Tinkering Belles with Tamara Robertson
Tinkering Belles with Tamara Robertson
Tinkering Belles - Theresa from Real Deal Revolution - Great Race Edition
Do you love Skill Sharing, road rally racing, Creative Designs and general Maker Shop Talk?
If so, join Tamara Robertson (Mythbusters, Seekers of Science) as she revs up the fun in this all new mini-season dedicated to the Hemming's Great Race and the amazing team of Trailblazing Creators assembled by Riley's Rebuilds!
As a shout-out to Race Sponsor Real Deal Revolution, this episode kicks off with a Tech Talk about Pinstriping before Tamara sits down with Offroad Racer, Trailblazer and Maker Extraordinaire Theresa ( @DesignMuse )!
Topics they cover include (but are surely not limited to):
- Pin Striping
- Real Deal Revolution
- Baja Forged
- King of the Hammers
- Sturgis
- Jessi Combs
- Glamis
- Offroad Racing
- Graphic Design
- Bronco
- The Great Race
- Riley from Riley's Rebuilds
- SBN Women's Network
- SEMA
- Working in Non-profit
- Breaking Industry Stereotypes
- Empowering others
- Women led, Not Women only
- Launching a Youtube
.. and so much more
As we dig into Season 3's 30th episode of Tinkering Belles you're surely not going to want to miss it!
So join in on Tamara's adventure as a Maker as she works to amplify the BAMF Females Behind the Builds one interview at a time!
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If you enjoyed the show join in on the Maker adventure with Tamara and her guests on the Tinkering Belles Instagram page.
You can follow Theresa's adventures here, here, and here:
Website - https://www.theresacontreras.com
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/designmuse/
Real Deal Revolution - https://www.realdealrevolution.org
YouTube - http://www.youtube.com/@bajaforged
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/RealDealRevolution
Music for this Episode was provided by Bill Trowell Music. Visit BillTrowellMusic.com to hear more and to subscribe to Bill's Patreon, where he covers favorite showtunes, movie themes, classic rock and jazz, as well as requests from Patron's.
Shopmates and welcome to Tinkering Belles, a show about DIY, design, and all things hands-on. Sky's the limit as we talk props, metalwork, cosplay, woodwork, leather, electronics, and so much more. I'm Tamara Robertson, your host, so strap on your tool belts because we're about to get into some skill sharing, y'all.
Tamara Robertson:Today, I'm going to be joined by a maker who is the literal real deal. I don't want to give away too much, but this maker is teaming up with the community to revolutionize the perception of skilled trades and the women's roles in them. So if that doesn't make you want to stick around and hear more, then you might be at the wrong podcast.
Tamara Robertson:Let's go ahead and have our tech talk of the day. We're going to be talking all about the Hemmings Great Race and the amazing partners that have made it happen. Now, That includes groups like Real Deal Revolution. These skilled tradeswomen are passing on skills like welding, carburetor rebuilds, epoxy, leather, and even at the helm, pinstriping. So let's back it up. Where did pinstriping get its start?
Tamara Robertson:Pinstriping as an art form dates back to horse-drawn carriages in the 1800s. Yep, you heard that right. Horse-drawn. drawn carriages. They were actually used to add elegance and emphasize the body lines of these carriages. Now, fast forward to post-war hot rod scenes, and you're going to see pinstriping exploding in popularity thanks to legendary artists like Von Dutch, who introduced freehand designs with flair and attitude. Now, traditional stripers use squirrel hairbrushes called swords to lay down perfectly symmetrical lines by hand. No tape, just skill and muscle memory that is to die for. Now, this process isn't just decorative. It actually visually reinforces bodywork and can help to cover up flaws or panel seams that you don't really want the users to be seeing. you can reflect your own personal style as well with the usage of pinstriping. Now today, pinstriping is a cherished subculture in automotive art, kept alive by artists like the Real Deal Revolution co-founder, who teaches in demos at live events across the country. Well, That's it for your Tech Talk. You can join in on the conversation with my maker friends and me on the Tinkering Bells Instagram and X pages. Just search for Bells Tinkering, hit follow and share your DIY adventures together with us. Have a tool you want to learn about? Let me know and it might be featured in a future episode. Tell us what you liked, what you hated or possibly even what we missed. So now we're going to be getting into the main event. And I am so excited to introduce you to our next maker, one of my favorite people. Please give me a drum roll. *drumroll* presenting.
