Three companies in the Manchester area have joined together to try and solve their lack of welder’s problem.

Bradco, McMillen and The Major in Delhi, Henderson Manufacturing and X-L Trailers in Manchester have all formed a reimbursement program for potential welding employees.

According to the companies, and Lori Scovel of Northeast Iowa Community College’s (NICC) Delaware County Center, the companies will hire someone with little or no welding experience and enroll them in a welding class taught by NICC instructor Seth Harms.

“In the area right now, welding is in high demand,” said Harms, who is also West Delaware High School’s instructor for welding.

Within the reimbursement program, employees will have to be at the company for a certain amount of time in order to get reimbursed the $795 cost of the class.

“We want people to contact the companies because the companies will hire the people and get them into the class,” said Scovel.

There has been other welding classes held through NICC but the last one was canceled due to lack of enrollment.

“I can’t stress enough how important welding is around here,” said Harms. “I think anyone who has ever had any interest in welding should try it.”

The class will be held at night, Monday through Wednesday from 5 to 9 p.m.

“I’ll try my best to make them the best welder I can,” said Harms.

For more information on the welding class or the three companies reimbursement programs contact Bradco, McMillen and The Major at 563-922-2981, Henderson Manufacturing at 563-927-2828 or X-L Trailers at 563-927-4884.

Looking for a unique Christmas gift for your loved one or just something unique for your home? Look no further than Lila’s Frame Studio and her recent addition of artwork done by local artists.

“The prices vary based on the artist and the time the artist put into the product,” said Lila Deutmeyer, owner of Lila’s Frame Studio. The store offers watercolor and acrylic paintings, pottery, woodturning, nature photography, bracelets, flower arrangements and purses. “It’s a great start, this gives us 10 people.”

Brad Davis, owner of the Manchester Pizza Ranch, makes bowls and other items out of wood.

“I’ve been doing it for about two or three year,” said Davis. “But I’ve always worked with wood.”

Davis looks for wood, according to Deutmeyer, that has imperfections in them. For example, a logger may toss aside a piece of wood that has several knots in them.

“We go to tree dumps and just look for discarded wood,” said Davis. “We know what to look for.”

Other artists, like Jackie Coates and Joan Cimaglia, know what their looking for when looking at different landscapes or animals.

Coates, the general manager at KMCH in Manchester, spends her time painting landscapes and decorating ornaments. Some of her items on sale in Lila’s Frame Studio include ornaments and decorative boxes.

Cimaglia, of Cedar Rapids, sometimes goes off photographs she has taken for her landscape and nature paintings.

“I’ve done animals and nature,” she said, “and I sometimes work outside but now it’s cold out or a shadow moves so I mostly use photographs.”

Cimaglia paints in a lower level room in her home and for her it’s therapy.

“When I paint I don’t think about anything else,” she said.

Coates enjoys working her home studios, she has one in her Manchester home and one in her Lansing home, and perfecting her watercolor techniques and painting landscape scenes. She taught herself to paint as a young girl and uses several techniques from her favorite artists.

“My sincerest hope is that you will find as much enjoyment viewing my art as I had in creating it,” said Coates. A portion of Coates’ art sales will go to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tenn.

And it’s not about the money for Davis either. “It’s a hobby,” he said, “and there are other (wood) turners in town that do a great job.”

Davis does take requests but he said it takes a while for the piece to get done. First of all, he has to cut the wood out then cut it into a shape.

“You don’t have to go with patterns,” said Davis. “I usually start with a basic shape in mind.”

After the piece is done, he seals it and it takes a while for it dry. From start to finish, Davis could have put in around eight hours on one product.

Over the next few months Lila could be looking for more local artists to showcase in her store.

“I’ve always had different people mention it to me and the idea has always been in the back of my mind,” said Deutmeyer. And so far, she believes her store and the artists have had good results.

She will also be hosting a couple of watercolor classes through the Manchester Parks and Recreation Department in February and March.

“Maybe I could find a couple of artists through that too,” said Deutmeyer.