IIW welded art exhibition, 2021

DIMO ATANASOV (Bulgaria)

Dimo Atanasov is a skillful 26 years old Bulgarian welder with great imagination. He started his welding career six years ago in the "PMU" AD – Bourgas center for welding education where he obtained his welding qualifications in the following processes 111, 131 and 141 according to EN ISO 9606. As a welder he has been involved in many industrial projects in Bulgaria on sites such as LUKOIL Neftohim Burgas AD for the erection of a tank farm in the Sale and Supply Base, Plovdiv, the expansion of Oil base "Rosenets" and commissioning of the tank farm 4x 10 000m3 to secure fuel storage. He has also worked in Cofeli Fabricom on the installation of piping in a factory in the town of ArcelorMittal, Liege, Belgium.

As an apprentice, he also started to develop his creative side of welding and what greatly impresses people with his art work is that he finds beauty in almost all types of steel, whether carbon steel, stainless steel, any waste metal material or scrap. Dimo is also a great automobile fan and has put his welding skills into creating favourite symbols of his loved BMW car.

Contact info Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/100001589642466/

Exhibit “A BULGARIAN ROSE” In Dimo’s own words, he has made many real flower exhibits to honour all the wonderful ladies in his life. Roses are his favourite and he takes great pride in assembling the leaves and even the thorns. It is not that surprising that his garden is full of little art marvels. For the construction of the rose, Dimo started with the plasma cutting, then bending and finishing to the desired appearance including painting with primer and colour painting. The stem is made of smooth small diameter reinforcement bar and with the Metal Active Gas (MAG) welding torch he made spot welds to become like buds. The stem is slightly twisted to get some shape, rather than straight. The rose’s leaves are also cut by the plasma then scratches are made with a grinder to give a textured appearance and in some places little chamfers are created with the drill. The leaves are then bent and welded to the stem with the help of an oxy acetylene torch that produces different heating input, thus inducing different coloration in the final art piece. Dimo welds a nut at one end of the stem and the rose's colourful petals are connected to the stem with a bolt. At the end, everything is sprayed with clear gloss. Dimensions 40 cm tall x 20 cm wide

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