Welcome to the forum. That sounds a lot like TIG welding. It's similar to MIG in a lot of ways, but instead of wire coming out of the torch you make the arc with a tungstone tip and feed rod in seperately. Makes for a very controllable weld, so all the really neat welding you'll see on things like motorcycles tends to be done with TIG.
Hey Malcom
That reminds me when I arc weld using a 6011 or 7018 rod and use another rod to fill in when I need extra metal, to not blow a hole.
I was just thinking of trying that with my mig welder on thin metal using a coat hanger or a proper rod .
What do you think about that.