 4G certification, which came in handy on construction sites and a variety of other jobs.

“I kept at it and continued to get better and more proficient. Word started getting out about what I could do, and people started finding me to do work for them. I got to the point where I decided to open my own business.”

Lockett opened Jay Fabwerks LLC in Kansas City in 2015, where he specializes in TIG welding aluminum in mostly automotive applications like intercoolers, turbo kits, and special exhausts. He also prides himself on being able to accommodate specialty projects and materials, like titanium.

The metal art came about a little by accident.

“At the time I worked at a company that made really fancy showers and bathtubs for dogs, so we worked with a lot of stainless and brushed stainless. I saw a bunch of scrap parts from this machine, and I got the idea of making a metal flower from the scrap.

He then TIG welded the rest of the rose. He used silica bronze on the outside of the rose and then polished it to give it the rose gold color.

I was in a relationship at the time, so I made her a metal rose. The relationship didn’t last, but when I posted a photo of the flower on Facebook, a lot of people reached out to me wanting one,” Lockett said.

He began making the metal roses more regularly and then figured out a way to make them in larger quantities and add color. Today he makes his roses in mild steel, stainless steel, and titanium.

“I’ve even made $250,000 titanium roses with diamonds in the base of it.”

The Making of Silica Rose

Lockett is always in search of a challenge, so the smaller metal flowers piqued his interest in building one on a much larger scale. “I wanted to build something that my daughter and her future children can go see and know that Dad or Grandpa made it. I want something that they can see and associate with our family.”

Lockett constructed the rose completely of mild steel, and the base is two sheets of 1/8-in. mild steel cut into 5-ft.-dia. circles. He then got a flat bar that was 12 in. wide and ¼ in. thick and had it rolled into a 5-ft. circle for the sculpture’s base. Lockett used MIG to weld the base where the rose’s stem would slide in. He welded ¼-in. angle iron into a triangle to brace the stem.

Lockett then TIG welded the rest of the rose. He used silica bronze on the outside of the rose and then polished it to give it the rose gold color.

“Once I got the cups sealed, I welded it all up and filled [the base] with concrete. If my calculations are correct, it weighed somewhere between 6,800 to 7,600 lbs. once the concrete set. I had what looked like a big hockey puck.”

After completing the base, he began constructing and assembling the rose itself. He used Sch. 40 carbon steel pipe for the stem, added a bevel, and TIG welded the root. He then added a 7018 SMAW hot pass, ground it down, and then TIG welded silica bronze on all of the stem’s joints so that it was structurally sound but aesthetically pleasing.

“The rose’s leaves are 4-ft. by 4-ft., 1/8-in.-thick sheet rolled with a massive roller to achieve the same curvature of the miniature roses. Each sheet probably weighed about 100 lbs.,” Lockett explained.

The finished product, named Silica Rose, is now a part of the sculpture walk in downtown Lee’s Summit, Mo., located just south of Kansas City. This won’t be Lockett’s last large-scale metal art sculpture – this experience has sparked new ideas for future projects.

“Moving forward I’d really like to try to integrate technology into the sculptures, so they have utility in addition to being nice to look at. I’d like to try and make something that has a wireless charging base or is a Wi-Fi hotspot that boosts the signal for a lower-income communities. Or maybe it’s something as simple as a sculpture that serves as a wireless charging station for devices at an airport.”

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