The ROAMies Podcast
This travel and inspiration podcast will motivate you to explore the world, make a positive impact, and live your best life. Award-winning musical duo The ROAMies—Rory and Alexa—share insights, resources, and products to make travel and life on-the-go easier and more enjoyable.
Whether you're a frequent traveler, super busy and always on-the-go, or simply dreaming of more adventure, you'll find practical tips, helpful info, Rory’s infamous "dad jokes," and plenty of laughs. The ROAMies dive into where to travel, why to travel, and how to travel, sharing personal stories, favorite brands, and tools that support a busy, travel-filled lifestyle. Along the way, they welcome insightful guests who bring fresh perspectives and expert advice.
It’s the perfect mix of practical guidance, motivation, and inspiration—designed to spark your own adventures, fuel your creativity, and seamlessly integrate travel into your lifestyle.
The ROAMies Podcast
P is for Patterns
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
A screenshot of old book titles turns into a surprising question: how much do we actually change, and how much do we just repeat what we already love? We follow that thread into “P Is For Patterns” and use it to decode why certain places instantly feel like home to us and why others don’t, even when they’re objectively beautiful. If you’ve ever wondered why you keep booking the same kind of trip or craving the same kind of neighborhood, this one gives you a fresh way to see your travel style.
Thank you to the New Mexico Department of Agriculture and Cases Customs for supporting this episode! Reach out to Case for your custom order
https://casescustoms.com/cases-customs
casescustoms@gmail.com
IG: c.customs ;https://www.instagram.com/c.customs
FB: https://www.facebook.com/CasesCustoms/
Predjama Castle
Postojna Caves
Also mentioned in this episode
Discover Enchanting Tirol, Austria with Us214https://www.buzzsprout.com/263670/episodes/13541260
Textured Accent Walls: https://www.southernaccentnashville.com/
Our Glenwood Springs, CO Episodes
E is for Energy282https://www.buzzsprout.com/263670/episodes/18826304
D is for Doors281
C is for Color+ado280
We also take you to Slovenia for two unforgettable stops: Predjama Castle, a dramatic fortress built straight into a cave opening, and the Postojna Cave tour, complete with a train ride into the cavern and a long walk through massive chambers filled with stalactites and stalagmites. We share practical travel tips like timing, walking expectations, parking, and what to wear, plus the small details that make the experience stick, from “baby dragon” olms to the concert-sized echo inside the cave.
Then we bring the idea of patterns back home, literally, through texture, wallpaper, and renovation inspiration for our 1916 house, and emotionally through routines and habits we want to keep or change. Finally, we sit down with New Mexico artisan Case Forrest of Case’s Customs to talk woodworking patterns, end-grain cutting boards, epoxy resin surprises, custom commissions, and why functional art is meant to be used.
If you enjoy travel stories with real takeaways, home design inspiration, and maker craftsmanship, subscribe, share this with a friend, and leave a review so more people can find the show.
Wanna hit the road? Get 10% OFF your own roadsurfer adventure!
https://link.roadsurfer.com/roamies
CODE: ROAMIES10
And it means the world to us when you subscribe, rate and share our podcast.
Alexa and Rory
The ROAMies
Follow us at:
http://www.TheROAMies.com
@The ROAMies: Facebook and Instagram
YouTube and X.
Welcome To Rome To Home
SPEAKER_01Hi, I'm Alexa.
SPEAKER_04And I'm Rory. And together we are the Roamies. We're a husband-wife duo and longtime travelers who believe travel isn't just about where you go. It's about how it shapes the way you live when you get home.
SPEAKER_01On the Roamies Podcast, we explore where to travel, how to travel, and why to travel through our lens of creativity, wellness, and everyday life.
SPEAKER_04We're calling it this season Rome to Hall. As we travel near and far, we're sharing the ways we bring inspiration home through food, daily rituals, business and design ideas, and the renovation of our historic fixture upward.
SPEAKER_01It's all about making travel tangible, livable, and meaningful long after the trip ends.
SPEAKER_04So whether you're planning your next adventure or reimagining the life you're building at home, you're in the right place.
SPEAKER_01Now, let's get into today's episode. Hi everyone, welcome to the Romies Podcast, where we are taking what we love about traveling and bringing it home in practical ways, whether that's recipe, mindset, business idea, or the perfect decor that we want to incorporate into our home renovation. And as we get started on this episode, we want to say a big thank you to the New Mexico Department of Agriculture and to our artisan guest slash supporter, Case of Case's Customs, for joining us on this one and supporting this episode. You're going to hear more from him. Case makes super, super cool patterned woodwork, and we are going to be talking about that. So stay tuned for the entire episode. And I think you're going to see why Case's work fits this episode so beautifully.
Noticing The Patterns You Keep
SPEAKER_01Our P episode is all about patterns. This is P is for Patterns. And y'all, we have some really cool castles and caves to tell you about. And this one actually started with a bunch of books, which sounds a weird way to get to the letter P, but Rory and I are currently recording this episode in Switzerland. We have gigs coming up, so we'll be on long road trips and things like that. And so I was looking through some old photos to try to make space on my phone and my computer, and I came across something from 2018. And it was screenshots of books that I wanted to listen to and had intended to listen to. And I started looking at the titles and thought, hey, these are still books that either I'm still getting around to listening to or I still want to listen to. And I noticed that the things that I was still curious about in 2018 are still things that I'm curious about now. They are subjects I wanted to learn about or continue to learn about, ideas I wanted to explore, all kinds of stories that caught my attention and it made me realize that maybe we don't change quite as much as we think we do. Or maybe more accurately, there are patterns to what we're drawn towards. And when I started thinking that, I started noticing patterns everywhere. Thus, we are doing P is for patterns, and I think it ties in great with home, as well as patterns and travel. And we've talked a lot in this season about places we've traveled and the things that we love about them. And this year, especially on this trip, we have noticed a pattern in the places that we really, really love. So, as you guys know, we love Switzerland. We were in the Italian Alps, Tihol, Austria. We've done an episode on them. And of course, we loved that. And then we were able to hit Slovenia for the first time this year. And once again, we found ourselves saying, Oh my goodness, we love this place. This place is amazing. And we realized what we love, it's not random. We're just drawn to certain things that Switzerland provides, such as the mountains, the amazing scenery, the old architecture, the roofs that are slanted down with all the flowers on the balconies, historic buildings, craftsmanship, texture, little towns where you can wander around and discover something, nature, history, and the feeling that people actually care about making things well. And of course, really, really good food. And there are certain ingredients that seem to make up our personal recipe for a place that makes us happy. And those are patterns. We find those patterns, and that's why we end up coming kind of to the same region of the world every year. And so we don't necessarily travel somewhere thinking, okay, we're going to find another place that feels like Switzerland. But when we do find those familiar ingredients somewhere else, we definitely recognize those patterns. And it's like, oh, these are things that make us happy. And there's something just really good about knowing that, knowing yourself and what you love. And patterns could be made to be broken,
Comfort Zones And A Japan Dream
SPEAKER_01right? At the same time, there could be a danger in getting comfortable with only the familiar and only the things you know. And that's one reason we have this whole podcast is because we want to encourage people to get out of their comfort zone. And so you could be in some patterns that maybe feel very comfortable, but that doesn't necessarily mean that we are meant to stay in those comfortable patterns all the time. And if we only keep choosing what we already know we love, we could miss something completely different that we might love even more. And or it helps us love and appreciate the things we already love even more. It expands our horizons, opens our eyes, helps us connect better with people around the world, but also in our own hometown. We want to go to Japan. We have never been. We're going to go, y'all. Y'all are going to hear about our trip to Japan on this podcast. I just know it. But Japan is going to be totally different than what we're used to. And we are slowly working on a Japan trip and seeing kind of what things can fall into place for the timing to be right for that trip. But we do want to see places that don't necessarily fit our established travel patterns. And we do want to be surprised and we do want to discover something we didn't know we were looking for. And I think it's really great to notice patterns, know what they are, understand why we like what we like. And then it's also totally good to break up those patterns. And sometimes the best travel experience comes from doing something that doesn't fit your normal pattern at all. We experienced some very, very cool new patterns on our recent trip to Slovenia. We went to Prajama Castle and the nearby caves. And that was such an experience and not something we normally get to see and do because we've never been there before. So Rory and I are going to dive in and tell you more about P is for Prajama Castle and the fun patterns we found there. Well, Rory, as we're talking about patterns, one of the things that I've noticed in our travel and how we travel together, that you and I have our own patterns when we travel. Yeah. As far as, okay, see, that he was implying, I think, that he packs his bag all neat and that I'm a mess.
