Sarah Beals spends her days cleaning teeth and beautifying smiles as a dental hygienist. In her free time, however, she creates commissioned artwork made from scrap and sheet metal. The talented Santaquin resident makes one-of-a-kind metal artwork for customers all over Utah.
Beals took a welding class as a sophomore in high school. While this is the most “official” training she’s had, it hasn’t stopped her from creating impressive custom metal artwork and commissioned pieces that attract buyers from all over Utah. Beals also occasionally sends pieces to buyers in other states, as well. However, shipping metal can be quite expensive, so she tends to only ship small- and medium-sized pieces out-of-state.
After working as a dental hygienist for 14 years, Beals realized that she needed to earn a little extra cash. She decided to get back into welding even though she hadn’t touched a welder since 2003. She started making small trinkets like spoon- and fork-people made from scrap metal. Over time, she graduated to medium-sized projects like horse and elk heads. A couple of years ago, she started delving into some really large items like oversized antlers and full-sized people.
Beals’ first large project was a commissioned statue of Teddy Roosevelt. She explained that it can take a couple of months for her to make big pieces because she still works three days per week as a dental hygienist. That leaves her three days per week to work in her welding shop. She hopes to one day be able to pursue metalworking full-time.
Beals explained that she works with both scrap and sheet metal, depending on the project. The scrap metal for horse heads and similar projects comes primarily from junkyards. Beals goes to the junkyards and buys transmissions and other things, then pulls them apart to use in her metal pieces. Beals also said local people who follow her Instagram page will sometimes tell her when they have junk metal. They’ll ask her if she wants to buy it before they take it to a junkyard.
For her smoother pieces like elk horns and people, Beals buys sheet metal from Intermountain Steel in Nephi. She then plasma-cuts it down by hand to the sizes that she wants. No two pieces are exactly the same, which adds to the appeal of Beals’ work.
When someone wants a commissioned piece, Beals will often meet with them in person to talk about the details. She explained that she’ll usually ask what size they want, what kind of material they want to use, and if they will be providing their own metal or having her source it for the project. Sometimes, people will bring her a computer-generated or hand-drawn depiction of what they want. From there, she goes to work bringing each client’s vision to life.
In addition to creating unique metal artwork, Beals also makes business and personal signs. She can also take a photo of a person’s face and turn it into a metal cutout.
Anyone interested in placing a custom order with Beals can do so on her website (ironmaden1.com. She also welcomes visitors to view more of her projects or reach out to her with questions on Facebook or Instagram (@ironmaden1).