Theresa:Wooooohoooo! All right.
Tamara Robertson:I love it. Theresa, thanks for joining me. How are you?
Theresa:Absolutely, Tamara. I'm honored to be on here talking about stuff. Always love just hanging out with you, you know?
Tamara Robertson:I'm so excited. So we are probably going to go on so many wild tangents, but like to start, I want the audience to know where can they find you, follow you, and what should they expect to see when they go there?
Theresa:Sure. Well, the first thing is just my name, Theresa Contreras.com. And I have all the links to all the things I do. So I am co-founder of Real Deal Revolution. Real Deal is a nonprofit that Jessi Combs and myself started. It is to change the perception of skill trades and women's roles in them. We have people like Tamara here teaching workshops, hands-on skill trades all over the country. So that's amazing. I also have Baha That is my personal brand right behind me right here. I got the Bronco. We're working on 68 Ford Bronco right now. All the things I just like to build, like to tinker, right? That's why I'm here. So Instagram is designmuse, all the things.
Tamara Robertson:Everyone, as always, the show notes will be packed full of links and pictures. So go over there, have an adventure, find Theresa wherever she is, because believe me, it changes every single day. Like trying to keep up with you. I'm like so happy that we share locations because I'm like, is she home? No, she's not. Okay, where is she right now? Well, even when you're home, I love it because I'm like, oh, she's in the garage. Love it.
Theresa:And that goes the same for you. Where are you in the world, right?
Tamara Robertson:Yeah, exactly. We need like a MapQuest to find each other, which they, this audience may not even know what MapQuest is. Oh my goodness. Anyways, before I get older while we're speaking. So we did, we met a few years ago at Sturgis. I had the joy of coming in. I like, little tiny regional airport. I was going to meet the Jessi Combs Foundation officially and Real Deal Revolution. And then I got the joy of like becoming a renegade and working to actually teach welding. And it's just, we've just been going ever since. So I've had the chance to get to know you over the years. But as a superhero scientist, one of my favorite things is origin stories. So I would love for the audience to hear the origin story of how you became a gearhead and why you're still in it today.
Theresa:Love that. Definitely. Definitely grew up in it. Literally, my parents were taking me, you know, I'm in Southern California, so I'm close to, you know, Mexico to Baja. We have tons of off-roading areas here. So one of the places that my parents first took me to is called Pismo Beach. And you can off-road, you can take four wheelers, anything on that beach and drive around. And so they took their El Camino and I was probably about three weeks old or so. And we camped out in the back there in the El Camino. And that was kind of like my first experience. And really ever since we've been going to Baja, we started Doom Buggies. I was always in the garage with my parents because my dad was... You know, he worked and he fixed cars and he taught himself how to do that. And my mom was right next to him helping him do it along the way. So I was right there, too. You know, like we would literally all be in the garage working on cars together. And that's just part of part of my life. I rode ATCs when I when I was about 12. two, three years old. I got my first ATC 70. So right next to my parents working on my own bike next to them, you know, and it was customized and I would, you know, go race it when I was older and we would go to places like Glamis. It's like, The sand dune capital of the world, you know, and Mexico to San Felipe to Baja, you know, all these different places. And so we were always out adventuring and off-roading. And then my parents, basically, they started their own business because the economy crashed in the 80s. And... my dad lost his job. And so my parents basically started working in the garage and fixing cars. So that kind of turned into a body shop. I actually didn't go into the family business directly. I actually became a machinist during high school, you know, helping someone else do things. And so I loved that. I just was a hands-on person. I was just always doing things like that. But then eventually I ended up, you know, going back to the shop. I went to school for graphic design so I love the creative process I love the hands-on aspect of things you know I went to an all-girls school so we had sewing and that was about it for you know an art for for our creative there was no like you know auto class or you know wood shop or anything like that so so I was taking you know I took that so I was sewing and I was doing things I just loved doing You know, and doing building and creating things and doing anything with my hands, you know, so when I became a machinist, that was like another level of what that could be, you know, and so that actually put me through college, went to school for graph design. loved the idea of how you're learning different mediums in graphic design right because that's what that was about like you could go from charcoal drawings to printmaking to sculpture and again that was like oh well I love creating and I love different mediums like like you like we always just want to know like what's the next thing what else can we create with this like oh my gosh well we could use this also you know so we're not we're like very open right to like learning new things and you know exactly
Tamara Robertson:we're just trying it all
Theresa:Ya! Totally!
