Ben Schade says there’s nothing like spending hours meticulously crafting a piece of artwork — and then beating it with a hammer.

“It’s very therapeutic,” said Schade.

Schade, a metal sculptor, spent Sunday afternoon teaching a class how to make sheet metal art at the DIY Cave in east Bend, a workshop for local artists and do-it-yourselfers alike. Part of the process to transform sheets of steel into works of art is banging on them with a hammer to give them texture, he said.

Schade teaches the sheet metal classes at the studio about once a month. Other classes within the next few weeks will include welding, jewelry making and woodworking. They cost between $30 and $70.

During Sunday’s class, the studio smelled like burning metal while Schade instructed a mother and son on how to melt through steel with a torch. Schade, who paralyzed his left arm in a motorcycle crash, has taught himself how to jerry-rig equipment to build metal sculptures with one hand, he said.

“You can recycle any piece of metal and burn it down,” Schade explained, adding that he’s made artwork out of car hoods before.

Schade coached his students to steady their shaky hands while they attempted to cut a straight line with a torch. The mother and son — Colleen and Macky Franks — had come prepared with large sheets of galvanized steel that they planned to turn into Christmas presents.

“Does this look like a dog?” Macky Franks asked while holding up his piece of work.

The pair was working to create wall hangings and lawn ornaments to decorate the grounds of Colleen Franks’ hobby farm, which is home to animals ranging from alpacas to chickens.

The two were shaping metal to resemble dogs, a steer and a rooster. Once finished, Colleen Franks said, she planned to use the art pieces to decorate areas of the farm where the animals live.

“We’re sneaking this one as a Christmas present for the coop,” Franks said.

— Reporter: 541-633-2160, mriker@bendbulletin.com