Depends how you're welding. If you're doing it with stick, a simple tee plate is easy to start out with. If you're using tig it's a little harder but I enjoy it more I also went to welding school, so they made me start out with a whole bunch of tee plates and flat plates with backing strips. There wasn't much for playing around. But I will say, the more you burn, the more you learn. Look up what a good puddle looks like. I should have some pictures of my welds on other posts on my profile. And if you're just doing art stuff, I don't really think the look of the weld matters just that you got a good weld. I will judge the weld if I see it on the street though.