Tamara Robertson:Like whatever the material I'll figure out how to get it together guys yeah
Theresa:because the thing is is you don't know like all of a sudden it sparks something new and you're like oh my gosh I love this you know or or I don't you know like you know and so uh so one of the things um so then after college which Technically, I did not graduate because I'm still six units short, which everyone's always like, oh, you graduate. I'm like, no, I actually went to college, didn't end up graduating because of that. But I walked and everything. I did the walk, right? Because it was enough to do all that. But I still haven't gone back. So funny side note story, right? But then I finally eventually started working for my parents for the family business, the auto body shop. And that's where I actually... taught myself how to pinstripe one day how to paint i tell people i locked myself in a paint booth for two years and finally got good at it you know um i am a person that learns by association like i could be next to someone watch what they're doing and then do it you know so i was just around the environment soaking it up and taught myself how to paint, kind of knew the design aspect of it, and so started building and painting cars myself and motorcycles and all the things. And so it led us to, you know, to Jessi and I meeting. We met on the first all-female SEMA build back in 2012. And so that's really where, like, then that story of, like, real deal and everything else has kind of evolved from there, so...
Tamara Robertson:Amazing. And actually, so that there are so many places that I don't even know which one I want to say. I think I'm gonna I'm gonna put a button in one. And first, we're gonna talk about this whole like, rebuilding cars painting because behind you is this beautiful Bronco. And having talked to you personally that there are some big ambitions and goals for it, which also still connected to Jessi in a way because it's It's in your backyard. So tell the audience about what you're hoping to be doing with that Bronco.
Theresa:I love that. So like you, like, I am not afraid to like jump into a project because the thing is, is like, we all have to do something for the first time. Right. And I know that my, my best resources, all of our best resources are people. Like there's so much knowledge out there and I have amazing friends that will help guide me through it. So we are chopping this Bronco in half, which I did, if you can see. The back half of it's gone. So we chopped it in half the body. Now we're lengthening the frame and we are going to be, I'm going to be racing it. So that is part of it. It's so funny because I have had this Bronco for literally like over 20 years and it's just sat here. Like I I've used it to off-road, but I'm like, ah, it's kind of slow and kind of this. And I'm like, and I complain, I don't have race car, you know, I don't have this. And it's like, stop complaining. You have something right there. Just build it. Right. So that's the first thing right there is just, you know, you just got to do it. You got to jump in. Now, you know, obviously we're doing research. We're calling people. We're making sure that, you know, we're on, you know, like right now we have the next thing. The next step is to get our suspension ready. So like the guy that's helping us do that. So it's Icon Vehicle Dynamics and Dylan that started it. He's an engineer. So he sent us the calculator to figure out the geometry for all the suspension, you know, so the weight of the vehicle, the length, the wheelbase, all those things. So I'm sure you love how that kind of ties into that, right? I love that. I love it. Right? So, yeah. So jumping right into this project, it will be going to the SEMA show this year in 2025 and will be in the Randy's Worldwide Boost. So Icon, I've been working with them for years. And so it's really cool. I have the Dynatrack axles on it as well, which Jessie had on hers too, on her Jeep. And yes, I will be racing King of the Hammers next year. So very excited about that.