SPEAKER_04Oh, no, I don't think that was implying that.
SPEAKER_01No.
SPEAKER_04But what I mean is like I was thinking more of energy patterns.
SPEAKER_01Well, yeah, because I have energy. Yeah. And so, but then like the other thing is like we have these ways that we work together when we travel.
SPEAKER_04Mm-hmm. So, like Yeah, you do everything and I drive. So, I mean, you know, it's like it works great.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Or when we stop to get gas, you know, you are getting gas, I'm running to the toilet. I'm the one who has to use the toilet the most or whatever. You know, but we have like our little things, and we know like you do this and I do that. And there are things that we didn't set out and say, hey, you do this and I'll do this, and this is how we'll do it every time. It's just we sort of when we're on road trips or even flights, we kind of create a flow, I think, of things that we don't realize or that we notice. So even like as you and I travel as a couple, we have our patterns that we've developed.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, they for sure. Like used to, you would go in and you would always check us in at the hotels. But the last number of years, recent years, I tend to be the one to go in and check us in at hotels.
SPEAKER_01We put it all in your name anyway, so it's just easier if you're the one who's been an interesting ship that we made, though. And then, yeah, and then like if we know we have a reservation, then I'll start getting out the cart, unloading the cats, getting everything.
SPEAKER_04While I'm checking us in. And while we're driving down the road, we're like, we need to find a hotel within the next hour. And then, of course, you're the one looking for hotels and all that.
SPEAKER_01Okay. So we have these little like patterns. And then we noticed a pattern when we hit Slovenia. We were like, wow, this looks like Switzerland. We love this. And then we're like, oh, it looks like Switzerland. And so, of course, we love it because we know we love Switzerland. And so it was just like, oh, these are patterns in this area that we love. But we found some new patterns in Prajama.
SPEAKER_02Pajamas?
SPEAKER_01Prajama.
SPEAKER_02Maybe that's how you say.
SPEAKER_01I don't know. We've never been to Slovenia till a week ago.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01But we found Prajama Castle and the Prajama Caves. Yeah. Are they even called the Prajama Caves?
SPEAKER_03I doubt it.
SPEAKER_04It's uh no, they're not called the they're not called those. It's I think it's the largest network of caves in Europe.
SPEAKER_01I think so.
SPEAKER_04Maybe in the world? Maybe in the world.
SPEAKER_03Uh and they are absolutely spectacular.
SPEAKER_01Postonya cave. Uh Postonya. Postoinya. Postoya.
SPEAKER_03Dojna. Yeah, it's post and then OJ N A, right?
SPEAKER_01So both are P's. We got the Prajama Castle.
SPEAKER_03Prejama.
SPEAKER_01Prajama Castle and the Postojana caves. We actually never stop to ask somebody how to pronounce it.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, we heard him say. But I do want to link Slovenia.
SPEAKER_01We'll put links in.
SPEAKER_03So the the Postojna is post, then the letter O, and then J and A.
SPEAKER_01So if you're reading it as an American, it's gonna look like Postojna caves.
SPEAKER_04Postojna caves.
SPEAKER_01And the Predjama Castle.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Okay, so we loved these, and of course they start with P. This is our P episode. So we thought it was extra fitting to talk about the patterns we discovered here.
SPEAKER_04Excellent.
SPEAKER_01Yes.
Predjama Castle Built Into Rock
SPEAKER_01Okay, so what were your impressions of the Prajama Castle?
SPEAKER_04Well, I wanted to go see it because one of the people we were speaking to in Italy at the military base mentioned, oh, there's this castle, and you can go through caves, and you know, it's kind of built into a cave. Or he was saying all kinds of things, and I was like, Well, that sounds really interesting, but none of it really stuck because we were in the middle of a gig. And then we were thinking, what are we gonna do? Where are we gonna go? And I started looking at Slovenia because she really wanted to go to Slovenia. We were right there.
SPEAKER_01We were in Italy and you look on the map, and like Slovenia's like right there. I'm like, we've never been, let's go.
SPEAKER_04Beforehand, I thought I'm gonna be so tired, I don't want to go. But then I was like, we're so close. It's only like a five-hour drive to get where we would want to go, so which means like eight hours for us because every castle and whatever cool thing we see, we want to pull off and look at. So, you know.
SPEAKER_01There were a lot of road delays too.
SPEAKER_04So there was a lot of like driving through Italy right now, at least the areas we drove through in the summer. Man, and we crawl, but the thing is, we crossed over in Slovenia and it was like we owned the highways. Beautiful, really well kept roads. The I mean, everything is awesome, and there were very few cars. It was absolutely amazing. Yeah, an immediate difference.
SPEAKER_01No traffic jams, you know, that we would keep running into.
SPEAKER_02Not a single one we ran into.
SPEAKER_01So so yeah, so getting across Italy was just like even not even in the city, just on the freeways and like random places. There would be like these.
SPEAKER_04Love Italy, but that was not joy.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so the road trips took a little longer than planned.
SPEAKER_04But I decided, hey, I'm gonna do some research. So I found this place that had to have been what he was talking about. It's a castle that's built into the rocks, like into the cave itself.
SPEAKER_01Like a cave entrance, and then there's a castle poking out of it.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, it's so bizarre. It's so it started in the 1400s, I believe, as something that was literally kind of built into the rock and one little building. Well, it's probably a big building, but one building, and they actually gathered their water that would come down through the rocks at when it would rain, and they ran it into a system and a cistern and all this kind of thing to feed the little castle at the time. And over the years it expanded and expanded, expanded, I think into the early 1800s, which is what is there now. And uh it's it's a pretty amazing place, and they're still discovering like new passages and stuff. Uh, one place we went was oh, the the not too long ago found whatever passage they called it up in the top that led further into this up into the mountain and cave areas, which is cut off and you can't go see, go see, which I wanted to go see. And I actually saw like a like a pick in there where they're still digging and stuff. So uh anyway, really cool.
SPEAKER_01And when we were at the castle, people were like in this one line off to the side and getting like helmets, like spelunking type helmets.
SPEAKER_05Yeah.
SPEAKER_01And so hard hats with light on there. And so I feel like that they were there at the castle and able to go in certain places. So I think you can go with a guide into some of these not all tourists can go kind of places.
