Sparks occasionally flew from the metal as the laser engraved "Handcrafted by FHS Welding" in small letters at the bottom of the snowflake.

Flagstaff High School seniors Brennen Boudreaux and Chad Monongya, and their welding and metal shop teacher, Mike Rust, monitored the final phase of their project through a protective glass.

The project involved creating 42 metal snowflakes for the city of Flagstaff's Dew Downtown Flagstaff Arizona Urban Ski and Snowboard Festival. The Festival will take place Feb. 9 and 10 in downtown Flagstaff. The metal snowflakes will be used as award medallions for participants.

Rust said he is often approached with ideas for projects.

"This one we decided to do," he said. "It's a neat one for the community. We decided to help support that event."

The city supplied old street signs -- stop signs, yield signs, direction signs -- to FHS metal shop classes. Chad explained the signs had to be cut into smaller squares.

The laser then engraved the snowflake design onto the metal. Rust used a band saw to cut the snowflake design. He cut 20 at a time by taping metal plates together.

Each snowflake is nine inches high. Brennen and Chad drilled holes for the ribbon, worked with the laser and completed deburring (removed the rough edges) using the belt sander.

The young men laughed as they talked about the process.

"We have to make sure the product is good before sending it out," Chad said.

When asked about the difficulties they encountered they explained the band saw was difficult to operate and that is why Rust completed that part. The band saw blade moves slightly and it takes practice to cut in a straight line with the saw.

"You have to adjust for the movement in the blade," Brennen said.

The two students and teacher worked on the project during their welding class and sometimes after school to get the project done. They are now finishing up with engraving the FHS credit. They have been working on the project for about a month.

Both students plan to use what they learned in the welding class in their future careers. Chad wants to go into metal and welding work.

"It's a good career," Chad said. "I am working on Level I certification in this class."

He plans to attend Tulsa Welding School and obtain Level II certification.

Brennen is going into mechanical engineering with a background in welding.

"I thought it would be fun to use the creative aspect of welding," Brennen said. "I also thought it would be fun to build ideas I came up with."

For Rust, the project has been a lot of fun. He has a lot of faith in these two students.

"These are the straight-A students," he said. "Some of the best students I have."

And whoever receives these medallions will get a one-of-a-kind recycled art award created by local youth.

Cecile LeBlanc can be reached at 556-2261 or cleblanc@azdailysun.com.