Tamara Robertson:Very stoked, very stoked about that. And so staying on this like idea of racing, we are actually about to head out today's time trials, right? Tomorrow's official kickoff of the race for the Hemings Great Race. Now, you heard of the Great Race. I know Jessie obviously was Grand Marshal, so I heard of it a little bit from her. But I had never really had the ambition myself because it's like you have to have a vintage car and, you know, precision race, they say, instead of a speed race. But, like, was it something before you got the invite this year that was on your radar of a thing you were hoping to do?
Theresa:You know, so what's funny is I love racing. It wasn't on my list only because I love off-roading. So mostly on my race, on my bucket list, right, is more off-roading. off-roading style stuff. But because Jessie had done this, the second that they reached out about it, I was like, oh my God, absolutely. I would love to be part of this because, and it's, it's supporting obviously some fantastic women that, you know, these creators that are, they're coming up in our industry. And, you know, as much as, you know, you and I both want to see that next generation really thrive in that. So I was like anything I can do to support them and be there for them you know what does that look like so so really yeah it wasn't on my list but it's always been on my radar but I was like the second the opportunity I was like done I I how can I help you know definitely
Tamara Robertson:and I love it I kind of joke that uh Riley has been assembling us like the Avengers you know she had her criteria of like wanting all female creators, women that were hands-on, women that were the real deal that knew what they were doing and could keep the cars going. But deeper than that is actually like I met Riley Seema in 2023, signing autographs in the She Shed booth, which, you know, for those of you that don't know, the She Shed was Real Deal Revolution coming together with the Jessi Combs Foundation, coming together with All Girl Gangs Garage. And so Riley actually not only signed with me, but you gave her the opportunity to teach her first, not first carburetor class for her, but first at Seema, right? So can you talk a little bit about how You met Riley and how that relationship developed.
Theresa:Yeah, no, definitely. Riley's been amazing. Riley and then her dad. Her dad is such a great support system. We all need, you know, a support system in our life like that, you know. So I've been following Riley, kind of knew about her through doing SBN, the SEMA Business Women's Network, and had met her that way and then reached out and was like, oh, my gosh, it would be amazing. You know, I saw her doing the conversation. doing it with all of these high school kids in the garage and stuff and so I reached out to her to see if she wanted to teach a workshop and absolutely they were so stoked to be doing that to be part of it so yeah Definitely. And so, so SBN, the SEMA Business Women's Network, it's, that's definitely a place where I met Jessie. I've met so many amazing women in the automotive industry. It's like my extension of my family, you know, of who that looks, what that looks like.
Tamara Robertson:I love it. And, you know, and Riley seeing Riley teach those classes and just like, like to your point, Dane, her dad injure is like the absolute best. The two of them just have their spirits so high, you know, and we're all aware that we've had lots of hiccups with the fair lane going into this race. And we still don't know. We may show up and just be a huge cheer squad, a mechanic squad for Riley in the Corvette. And we will be just as happy as creators and tinkerers to get hands on with that as well. Um, but her energy and just the way that she has brought these women along and it's not, it's not just young women. It's women from our generation. It's women beyond our generation. Um, and she's just lifting that veil of like, Hey, this is how you get sponsors. This is how you have meetings with sponsors. Let me, let me share this with you. And so it's like, while she's you know, in the number two spot behind the grand Marshall running this race and hoping to win it. She's also bringing along all of these incredible women who, you know, are trailblazers in their own and own niches and own rights. And then they really are the real deal. So it's, it's to me, such a perfect culmination that it's the Jessi Combs foundation as the charity partner and the real deal revolution as a sponsor, because it's like empowered by running forward, you know, the This is exactly what I think both organizations we've always hoped would happen with this generation, right? And it's just so cool to see it all come together.