SPEAKER_04You could see from up the top where you will go into the castle, there was an area down below cut into the rock with the gate. It looked very castles-esque, right? In the way that the gate was built and the surrounding things, but you couldn't go down there. So my guess is that they go down there and they explore the caves under the castle and around the castle, which would be totally cool, which we did not do, of course.
SPEAKER_00We we had limited time.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, we were in a hurry. Because we had bought tickets to tour what I think they said was the largest cave system, maybe in Europe or the world, something. Maybe in Europe for sure, but it's huge.
SPEAKER_05Yeah.
SPEAKER_04And we had to get there to catch our train. A train that goes, takes you into the cave, and then you walk for like a mile and a half and then catch the train again.
SPEAKER_01Yes, but you're jumping ahead. You haven't even talked about the castle yet. Oh, you want to talk about the castle for the case? Yeah, the castle was totally there.
SPEAKER_04Okay, so let's talk about the they've opened it up. You can go and you can see the um the dungeon. They have the area kind of set up, and some things they found in there and all that in the dungeon area. And just off the dungeon's a little door that uh most people didn't stop and look at. But I didn't.
SPEAKER_01There was a little fancy, he found it.
SPEAKER_04Square thing at the top, you could open up a metal thing, and and if you had your light on your phone or a flashlight, you could shine in and see. And it was a little tiny, awful little holding cell. I mean, like, so anyway, uh don't it's really cool. They had the some of the bedrooms set up, one of the areas that's the only heated area in the castle that where the whole family would stay and eat and they had a kitchen that was off to the side. Yeah, kitchen off to the side, which would obviously be heated.
SPEAKER_01You paid to get into the castle, but there was not a tour guide or anything like that. You you got these audio devices or QR code, and then you could just kind of listen. You could go in order, and there's a little plaque on the door, one, two, three, four, whatever, and you follow the numbers, and and the lady that helped us select tickets, she felt like 45 minutes would be enough.
SPEAKER_04I mean, and you know, an hour would be fine, I think, but to really sit and just soak it in, it would take longer than that. But I think in an hour we could get you could get through the castle pretty well.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, we made it.
SPEAKER_04But it's so spectacular from the outside, unlike any castle we've ever seen.
SPEAKER_01And you can go up and they have different sections of stairways or different floors, and then that you can peek through the windows and have you you have this amazing view that overlooks, you know, the outside of the cave.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, they've got an armory set up, they've got, I mean, all the things you would expect to see at the wine cellar or cave, all the things that you would expect to see from a castle. Hey, this is what this area was used for, and then also very raw areas where you go in and you think, this must have been where they first settled in the cave, like before the castle was there, or only when the first part of the castle was there. And because I read something about the knights having used that as an area and stuff, and so that could have been where the knights lived. I don't know. Well, it's a cave, basically, glorified cave. But really cool, really cool, unlike any castle we've seen before. And they're gonna put pictures, right? On socials, yeah. The pictures on socials.
SPEAKER_01You'll you'll get to see on socials at the Romies.
SPEAKER_05Yep.
SPEAKER_01So the the little town, like little tiny town that sort of supports the entrance and the ticket sales. You can buy souvenirs. There's two souvenir shops within the castle. When we were walking up to get to the castle initially, we saw people leaving the castle and they had ice cream. And so, you know, you can get some snacks.
SPEAKER_04A couple of restaurants there.
SPEAKER_01So you can find your restrooms and your like little support.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, I think town is an overstatement.
SPEAKER_01Right.
SPEAKER_04I think there are like maybe a dozen buildings, maybe. If that's and a few of them are houses. So uh yeah, a little village gathering maybe.
SPEAKER_01But but there's a little bit of support for, you know, kind of getting refreshed, finding refreshment, ha yeah, have a picnic there, something like that.
SPEAKER_04Uh, if you wanted to spend more time there, you could. Like she had said, they have, I think, some kind of a tour where you could go in the behind-the-scenes caves. And when we parked, the guy told us we saw people walking with the helmets, and she said, What's that way? And he said, Well, it's a long way you can go around and come from that direction to the castle, but I wouldn't recommend it. It's a long way. You can go, this is faster. But obviously, it made me think there are other walking trails and things that you can take. Also, outside of the castle, there were steps you could take up into a sort of a walk through the woods, which we didn't take. So I think you can explore a lot around the castle that we didn't it was hot and we were in a hurry. So we we got out and got to the caves as quickly as we could. Yeah. The other caves.
SPEAKER_01So what's great is if you're short on time, you can still explore it because you are gonna have such a memorable experience within just that 45 minutes.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, if you're trying to hit a couple places in a day, that can be one of them for sure.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, the caves in that castle in a day, easy.
SPEAKER_01Really, really cool.
Postojna Caves Train And Walk
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_01So you mentioned the caves, Rory. So that's our another.
SPEAKER_04Is it the pajama caves?
SPEAKER_01No, Poit Jonah, Porto Jonah. Oh, that's right.
SPEAKER_04It's Pajama Castle.
SPEAKER_01And Pastionia.
SPEAKER_04Postone Pesto, dude.
SPEAKER_01Postoinia. Postoigna caves.
SPEAKER_04There's no I, that's a J.
SPEAKER_01Postojna. Maybe their J is like an I. Postoigna.
SPEAKER_04Postoina. Post Postojna.
SPEAKER_01Postojina caves. Man. We now we had to drive about what was it like five miles?
SPEAKER_04I was a little further than that, it felt like. It took us about we went further. We thought we had to go and we thought we were lost, and then suddenly we were there. So that was nice. Probably 15 to 20 minutes. Maybe 15 minutes.
SPEAKER_01We bought a ticket that encompassed both experiences, going and seeing the castle in the cave, and then going and seeing the caves. And the caves, what we're talking about, are the whole like very cool, like I grew up in New Mexico, Carlsbad Cavern, like stalactites, stalagmites. We talked about we got to go into caves in Colorado in our earlier episodes this year and this season when we talked about Glenwood Springs.
SPEAKER_04And so when I was a boy, we used to go on vacation, going to caves. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01So it's those types of caves with the stalactites and stalagmites. That's what we're talking about when we say caves. And wow, this was so fun and so great. And so, Rory, talk us through kind of like what the experience is like.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. Well, you get there and it's a wonderful little setup with all kinds of stores you can go in to look for look to buy things.
SPEAKER_01And they had gelato there too.
SPEAKER_04You have to have gelato outside the cave entrance. It's really cool. First of all, it's very clean, very modern, which, okay, I'll admit Slovenia just kept surprising me again. We loved it.
SPEAKER_07We love it.
SPEAKER_04It's like you take Austria, Bavaria, Germany, Switzerland, the German part of Switzerland, the Alps, and like well, you've got Slovenia. Absolutely gorgeous. We'll have to go back. So this area is set up. It's really nice. Really nice stores you can go in, buy souvenirs, and I think other things. Rocks they found on the cave from crystals to these huge amethysts. What do they call the stones that when you cut them open it's full of crystals? No, the big stones are called this thing. What are they called, y'all? You know, the big stones that like you break them open and there's crystals on the inside. You know what I'm talking about. Geo Geo. Geo. Okay. Look it up. Yeah. Ask, you know, Ciri or Claude or somebody. Anyway, so there's this huge one. It's probably four feet high. And so you can buy everything from stuff like that to little rocks and things you want to keep to souvenirs to I think some nice clothes. Gelato. They had a little museum there that's dedicated to the dragon that lives in the cave.
