Meet Randy Chapman | Scrap metal artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Randy Chapman and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Randy, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
Randy got layed off from his work of 40 years in 2009. A year earlier we started a small business welding metal art made from steel scrap metal making all sorts of flowers, animals, careers, sports, abstract art and anything we could think of that people would buy. We thought after he retired we would do a few art and craft shows for something to do and add to retirement income. Well little did we know that a year later he would be layed off at age 60 and so we just jumped in to start Happy Scraps as a small business where we did art and craft shows along the east coast and some in Colorado and Illinois. It paid our bills and I want to add that all this time we prayed and trusted God for our income, paying our bills and where to go for doing the shows. God provided and if we had a big bill coming up we would always have a great show that paid for it. We truly give God the glory for our success and Randy’s ability to create these 3D art figures. The company he had worked for made metal components for various companies like Caterpillar, John Deere, etc. When his company went out of business he gathered all the metal scrap he could and brought truckloads of it home to use for Happy Scraps. Our mechanic would save old car parts we used and still use and we purchase scrap from various companies that will let us do so, even old farm equipment that people want to get rid of. So we have been in business now for 16 years. Covid shut down our shows and we were in a number of galleries in tourist areas and we just increased our inventory in those shops and doing well so that we are not doing shows anymore.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
My career was working for a sheet metal fabricator working in the shop, then engineering and then a steel buyer and all those jobs were a 40 year process.

The creative part of Happy Scraps I didn’t know I had but we were on Okracoke Island for our 40th anniversary and my wife wanted a pig made from scrap metal and I said I could make it. She said I know you can but I said I needed a welder so we came home bought a welder and the rest is history.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Definitely to Okracoke Island for a week hanging out at the beach and eating at Howard’s Pub and walking the island.

In the Raleigh area it would be Farmer’s Market, the State Fairgrounds Flea Market, Oakwood District and touring the governor’s mansion at Christmas.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
The Bible and God because that is what we totally relied on in everything we did in the business.

When we first began we asked all kinds of questions to other vendors at our art and craft shows to figure out what would work for us. We made big pieces in the beginning but finding out people didn’t want to haul those home and started the much smaller items which were selling well.

Website: www.happyscraps.net

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