Theresa:Definitely, definitely. And I say, like, it's so great because you see exactly what you explained about Riley. She had that support system with her family, you know? Like, her dad is right there behind her in any way he can supporting what she's doing. And not only... So it's not just the support. He's having her do it. She's doing it. She is building this. She's built the business, you know, and he's just helping her along the way because he knows how important it is for her to do it herself. That is such an important part of everything is that that's what we're doing when we're teaching workshops. We're not doing it for anyone. Everyone is coming there and they are learning themselves. Like we're just, we're sharing knowledge with them and they're building it. They're creating. And that's it. That's the type of sharing and learning that we want to share in the community. We want to build with the rest of the world. Right. And so it's so great. Just like you said, to have our different organizations and her and Riley's rebuild of that coming up to share the same type of message that we're trying to do as well.
Tamara Robertson:great is that like your jesse story your riley story your you know your real deal story they're they're all interconnected and i would just love to hear you know when you started real deal like with jesse like what were you what were you hoping to to do what what was the discussion you guys had under the stars that night
Theresa:And it was literally that. Well, you know, so I love, so, so Jessi, my art origin story, I love that part because what it was is, you know, in 2012, we're building, um, the first all female SEMA build. And it was, it was at my family business. And so we were doing the paint work and stuff. And Jessi was one of the people, you know, on the team. So she was coming to work on the car that day. And I just remember, I mean, literally like I remember it, like it was yesterday and she walks through the door and she's like, Hey guys, you know, like her usual, you know, spirit and bubbly self. Right. And she just looks over. So we're, you know, we're, we're putting a bumper on a car where we're like, look over if, you know, someone walks in the door and she looks over at all of our bikes. We have five of our motorcycles sitting, you know, in our, our shop. And she just points to mine and goes, whose bike is that? And literally, it's like the first thing she says, and I was like, mine, why? Because she liked the look of it, you know? And she knows, because that was really important to us. We liked cool things. We wanted to meet other people that liked cool things like us, right? She pointed to it, and she was like, do you want to go on a ride? I was like, yeah, sure. Okay. Like, literally, that's our first interaction. And then we were like... are you going to come help us hold the bumper? Because we're like holding a bumper and she is like talking or like, and she comes over and I still have, it's so funny because we would always like wear similar things. Like we had the same pants from target. We had these same things and stuff. Right. So like even that day, the first day we met, we both had black tank tops, black pants on, you know, like it was just one of those things. We, design was really important to us. We loved building. We loved working on things together. It just, the relationship just, it just grew. We just knew we didn't mind long hours. We always found ourselves in the garage working. We weren't doing anything else. We just tinkered, you know, we literally music blaring in the background, rocking out and just like, what can we build today? What can we create? You know? And so we just always went there. We were on our motorcycles and then you know, she was like, oh my gosh, you love off-roading too. So then, you know, I started racing with her in ultra four. And so it was this thing of like, we just, she knew where my heart was coming from and that I loved teaching other people because I also was working at a nonprofit too, that we did high school ROP. So for automotive classes, we supplemented their auto shop classes because they weren't offering them. So I was also doing that. And so she kind of saw like all these other things I do as well. Like my family was always, you know, we're doing chamber of commerce events. We were always giving back to the community and that was really important to her too. You know, like she wanted to see like how that next level of people operate in that way is it's not just about us and what we're doing for ourselves, but how are we helping others, you know, see what the world's like and stuff. And so- As our friendship grew, we just kind of knew like we needed to do more with that. And she had, she had like, this had been something in her head for a long time. Like she wanted to build something like this. And she's like, I've been thinking of a nonprofit. I've asked other people and it just hasn't worked out with people. She's like, is this something you would want to do? And I was like, absolutely. You already know this is what I do. So anytime I can help someone else and I'm like, like, our symbiotic relationship was already there. So we literally, you know, in October, 2024, we literally drove, you know, to Long Beach overlooking the ocean right there and sat in the car that night, like you were saying, under the stars and just wrote out our, you know, our dreams, our goals of what we wanted to see, you know, real deal become and stuff. And It just went from there. You know, we were just like, we're always doing things. We always love, like literally it's not going to change like what we do and what we love doing, you know? And so we just started going out. We, our first event was Born Free. We wanted to empower women in the industry. And so we were, even though we called it Real Deal, like the idea behind Real Deal was that people always told us, they told her like, Oh, you're the real deal. They would tell me like, you're the real deal. Like you actually do things. You're not just talking about it. You do it, you know? And so we