SPEAKER_01A real dragon. Dragon in the cave. Come on.
SPEAKER_04A real dragon.
SPEAKER_01And it starts with a P, Rory.
SPEAKER_04So this little dragon lives in the cave, and it actually multiplies in the cave. It lives in complete darkness. It's really cool. And they have some you can see that are in a f tank. They just finished multiplying. So you can see them in their offspring swimming around in the aquarium. So really cool. Okay.
SPEAKER_01We've talked about gelato. One of the flavors they had was called baby dragons.
SPEAKER_04And they don't actually use any dragons in the making of the gelato, by the way.
SPEAKER_01Right.
SPEAKER_04They're a protected species.
SPEAKER_01They're pale, they're like almost. This pink color.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, they got two little front legs, two little back legs that I could see. We are, in fact, speaking of Poteus and Guinas.
SPEAKER_00So good, babe.
SPEAKER_04Thank you. Also referred to as the Olm, I believe. O-L-N. But those are the little babies.
SPEAKER_01Baby dragons that live in the cave. In the cave. They just naturally live there. So they have some like wildlife in the cave. And for us to see them, they put some in an aquarium for us to see.
SPEAKER_04Well, but yeah, because they had multiplied. But they had, you know, baby dragons, as the article calls them. But they have a little museum. Not a museum. A little aquarium display. Yeah, an aquarium display where you can actually go in and learn about them in this little village outside the caves that we're talking about. That's really cool. A number of restaurants you can eat at. It's in a park with a little river that runs through it, a river that goes into the cave.
SPEAKER_01But it's all centered around the cave. Yeah, that park surrounding it wasn't very good. You could spend a full day there just enjoying the park.
SPEAKER_04At least an afternoon or morning. It'd be really nice. And it was really hot when we were there. It was probably mid-90s, something like that, maybe upper nineties. But when you got a little ways from the cave, you could feel the cold coming from the cave.
SPEAKER_01Huge entrance. Rory mentioned, you know, they were some selling some souvenirs and some clothing and stuff. They would sell jackets because people are about to go in the cave. Yeah. And they said that the cave kept a consistent, what was it, 10 degrees Celsius, maybe?
SPEAKER_04I don't know. 50 degrees, I think. Which is colder than I thought.
SPEAKER_01But you could also rent a cape or a you know, sweatshirt or whatever. So you can always rent them.
SPEAKER_04Wear a long sleeve shirt, you'll be fine, a jacket, you'll be fine. Because you're walking once you get off the train.
SPEAKER_01The train is cold.
SPEAKER_04Okay, so you're moving. All right, yeah. You know, shopping village kind of thing. It's really cool. And a beautiful park. Yes. You can hang out there, enjoy yourself before you're even in the caves. That's right. And then you get in line for the cave.
SPEAKER_01And they have set tours throughout the day. So you'll pay in advance. Pay in advance for a set time, be it your time 15 minutes before.
SPEAKER_04All right. So the quick version, you get in a line, you go inside, there's a little train in there. And by train, I'm talking about a big steam train, like a little train you drive through a park. Like a coaster. Yeah, a coaster kind of a thing. And they put you two people per car, and they put all the people in cars and drive the train in, and they drive the trains probably 10 minutes maybe the ride. And then you get out and you walk a mile and a half.
SPEAKER_01It's an hour of walking. It's a 90 minute training.
SPEAKER_04So it must be two 15-minute train rides-ish. And uh then you finish your walking tour and you take the train back out. But the cave I've been to quite a few caves in my lifetime because we did a lot when I was a kid, and this is the most spectacular cave I've ever seen. We've been to the one in Kentucky, it's nice and everything, but this overshadows, I mean, like massively overshadows everything I've ever seen.
SPEAKER_01I loved the one that we saw in Glenwood Springs. That was really impressive. This and this one in Sylvania was much more impressive and much bigger and just a bigger experience.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, all of the structures are huge. Well, not all of them, but the whereas you'll see stalagtites, stalagmites, those little cave bacon looking things and all this in other caves. Right. In this place, the size and number of them, the capacity of the cave, it's absolutely stunning. Yes. Some of the the structures and features that we that were in there that have built up over well, they say it builds a centimeter every hundred years. One place we stopped in the cave, which was the largest open area in the cave, I guess. They actually hold concerts in there, like opera and symphony kind of stuff.
SPEAKER_01So Rory broke out into song. The guide said he could. So it was really cool.
SPEAKER_04The reverb lasts for like six seconds.
SPEAKER_01Yes, six second echo after you are singing. And so Rory's voice would just continue to be. Come on, man.
SPEAKER_04Dang. And I think they said that it has the same capacity as a stadium that holds 30,000 people or something. Whatever their claim was, it was was ridiculous. They can hold 10,000 people in there for a concert. That's ridiculous. I think that's what they had said. Then they compared it to a football stadium. Anyway, it's really amazing. The whole cave thing, I highly recommend. I don't care what caves you've been to, this is a cave worth seeing. Yeah. Absolutely. Set the bar.
SPEAKER_01And we kind of stumbled upon it. So we were really like We didn't even know we didn't know about it. So we're really glad that the lady said, Are you going to the caves? We're like, sure, let's go to the castle, right? Right. Let's go to the caves, whatever that means. And so we we were like, oh, that's what that means.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, really glad.
SPEAKER_01So yeah, so it's a 90-minute experience. You do train, you walk, then you walk through. So you do need to be comfortable walking, taking some stairs, things like that.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, walking up and down inclines.
SPEAKER_01And then and then you close out with the train ride. And so yeah, we'll be sharing images from this experience on our socials.
SPEAKER_04So uh one thing that you do get before you go in, I forgot to say you before you get on the train, you go through this little area where it's like a check-in area, but they're actually just handing you a little device, you wear it on your neck, and they give you for whatever your language that your main language is in. I guess they had like 20 options.
SPEAKER_01I feel like they had around 20 language options. Amazing.
SPEAKER_04So the guy handed me Korean first, and I was like, yeah, no, it's not gonna work for me. So he gave me an English one. It's it's about it's about this big. See what I'm saying? It's about that big, like a very small phone size ish. Uh TV remote.
SPEAKER_01And you can you can wrap it around your neck and then you just hold it up to your ear. I saw one guy with a stocking cap, and so he pulled that stocking cap over his ear and stuck his device in there. But that would work while you're listening.
SPEAKER_04But the thing is, you pass these little markers that say one, two, three, four. And each of those you push that number on the device and it plays what is appropriate for that section of the cave. And also the the guy giving the tour would say stuff, and he was speaking English at first. I thought he wasn't, and then we got close enough. I was like, oh, he's speaking English. I want to get closer and hear what this guy has to say. Really cool. It's not one of those, they didn't, they never turned out the lights, which would have been cool. I like that. Behind us, they would turn off, but we weren't in those sections anymore. One of the things they also offer is a spelunking tour of the cave. You go places that other people can't go. That's not normal tourist stuff, and that would be man. For what I saw, that cave, that could be super amazing and cool. So anyway, highly recommend that cave. Love it. Parking at both the castle and the cave, pretty easy, fairly self-explanatory.
SPEAKER_01We did have to pay additional for parking.
SPEAKER_04Yes, you do pay it both. You get a ticket as you go in and you pay the ticket before you go out. Uh so and both of them, you pay the ticket right there at the exit. So you don't have to go to a separate little place to pay it. You you drive up, you get a ticket, as you're leaving, you insert the ticket, you do your uh credit card, or tap to pay, apple pay or apple pay, whatever it is, kind of a thing. So parking, plenty of parking. Easy. Yeah, very easy.
