“I have a BS in marine biology from UNCW,” he says. “I learned to scuba dive and I got my captain’s license.” Taylor and his business partner had two boats accommodating 30 divers at a time. “It wasn’t a big jump to come in here to learn to do another 50 things,” Taylor says. After selling his half of the scuba shop, he learned to weld while fabricating a sand rail dune buggy before venturing into the world of art and interior design. “He’s basically a self-taught welder,” Rebecca Taylor says. “People use that term very liberally,” Roy Taylor says. “I didn’t learn every single thing that I know from picking it out of my brain. I read and I talked to people, and I learned from people and they learned from me. But I guess as far as anybody else goes I’m as self taught as they come.” The original owner of the R Mended Metals warehouse, also a friend, asked Taylor to make a sea turtle followed by a seahorse. The complicated plasma-cutting program was a trial and error process. “By the time I finished the seahorse I could draw at will in the program,” Taylor says. After the designs are digitized, R Mended artisans select a template from Taylor’s program and set the dimensions for the final result before the shape is put on the plasma table that cuts through sheets of steel and copper at more than 2,700 degrees Fahrenheit. During the finish-ing process, cut metal is wet sanded for hours, buffed and sand blasted for a smooth finish. One sculpture may hold more than four textures. Near the end of the process, the stone bit — a type of stylus — is used to color in the sculp-ture’s fine lines. Lastly, driftwood is selected specifically for the delicate mounting process. “The cool thing is that people come in with their own ideas and we get to be involved in the creative process and see it from start to fruition,” Rebecca Taylor says. “That part is very rewarding and it keeps our skills on point and keeps everything interesting.” It’s a dream job for everyone involved in the process and it takes the effort of the entire staff to create the shimmering trophies before they’re ready to be sent out into the world. “You come in and it’s not the same job every day,” says Jon Lewis, an R Mended artisan. “Being able to change pace, you don’t have to be stuck on one thing very long. We enjoy what we do and take pride in it. We’re tired at the end of the day, for sure.” engaged rigorous academics learning VALUES exploration individualized teaching 14 WBM august 2014 From top: Each stainless steel baitfish will be mounted to a base via a thin rod welded on the back. Jon Lewis cuts a piece of copper on the plasma table to be used in the angelfish and seaweed design on opposite page. Schedule a tour today! • 18 mos – 8th grade 910.791.8221 | www.fsow.org 1/12 page 2x2.28
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