knew that that really was what resonated with us of like, that's what we need to put out into the world, you know? But we did want it to be more female focused and build that community for females. But we went to our first event. So it was Born Free, which is so funny because literally this weekend is Born Free. Yeah. right um and so in in 10 years ago literally this weekend um we went to our first event which was born free and no women wanted to come up and learn they they were all this is 10 years ago now there were kids and there were guys that were like yeah of course i want to learn and we're like well we're not going to tell you no like that is definitely not what we're about you know like So attending that event, that's when we realized, like, we don't want to be exclusive. The whole idea of women being part of this and showing the equality and all that was to be inclusive, to include everyone. But we still wanted to really showcase women doing this, that women were in the industry and that we just we did. We teach differently, we lead differently. So that's really where it became women led and we teach everyone. So we are teaching a six year old little boy how to weld, a 60 year old. I've had all gamuts of people in our class and that's what's so exciting is you're never too young or too old to really learn. It's really about sharing you know, respecting the tools and understanding them, you know, like personally, my son was, you know, like he, you know, he's a gunner's mate in the Coast Guard now. He literally was at five years old shooting guns, but we taught him, it was really important to us that he knew and understood how they worked, what things were happening. We were around when that was happening, you know, and it's like them understanding, like, they have more knowledge to know that. Now, is that for everyone? Probably not, you know? But the thing is, is we wanted to really share with people, like, the respect of, like, you said, like, welding. Like, I mean, it's a torch. You're using fire in your hand. But if they understand all of that and they're willing to listen to what we have, then they're going to respect that tool. They're going to understand that. And so, and the way that women share that is just a little different than men sometime Yeah.
Tamara Robertson:Yes. I think, I think it's just, we have, we have, we have more patience sometimes. The whole aspect of not, not women only, it's just women led and like being able to start. Yeah. Redefining what it is to be a welding instructor, you know, instead of that stereotypical image of a burly dude and coveralls. Now, sometimes they start to see a five foot redhead that's been fired and running around like crazy, you know, and, I think that that's, that's kind of a benefit that we can give this next generation is like, as I, like, you know, I've had as young as a three-year-old little girl walk up and be like, I want to learn. And it's like, okay, let's, I can retrofit this gear. That's been my whole thing. I want, I really want to get PPE for kids. And so I retrofit it as the designer that I am and I get them going and I keep them safe, but it's something that they're excited about forever. And I love it. I just love it. It's great.
Theresa:For sure. Yeah. We, we create that one spark, that moment that just inspires people. And that's really what we want to do. Like we know how much we get excited about creating and, and that is really something I, that's like, to me, like a God given gift that all of us create in our own way. And a lot of people just don't realize that because a lot of people always tell me like, well, I'm not like you. I don't, I don't have those talents and ability. And it's like, I put so much practice and so much time and effort and work behind the scenes that you probably don't know. I have 20 years doing this. This doesn't just come easy, but it comes if you want to learn. There's that part and that aspect, and we're all capable of creating.
Tamara Robertson:As you're looking at, or as I guess, as the audience is looking at potentially wanting to get into a place where they can share skills that they have and build community around it. Is there any advice that you would give, you know, people young and old that I think, Hey, I think my next adventure is going to be paying it forward. Like who else can I get hands-on with the tools that I love every day?
Theresa:I love that. Yes. Uh, The first thing, you know, a lot of people are intimidated right away. Like I'm not good at sharing or teaching. I don't know what to do. And the thing is, is we're all different. Understand, like, like, like embrace your uniqueness. The way that you're going to teach is not the same way someone else is going to teach. And that's okay. You don't have to be perfect at it the first time. You just have to start just like anything else, just like this Bronco right behind me. You just have to get out there and start. So reaching out, you know, it could be just, you know, on social media, like showing, hey, a little how-to of what you did in the garage, you know, so that, you know, someone else might ask a question, you know, like, Hey, you know, we're doing things like with this, like how to remove our bed liner. Well, we went through, you know, multiple tools and we were like, oh my gosh, this was so much easier. We want to share that with all of you. So you don't have to deal with the same type of stress that we did of going through that, you know? So just get out there and do it, you know, put a one minute video up of just a how to, and it's that simple to get started, but don't be afraid. Like, Are there going to be people that think they know more than you? Of course there are, you know, but the thing is, is let them know that I don't know everything still. I am, I am a, you know, I am always growing. I'm always learning. Embrace that. Don't, don't go out there and think you're better than everyone and you're going to be fine. You just, you know, learn along the way, have fun doing it and just get out there and share what your skill is with the world.