SPEAKER_01Very fun, very exciting. New journeys for us, new patterns that we experienced. Recommended the patterns that the stalagtites and stalagmites made were amazing and inspiring.
SPEAKER_04Cave bacon.
SPEAKER_01So neat. So all of those patterns were just really, really fun to see.
The V-Cut Truffle Fries Idea
SPEAKER_01Now, Rory, speaking of pattern, I'm gonna completely shift gears here. Uh there we found a pattern in a P is for potatoes.
SPEAKER_04A P is for potato pattern?
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Yeah. That's good.
SPEAKER_04Okay.
SPEAKER_01So do you remember we went to a little Italian place? Was it in Italy?
SPEAKER_04In Vicenza.
SPEAKER_01We were in Vicenza, Italy. And we went to this Italian place.
SPEAKER_04We went out to have dinner. And as they had Italian food since we were in. But we we asked for Italian restaurants and they they nobody could point us to one. Then we just asked for a restaurant, and then of course we that's his ongoing.
SPEAKER_01Okay. But we basically went for like pizza or pasta. I don't remember. I think we went for pizza. You were in a pizza mood. Yeah. Okay. But for appetizers, they had a vegan, like fake chicken. And I was like, ooh, I want to see what they do with that. And so we got that. But then they had these like fries. Yeah. And so we're like, those look fun. Truffle fries. So let's do those for the appetizer. So I am not a fan of mushrooms. So I said, hey, any chance to get that truffle stuff on the side? And so they did.
SPEAKER_05Of course.
SPEAKER_01And so they brought out the fries. And y'all, they were in the potatoes. The fries were cut in a V shape.
SPEAKER_04Like little fry boats.
SPEAKER_01And this hollow thing was. I feel like I've definitely had fries in this shape before. So it wasn't maybe in Italy. But it's not it probably in Italy. It's not common to anything we've ever like. It's not a normal pattern for French fries. And anyway, so they made this V shape. And so Rory, since he got the truffle on the side, he had to take each fry individually and stuff it with the truffle.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, I'd put truffle in the little boat area inside.
SPEAKER_01Parmesan cheese or whatever. That was so good. And so now he wants to have in our restaurants, you know, the that that'll be a thing that we do is we have stuffed potatoes, stuffed fries, stuffed French fries. Because nobody's fine.
SPEAKER_04I mean, you can put stuff on fries. So that's our unique idea that we're going to do. Next step to take the process one cooler step further instead of just like pouring stuff on top of fries is the stuffed fries idea.
SPEAKER_01So we'll start playing with that. But yeah, you got to find something that's going to cut your fries into a V. And I'm sure we can find them in the States. We just never looked for them because we didn't know how cool that was. So that was just a really fun find and something fun we'll take home because we're gonna we love kind of just trying new things and cooking, trying new recipes and just trying new things at home and new ways to enjoy. You know, it's so fun that potatoes are so versatile and they're so good with like whatever you do with them.
SPEAKER_04And so except truffles in your case.
SPEAKER_01Right. Or don't add mayonnaise.
SPEAKER_04Oh anything but potato salad for me. But good mayo. That's a good idea.
SPEAKER_01Anyway, as we uh do our restaurants one day, you'll you'll see them Rory's Cajun restaurant, my vegan restaurant. You'll we'll find we'll give you versions of those.
SPEAKER_04You'll see her empty restaurant where you can hear the crickets all day long, and then my packed Cajun restaurant with human food that feeds the soul.
SPEAKER_01We'll we'll see who uh how the how all that goes.
SPEAKER_04We know how all that goes.
SPEAKER_01So yeah, this potato idea, uh, P is for potato idea, is definitely something we're bringing home with
Bringing Texture Into Home Renovation
SPEAKER_01us. And when we're thinking about patterns at home and how we're bringing our roam home, patterns get really interesting for us because I started realizing the same thing happens when we are working on our home, not only our physical space, but even our emotional spaces. We have our old 1916 house. And as we traveled on this trip, we noticed that, and this was another trigger for us doing the P is for Patterns episode. We were in this cool castle in Slovenia, a different one than the Projama, and there was this really cool, like white stuccoed wall, and part of it was revealing a brick wall behind it. And I pointed it out to Roy, and I'm like, Roy, I really love this wall. And he's like, Yeah, we, you know, I've noticed that you love the different textures and the different patterns. And I was like, Yes, I noticed that I love patterns and fabrics. Like, if if there's any clothing I love, it's it's because there's a lot of texture to it. It's not just a cotton with a print, like it's got some depth and texture built into the fabric. I love fabrics like that for clothing or bedding or pillows or anything, but also like walls. We have friends in Nashville, I'll put links to them in the show notes, but they create texture, like they will create designs of wood or brick or different things and give you a feature wall that has a lot of cool fun and texture and design built into it. So when we were in Slovenia, we noticed this wall in the castle. And our version of what that's gonna be when we renovate might be that we have some exposed shiplap that also incorporates some dry wall that's painted over, where we're combining maybe some stone or brick with that and having a variety of textures in the wall itself, variety of textures in the decor and in the types of decor we end up using. I just love texture patterns, things that look like somebody actually made them instead of something that came off just an assembly line. And I started realizing as we travel, we're photographing those same types of things. And so we just keep those photos as inspiration. We tuck that into our brain, and then as we renovate, we're gonna be incorporating those things. And, you know, we have really fun wallpapers we've talked about in our home already. We have the Halouse L'autrec French wallpaper that lines our upstairs bath. Down a downstairs bathroom has this really interesting wallpaper that if if we can keep it in the renovation, we're gonna keep it just because it's so like it's almost ugly that it's cool. It's just it's got this repeated pattern of like golds and blacks and gray and white, and it's like kind of like a tad Gotti, but like still tasteful. And it's just a fun wallpaper with a very cool pattern on it. And so, and I love the pattern in the wallpaper that lines our Airbnb guest bathroom. Love that wallpaper. Unfortunately, I think when we renovate, we're gonna have to bring that one down. So I'm hoping we'll be able to replicate the pattern that that wallpaper had and somehow make me happy with, you know, keeping as much of it as we can. But, you know, it can be the woodwork, doors, ceilings, fabrics, architectural detail. Those patterns and textures are what make a home feel alive and not so generic. But that's kind of how you can bring cozy and warmth into a space is bringing in that pattern and that texture. And so the more that we travel and that we see things, we're like, okay, that's what we like. The more, the more that we can explore other places, the more inspiration we bring to our own home. And so, again, just like another encouragement to you like get out and travel and go see other things because it can really bring a lot of inspiration, not only to your home, but to your daily life, your relationships, all those things. We find ourselves collecting inspiration without necessarily knowing that we're collecting it. And of course, that's what we love about traveling. And so we might not consciously be thinking, I'm gonna use this in my house, but we just notice things because we're drawn to them. And then six months later, six years later, you find yourself thinking, wait, I remember seeing something like that somewhere. That whole from Rome to home idea. You go somewhere, you experience something, it makes you feel something, and then you figure out how to bring a little bit of that feeling home. I think another example of a pattern or patterns that have followed me through my life is that my mom taught me how to sew. And I have been dealing with sewing patterns my whole life. And when I have time and a day off, I find myself the most things that I do with clothing now are crafty things. I love dyeing fabrics and get bringing new textures to them through like different colors from the dye, but also like trying to make a new outfit and things like that, and always need a pattern for that. My mom designed my dresses for prom and she would make up her own patterns because I would make up the dress. And so she might use the sleeves from this dress and the pattern of the bodice from this pattern, this dress. My mom knew how to piece all different patterns together to create something beautiful. And so I'm so grateful to my mom for her creativity. She doesn't realize how creative she is, but she's super creative. And so I think she's brought a lot of that into the things that I love to do. So things we learned from our parents, things we experienced growing up, things that make us feel safe or happy or curious, things that we create without even realizing we're doing it. Those are patterns that have been with us for a long time. And so patterns aren't just visual, right? That's that's where this idea of pattern is bigger than wallpaper or fabric or architecture. Patterns are things that you do, habits, routines, the ways we respond to things. I find that, you know, there's a lot of patterns that with my communication with Rory that I need to work on. Lots of those that I need to work on. But there are patterns, they're there are ways that we respond to things, places we go, grocery stores, people we spend time with, the things we say yes to, the things we avoid, things we keep putting off, things we come back to. Some patterns are really good for us. A morning routine, taking a walk, making time for creativity, calling people that you love, reading, praying, getting outside. Those little things that we do repeatedly can become a very good structural thing for our lives. And then on the other hand, there are also patterns that we might want to change or probably should change. And so maybe we keep saying yes when we really should be saying no, or we keep putting off something that's important to us. Or maybe we have the habit of taking ourselves out of trying something new and only just sticking with what's comfortable and choosing the easy thing just because it's familiar. And then we're not growing, we're not learning. And I think there's something powerful about simply recognizing the pattern because you can't really change something you haven't noticed. And you can't intentionally keep something good if you've never stopped to realize how much it's actually helping you. So I've been thinking about patterns, not just something we decorate or patterns with travel, but it's also those habits that build our lives. So I have a little challenge for you to think about the things that you're repeatedly drawn to. What do you keep photographing when you travel? What kind of pictures fill up your phone's photo album? What subjects have you been interested in for years, or books? What books do you keep wanting to read? What topics do you like to cover? What kind of homes or rooms make you stop scrolling? What foods do you always order? What activities do you always want to do on vacation? What are patterns you want to keep doing and patterns that you want to stop doing? What do you keep saying one day I want to? Or one day I'm going to visit this place. And ask yourself, what do all of these things have in common? You might just learn something about yourself and then take it one step further. What are the patterns in your life that you actually want to keep? What are the patterns you want to break? Maybe this year do a little more of the first and a little less of the second.
Patterns As Habits You Can Change
SPEAKER_01And that brings us to something else I love about patterns. Patterns aren't just something we notice. Sometimes we make them. And there's something really special about that. There's something different about an object that somebody has made with their own hands. And you can see the choices that were made. You can see the repetition. You can see the craftsmanship, and you can see the little things that make it unique. And that's exactly what we're getting in with our guest today. Our guest is Case Forrest, the maker behind Case's Customs in New Mexico. Case was born and raised in Rudoso, moved to Las Cruces to attend New Mexico State University, and eventually moved back home to Rudoso in 2021. He creates his own beautiful custom board work. And I know Rory is like so jealous of Case because he's working on his work table so he can start creating things with wood at home. And so this is something that Rory's passionate about. So it's really fun that we get to talk with Case today. And I love that his work isn't just about making something functional. There are patterns and details that are built into the pieces themselves. And so you can see the craftsmanship and the care. And he has that custom work philosophy. You name it, he will make it custom. So we're going to talk with Case about woodworking, patterns, craftsmanship, creating custom pieces and what it's like to make something with your own hands. And because we're talking about from Rome to home, the things we see and experience when we're traveling can influence the things we choose to make and bring into our own homes. So this is a really fun connection to what we've been talking about because patterns can be something you discover. They can be something you inherit, something you repeat, and something you create. So let's dive in with Case Forrest of Case's Customs.
Case’s Customs Woodwork And Epoxy
SPEAKER_01Case, thank you so much for joining us today. And P is for patterns. And again, we want to thank Case and the New Mexico Department of Agriculture for supporting this episode. And Case, we are so excited to talk with you because you create very cool patterns in your work. And we just want to get to know you and learn more about you and what you do. And uh hopefully people can then reach out for you for their custom work.
SPEAKER_04So reach out to you for their custom work, even.
SPEAKER_06Yes. Absolutely. Well, I'm excited to be here. I'm glad you guys called and see what we can do.
SPEAKER_01Awesome.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, man.
SPEAKER_01Well, do you want to kick us off and just tell us a little bit about what you do so that if people have not yet heard of you?
SPEAKER_06Um so I've been in woodwork since I was a kid. My dad was a carpenter, did framework building, blah, blah, blah. 2012. I started Fine woodworking, built about four custom cutting boards for a pretty lean Christmas. I was in the middle of college, zero money, spent 60 bucks on hardwood, some maple and some cherry, built four little in-grain cutting boards. They ended up having a real cool pattern, gave them to the family. By the end of the next year, I had over 500 ordered. And so by accident, I started building custom cutting boards. Um, mostly in-grained, which gives you a straight grain boards, have straight grain straight through them, in grain have the in-grain turned up. They give it just a checkered pattern or a much cooler pattern than just the straight coloration. And so that's where it all started. Just built one and then built another and then built another and then built a website and then quit. I was at an archery shop for 12 years. I was managing an archery shop in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Woodworking got to be so busy I was having to tell jobs no because I had a full-time job. And so after 12 years, I stopped that and went full-time woodworking for about three years. And so now I do full-time woodworking and I work for a brewery.
SPEAKER_04Two full-time jobs. Yeah, it happens.
SPEAKER_06I know.
SPEAKER_01Okay, so you make very cool cutting boards, but yeah, I did notice you also have some cool things, uh, other offerings that you do. So tell us about a little bit about like if someone wants to have you create something custom and first of all, tell us what are you?
SPEAKER_06Yeah, absolutely. So I started with straight wood cutting boards. That progressed into people wanted charcuterie boards. Yeah, um, they're wanting display, they're wanting centerpiece items. So then I sort of started incorporating epoxy resin into some of the live edge wood pieces I had, making what ended up being scrap wood into centerpieces for kitchen islands and tables. So I've that progressed into recently, because I'm with his brewery, I built a tankard, a wooden mug back in 2000, before I even started woodworking full-time, 12, 11, whatever. And I'd never seen anything like it because it wasn't lathed. I didn't put it on a lathe, I didn't turn it around. It segmented into an octagon, which it's a very tedious process. But I built one and it became popular. And so now that's I'm still doing cutting boards and charcuterie, but the last about year it's been pure tankards, wooden tankards.
SPEAKER_05Wow.
SPEAKER_06And so that's progressed into that, and I've built them for graduations. I mean, I build them for sale at the brewery events, but also graduations, wedding gifts. I've had a set ordered for ride and groom, stuff like that. And so that's where it's progressed from there. And I've also, I mean, I've done custom tables, river epoxy tables a few years ago when they were popular, stuff like that.
SPEAKER_05Yeah.
SPEAKER_06Um, but these tankers right now are just I can't build enough of them. I'm having to take time off of the brewery job like I was in archery to get back into the wood shop a little more often.
SPEAKER_04Wow. Yeah, that sounds like it'll be very time intensive.
SPEAKER_06It is. It's just it what at the end of it, when it's done, it's cool. Like it's just satisfying, I guess is the right word.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, but it's a lot of pieces to make a single piece, you know?
