On the metal art, some of the materials are expensive but if you use what you have around already it's pretty neat. One of my favorite pieces was cut out of the side of a 50 gall. drum I had laying around. You can also pick up lamp kits that you use to make the incubators with at Wal Mart for less than 10 bucks. Cut out a nifty metal shade and sell it for $75 depending on the work. A welder can do so much more than connect metal pieces together and no you don't need a fancy plasma cutter or computer operated machine.