Tamara Robertson:Yeah, that's exactly right. Because I feel like every time... Whether it's teaching a STEM camp or a resin class or a welding class, like I'm learning just as much through the people that I'm teaching as they're learning from me. Like I remember being at DOPU with you this year and doing the resin class. And I had this one person who they were amazing. They were like, Oh, I do this all day long. And they were showing me Battlestar Galactica builds that they've done with resin and SLA printing and all. And then they were like telling me, they're like, Hey, you know, if you want to be able to do this a little faster, you could do it in this way. And I'm like, please keep giving me the guidance. Like, because it is one of those things. Right? Yeah. Any trade skill, you know, we all are going to have the number of hours it takes to become what we consider mastered at it. But then there's so much more that you learn by being in it every single day that perhaps someone else doesn't see, you know, if I'm predominantly making, you know, jewelries and trinkets and things like that, I'm not going to see what someone that's making like actual structural, like starships are going to be seeing. Right. And so there's this really cool. ways to just as a community collectively learn. So I just love it. I love it.
Theresa:Yeah. Yeah. So for me, like residence stuff, I'm doing fiberglass. So I'm going to be building fiberglass fenders for this. So I have like the shape of the wheel well, because I'm going to be building that out. And that's how, so like you said, the structure of that completely different, the type of resin I'm going to be using is different. You know, all of these things are, are different in that aspect, but it's just what we love doing with, with real deal is getting that basic ground level of, of just inspiring people to go out there and try to do it, you know? Yep.
Tamara Robertson:And what I love about the workshops is that we really do spark that interest by taking away the fear. Right. And that was one of those things that I really love that Jessi used to say is that like, it's not about like, not having fear. It's about moving forward with your fear, right? And that fearlessness was more about... Fearlessly moving forward, even though, you know, you might be terrified. And so I love that, you know, we take away the scary aspect of welding by literally getting them in the tent, sparking it up, letting them get hands on, letting them know like, hey, here are a couple safety things that you should be aware of when you're around it. But otherwise, like take the torch and go like literally getting to pass that torch and getting people hands on. I mean, like, it's always my favorite thing to see this. And the first time that they like weld something together and they're like, oh my gosh, like I did that. I did that with fire. I did, you know, like, I'm like, that's it.
Theresa:And that's hands on. That's, that's exactly that moment. The spark, right? Yeah. That moment of them going, I did that. See, it's, it's not even us. Like, All we're doing is sharing something with them. They're doing it. They're the ones creating. And that's what we're sharing with everyone. And like you said, it's that fear. It's the intimidation factor. That's what Jessi and I wanted to do is that the second people come up, they're like, oh, I've always wanted to weld. I've always wanted a pinstripe. And we're like, great, you're going to do it right now. And they're like, I'm sorry, what? And it's that little thing that like triggering your mind that you're like, wait, I'm really confused right now, but I guess I can't say no. I literally just told them I want to learn this, you know? Like, so it's funny because it just, it switches and we all know like how our mind works because we're like, oh, comfortable. Like, no, no, that's too much for me. And we're like, we're here. We got you. We create this community and that's what we're doing. We're connecting with people in a different way that like allows them to know we're there for them. You know, in the moment they know that, that we got their back, like they're all in, you know? And so that's what we're out there building.