SPEAKER_06It's a lot of steps. I think it's 14 steps to make one tankard.
SPEAKER_01Woo!
SPEAKER_06Have mercy.
SPEAKER_01So what about like the cutting boards? How many steps for a cutting board? Is it less?
SPEAKER_06Yeah, yes. Cutting boards are a lot simpler. Well, straight grain cutting boards are easy. You you glue up your first glue up, set your pattern, finish it. It's it's pretty simple. In grain, you build your first cutting board, cut that one into pieces, re-glue it together, refinish it. So it's a little more tedious than straight grain, and then tankards is that times two.
SPEAKER_05Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_06So it's just they're all they're all processes, and at the end of the day, with woodworking, if you don't like sanding, don't woodwork. Because that's 80% of everything I do is sanding steps.
SPEAKER_00Okay. Okay, good to know. Do you uh do you sweep or vacuum?
SPEAKER_06Next question.
unknownOkay.
SPEAKER_06About once a month I'll I'll do a good deep sweep, deep clean. We have a uh dust collection system that's that's tiny. It's much too small for our space. And so it does what it can, but about once a month I just get fed up and do a deep, deep clean, deep sweep, blow off, just everything.
SPEAKER_04You're doing a lot of cutting, it gets everywhere. Everywhere. I mean, golly. I've tried I've sort of pseudo-turned my garage into a wood woodworking shop. I don't have a vacuum system. And I thought, well, I'm I'm gonna put my um shop vac, you know, I'm gonna try and shove it in the end where it's supposed to come out.
SPEAKER_06Absolutely.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, that's step one. Yeah, and uh, well, you know, it comes out.
SPEAKER_06It helps some. It helps more than zero.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, it helps more.
SPEAKER_06Just not much more, not much more than zero.
SPEAKER_04Exactly. Thank you very much. Not much more than zero.
SPEAKER_06And that's where I started. When I first started, I had a chop saw and a table saw in the front yard that I'd have to take out of a closet, an outdoor closet, put back in, take out, put back in. Then I'd sweep up the driveway because I can't just leave it. And so you're at a good point. If you're getting started, that's you're not any different than any other woodworker. You're doing it right.
SPEAKER_04Well, maybe I didn't do it exactly right. I collected a whole bunch of tools first.
SPEAKER_06Well, that's the fun part. It is. That's what I was saying. You did the fun part first.
SPEAKER_04I did all the fun part first.
SPEAKER_01He might not make anything, but he's got tools.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, he's got all the cool tools. I love that.
SPEAKER_04I've I've got a buddy, he's an older gentleman, and he was in woodworking off and on his whole life, and he finished up his career in woodworking, and so he gave me just a ton of old chisels and planes. It's just like really cool stuff, you know.
SPEAKER_06Yeah. And that the older stuff is just more unique, better built, funner to use. So that's awesome. Yeah, very cool.
SPEAKER_01At our home, we have trees that had to be cut down. Unfortunately, we had some really nice old trees, and you say they're pecans.
SPEAKER_04Well, old pecans. They were like anywhere from 100 to 125, 50 years old. I mean, they were crazy. I couldn't believe that's awesome. Oh, I couldn't believe the grain and the colors. I've just blown away. It's gorgeous. I had instead of throwing them away, because I love history, and I couldn't stand the thought of having to like destroy those trees. I had them all milled, about two and a half inches, live edged, and perfect.
SPEAKER_01And now now we can't put our cars in the garage. No, no, no. I'm just saying.
SPEAKER_06Yet we can't put our cars in the garage yet.
SPEAKER_01Yet.
SPEAKER_06Just have just have to finish the sentence and keep hope.
SPEAKER_01Thanks, Casey.
SPEAKER_06I think hope's hope has left the building.
SPEAKER_04Okay, so Rory, I understand.
SPEAKER_01Rory has his planks, his milled planks, he's got tools. Rory, do you have any advice you want to ask from Case that might be helpful? Oh, just so much advice.
SPEAKER_04Well, you know, I was I was checking out your website and I saw a lot of the beautiful epoxy uh pieces that you made. And so uh a lot of this wood, like you said, it looks a bit like throwaway wood. But when you can use things like epoxy to fill in those areas, you can make some really beautiful things and patterns. Yeah, and and some beautiful patterns. Well, that's the thing. I'm moving the wood floor that we're on right now. We're in Switzerland, the floor is all wood. It's old wood and it had holes all through it, but they filled them all in. The entire house is covered in wood floor that's wood, and I guess it's epoxy. It's black. I guess that's what they would use for flooring.
SPEAKER_06Or floor, I wouldn't know for flooring. I know a lot of guys will mix like your type on three wood glue with super fine sawdust from the wood that the wood floor is made out of.
SPEAKER_05Yeah.
SPEAKER_06And then trowel it in almost like grout. Well, uh, that wouldn't be black though. So the black, I would assume, is a form of epoxy.
SPEAKER_04Maybe, yeah, but it's gorgeous. And the different patterns that it takes in the wood, because it's there may be a hole here, but then a bunch of little, little bitty cracks and slits that it fills into. And then all filled. Oh gosh, once you plane that out and uh sand it and everything, it's gorgeous. I'm loving loving some of your pieces.
SPEAKER_06Like that back to the epoxy thing. So my wife has been helping with the coloration. I I'll make a blue one and a red one and an orange one, and that's plenty for me. I do the the sanding. She likes to mix colors, do hues of turquoise and and add streaks of orange, and so she's on that side of it.
SPEAKER_01Fine.
SPEAKER_06And some of the pat some of the patterns and the way the epoxy, so when epoxy cures, it heats. And so there's a movement inside the epoxy as it cools down and sets up, because it will get warm and then it cools and settles and and hardens. So you she can have a the pattern in there perfect. That's exactly how she wants it. It comes back the next morning, 100% different. Absolutely. It'll take the colorations and sometimes they spin, sometimes they swirl, sometimes they they'll settle. And so the top of the epoxy is colored but kind of see-through, and the bottom is straight green or turquoise, like non-see-through. And so that the the way sometimes she loves it, sometimes she gets frustrated. But at the end of it, it's all like every pattern's different, no matter how hard we try to make it the same.
SPEAKER_05Yeah.
SPEAKER_06Which I think is awesome. I love I can't make two of the exact same thing no matter how hard I try.
SPEAKER_04Isn't that amazing? Everyone's unique. Yeah.
SPEAKER_06That is everyone. And I I think that's awesome.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_04I do.
SPEAKER_06I've built set, I built sets for like a wedding party. A lady wanted for her daughter's wedding party, and so one piece of live edge walnut. Wow. I just cut them all. I did in one 16 pieces, sand and went through the whole thing. Other than the grain structure running through all 16, the epoxy side of it, every one of them are different. You would think I built every single one different because the patterns in the epoxy, even though it was in the same form, changed so much for it. Being seven foot, I cut into 16 pieces, six and a half feet. And in each piece, is the pattern's different, even though it's in the same mold.
SPEAKER_05Man. I love it.
SPEAKER_06And so the stuff like that is awesome. I tried to make two of the same thing, can't do it.
SPEAKER_04Not gonna happen. How great about it? Yeah, I love it. How big of a pain is epoxy to work with? I guess that's what I've I've always wondered. You know, do I want to get in?
SPEAKER_06Yes and no. When I first started, because epoxy is not cheap, it's it's the most expensive part of a like a charcuterie bill that's 12 inches by 24 inches. If it's half wood, half epoxy, epoxy is double the cost of the wood, almost no matter what wood. So it's first of all, it's expensive. Second of all, when I first started, if you don't mix the proportions right, like I was doing mine by weight, I didn't know you were actually supposed to be doing it by volume. So I had a handful of mixes. I'll mix, get the color in, pour it. Two days later, I'll come and see, make sure it's starting to set up, and it's bubble gum. It's just tacky. I can't clean it off. I can't get the wood piece back out. The form it was in usually is ruined, so it's a throwaway. Complete 30 ounces of epoxy, which is about $1.50 an ounce, out the window.
SPEAKER_05Wow.
SPEAKER_06Same with the piece of wood that I bought. So when I first started, there was a lot of learning. A lot of a lot of learning. Once you get it to where you make sure you're doing your measurements right, you're mixing properly, the environment's not too hot. If it's too hot, it'll it'll flash cure. And so it'll cure on the outside, but the inside's not cured, so it stays rubber. Uh, if it's too cold, it's not the worst, but it takes weeks and weeks to set up. And so when I started, not worth it. Now that I've been in a few years, totally worth it. You should totally do it. So then I mean, it's all you two, it's all YouTube university. I've learned everything I've I know about the epoxy side of it, all of YouTube. Finding some of the bigger companies that've been doing it longer, learning from them. And so epoxy's great. It's just it makes things that would have been in the firewood pile center pieces on an island.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. Yeah. I've got some beautiful pieces, six, seven feet long, you know, 24, 32 inches wide, just gorgeous pieces, so much beautiful movement and patterns and flow through the wood and the colors. And some have got beautiful holes in them. And I was like, what? I want to leave the holes, or do I want to work with epoxy?
SPEAKER_06Yeah. But something like that, if you wanted to run clear epoxy, you keep the hole, but it's filled.
SPEAKER_05Yeah.
SPEAKER_06So a lot of people run straight clear epoxy and have it, and when you finish it, it's a different process, but but you buff it back to completely glass, and you get to keep the like the bug pattern holes that the bug tree. You get to keep and see that, but it's filled. You can still watch it, you can still clean it. There's no crevice for dirt, stuff like that.
SPEAKER_04Well, that's great. Yeah. I've got some some some that are uh rounds that I'm making tabletops out of, you know, for a coffee table kind of thing. They're they're huge. Absolutely. But I think that would look what I did is what you said. I took I took some glue and I mixed some fine sawdust that I'd gotten off the pieces into it. It it feels yeah, I think it feels it. But it doesn't look great. I think something like that, the epoxy would look way better.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, and there's tons of options in that in that van of it.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. You guys need to check out his website, Cases Customs. And you can see I was clicking through, you can scroll through tons of pictures of different things that you've created, and dude, it was just some beautiful stuff. That the checkerboard cutting board you made, I was like, did you cut all those little pieces? How the heck, man?
SPEAKER_06I I get that question a lot. Like, how'd you get this pattern? How'd you get that pattern? I don't know. Like there are there's programs out there, you can tell it what straight pieces of wood you're starting with, and it'll tell you what it would look like flipped. And I I used it once, I didn't like it. So now blew up different colorations of wood in a straight grain pattern, different thicknesses or widths. Um, and once you cut them, flip them up and rotate each one, then the pattern comes out and you're just like, wow, didn't know that was happening. Love that. Oh, and so it's it's kind of a shock every time.
SPEAKER_01I love that. I love that you're getting to work with your hands and be creative. And it I feel like the art that you do and the creativity you have is almost like a card game. Because like one that requires skill, but also it's the luck of the draw. Which you're done. It really is. It really is. You you have a nice fun mix of hey, I've got the craft, I've got the skill, I know how to work this, but nature's gonna take its course and and these materials are just gonna like create themselves, and and that's just really exciting.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, but at the end of it, the look is it's up to the the material. I I try to do certain things, and sometimes it's kind of close, and sometimes it's not even close out of the ballpark, not even sure.
SPEAKER_04I I I told my mom the other day, I said, I think that my job is to take this beautiful thing that God's created and just kind of display it. Because like like you said, you get all these pieces of wood, you go, oh well, you put them together. I was not expecting that.
SPEAKER_06That isn't I didn't expect this look, I didn't expect expect this these hues. I didn't know this coloration would and then when you oil a cutboard, the grain structure and all the colors pop, and it's even way different than when it was put together dry. And so that's the other having an oil pop to having the color pop is one of the best reveals of any project, is that part.
SPEAKER_04What's what's your favorite oil to work with? I've used tongue and the ODs. I'm about to start cutting boards.
SPEAKER_06To keep it food safe and food grade, it's only food grade mineral oil, yeah, is all.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, okay.
SPEAKER_06A few people use a few other things. There's a company, Walrus Oil, that's mineral oil, and they add some other things to it, but it's ultimately mineral, is all I use.
SPEAKER_04I've seen uh some use walnut and stuff like that, but mineral oil seems to be parallel.
SPEAKER_06It's at least expensive. It lasts the longest. It's a little thinner, so it soaks into my boards a little bit better. And then so I do a soap with that, and then for finish finish after that, I have a four-part beeswax, one part mineral oil mix. I melt up, and then that gets buffed on, and then a can of that goes with the cutting board. So anytime it gets a little dry or it looks a little hazy, you just take some and rub it on, and boards look new again. That's so cool.
SPEAKER_01I feel like I would be scared to actually cut on one of your cutting boards because they're so beautiful.
SPEAKER_04She'd get in trouble if she put a big knife mark on it.
SPEAKER_01Right. Do people I think that's probably why people gravitate to the charcuterie option with your work because it's so beautiful. But like, you know, I guess people actually cut on the cutting boards, or do they end up just displaying them?
SPEAKER_06Both.
unknownOkay.
SPEAKER_06So when I first started a much younger, and I took mild offense, I'd I'd give a board as a gift, or someone would buy just a beautiful ingrained juice screw, finger hold foot cutting board, and I'd go visit them a year or two later, and it was as clean and perfect as the day I gave it to them. Guys, why why don't y'all use this? Oh, it's too pretty. And I used to take offense. I built this to be used. Like it, it's right. If you didn't want to use it, I could have made it out of pine, I could have stained it. It looked okay, and it you wouldn't have lasted if you tried to use it, but if you're not using it, later in life, I've I've grown up and it's your board. You can do what you want. But my mother got a geek, that one of the ones when I started in 2012, has had it and uses it just about every day. It's much smaller, it's an everyday board. She uses it every day since 2012. Every Christmas, I run it right through the uh drum standard and do about a 10-minute refinish. Man, looks brand new.
SPEAKER_03Oh bet.
SPEAKER_06So if you have an in-grain, a true in-grain cutting board, do not be afraid to use it.
SPEAKER_00Okay.
SPEAKER_06Yeah. Now the charcuterie, yeah, charcuterie you can't cut on. The epoxy is strong, but it will take scratches, and so it is for display. So if you don't want to cut on something, charcuterie is the way to go. If you have a true hardwood in-grained cutting board, the in-grains, because the grains are all standing up kind of like a paintbrush. Yeah. And so when you cut onto it, the grains actually accept that knife edge, keeping your knife sharper longer, but also not scratching nearly as easy as like a straight grain or a or a charcuterie board. So ingrains, even though you use them daily, look great much longer. And so if everyone's afraid to use them, don't be. