Woman welder builds her metal masterpieces one piece at a time

By Valerie Cranston

Current-Argus Staff Writer

CARLSBAD--Debbie Rottman works with metal. She cuts and twists, heats and bends, welds and paints. Next thing you know she's created another artistic wonder.

Rottman, artistic welder and owner of Broken Spokes, began her business by making jewelry and belt beadwork that she sold while living in Wyoming.

"The problem with beadwork is that no one wants to pay for your time to make it, "she said.

After moving back to Carlsbad, her evolved into western themed metal designs that she sells locally at the Mercantile, at craft shows or through special orders off the Internet.

Her Web site experience is also getting fairly extensive. Rottman designed her own Web sites--17 to be exact--to promote her authentic western gift and decor business on the Internet.

Why so many? Once on was finished, a better idea would come along and off she'd go to design another site.

"Instead of paying someone $30 an hour, I taught myself to do it in three month," Rottman said with a smile. "I'd finish one and get another idea and somehow ended up with 17 sites."

That hard work is beginning too pay off.

"I'm getting some real positive feedback from other businesses on the Internet," she said. "It been a great addition to my business."

Rottman keeps her interest alive in her work by paying close attention to both her metal welding skills and her customers. Once a month she randomly picks five names of those who have dropped her an e-mail and registered for her drawings. She then builds something on a small scale to send them.

Rottman's husband, Dave is also a welder. He gave her a quick refresher course in the art of welding metal to metal and off she went. "I've surprised alot of people," she said. "And most ask if the work is my husband's."

To make her metal creations, she begins with a drawing that's traced onto plate metal. She then uses a plasma torch to cut out the pattern. Once it's cut, she cleans it well with a grinder and then wire welds it together. To complete a piece, she cleans it once more to remove any slag and uses a rust-inhibitor paint for a finish.

The majority of Rottman's work is painted black to look like a silhouette. However, she has been known to spice up pieces like several red and green trophies she recently made for the annual chili cook-off.

"I try to make things that are functional," Rottman said. "Like lamps, clocks, wall sconces, key racks, book ends and towel racks."

Rottman is confident that whatever a customer would want, she can make it in her shop that her husband is currently building for her. The shop is being built piece by piece as Dave drags home no longer needed materials from the remodeling at her parents' Circle S Feed Store.

"I'm a redneck, I admit it," she said with a smile. "And my shop may be primitive, but it's getting there."

Although she runs an unusual business for a woman, Rottman keeps her job and her family balanced. Working at home suits her because she can stop working and go to school programs with her children.

"I'm working, and I'm at home," she said. "I'm not qualified for much other than bartending, driving tractors and riding horses because I didn't take any business courses in school. I was taking crafts, shop and FFA where I learned the basics in welding. So I figured I'd do what I'm qualified to do---welding."

Those skills are paying off for her, and she continues to learn more as life warrants. Those skills and opportunities can make life a little more interesting than normal.

"Sometimes, I feel like I'm married to Fred Sanford or listening to that Johnny Cash song, 'One Piece at a Time.' "

Photos by Alfred Hernandez

Current-Argus Staff Photographer