Tamara Robertson:Which I absolutely love. And, and it's all, it doesn't matter the ages, right? Like young and old, we're all learning. And so speaking of teaching a not so young dog, new tricks, you are launching a whole YouTube channel for Baja Forge. So awesome. What has that been like? What are some of your learnings that you're already coming across as you jump into this new endeavor? Like you needed another thing to do, right?
Theresa:Well, yeah, exactly. So, you know, okay. Building the Bronco first off was been like, it's been that thing that definitely the fear was there. The fear has been there. Like, oh my gosh, should I do this? There's, you know, I got to sink a ton of money into this. I already know that it's going to take a ton of my time. I'm going to have to like completely kind of change the way I'm doing things. Like I have to actually, you know, devote and dedicate more time to this than I am doing other things right now. So, so yeah. I am completely changing so many things in my life to try to do, including doing like a channel too. We're like, how can we not do this? So like one of the things is I've been building SEMA vehicles for 20 years and we can never talk about them until the SEMA show, until they're revealed to the rest of the world. But then none of the behind the scenes gets talked about in like the craziness of the long nights and the long hours of people not seeing and understanding what people are really going through, like cutting something in half. Like, where do you cut it? Why do you cut it here? What do you have to do beforehand? So like, you know, we had to build a structure to hold everything together before we cut it so it stays together. You know, like there's just things like that along the way, which were like, you know, we need to share this. We need to share the hard stuff that we deal with, you know, all the trials along the way. And yes, learning video and capturing content and what that looks like, that's a whole nother, you know, learning curve and education. Do we need to do it? Absolutely. This is like, you know, the new era of what that looks like. And you have to be capturing content. You really do. So I don't, you know, like, almost anything that you're doing. If you are a small business owner, you are doing anything to sell, you have to be capturing content. So what we've really done is we're trying to showcase the build on, you know, the actual steps. I mean, we're in the middle of nowhere. We don't have a lift here. So we're using a forklift to lift the body up, you know, and that's the thing is, don't let things stop you like we want it yeah and right and we want to show people like don't let that stop you like well I don't have this okay what's your next option let's figure it out you know and so it's really getting to that point of like sharing that with the world of like you know like that doesn't stop us like like if you have a dream realize like anything is possible like Just keep talking about it, putting it out there, and the gears will turn. Someone will chime in here and there, whatever, and it'll happen, and it'll all come together. And sometimes you don't even know how it's happening, and it just does.
Tamara Robertson:And so we're coming down to time, and there's one question I love to ask every single person that's on the show, and that is, if you could have a superpower, what would it be and why?
Theresa:Oh, no. Uh, that's just such a loaded question. Oh gosh. A superpower. Oh. It could also be a super
Tamara Robertson:tech, you know, you could be like, be like Iron Man and have one cool piece of tech or something.
Theresa:I guess it would be to flash into different areas. Like if I had to be here and then I could show up in my paint booth instantly and be like, Oh, I'm doing this and I got this. And then flash back to where I need to be. So flash is a good one. I love lightning bolts too. Right. So, you know, that's kind of my thing is the lightning bolt. So I
Tamara Robertson:love that. I love that. I would
Theresa:just like be there.
Tamara Robertson:Nightcrawler can totally do that. He like dissolves and appears in different places and then the flash just gets there super fast. So I love it. Super speed, get lots of things done. So, okay, everyone, the Hemings Great Race kicks off June 21st in St. Paul, Minnesota, and we'll run all the way until we hit the finish line, hopefully on June 29th in Moorpark, Irmo, South Carolina. Follow our Instagrams to stay up to date with all things Creator Race as we tackle this iconic vintage rally road race one mile at a time. That's it for Tinkering Bells. This episode is assembled and ready for delivery. Theresa, this has been so amazing. Thank you so much.
Theresa:Always fun chatting with you. And I will get to see you in person at the Great Race.
Tamara Robertson:So excited. I'm so excited. I want to thank you for choosing Tinkering Bells as your user's manual for all things Maker on a bi-weekly basis. If you want to continue to hear more, don't forget to rate and review the show on your podcasting app of choice, as well as sharing it with your friends. I look forward to seeing you next time. Until then, don't forget to keep making!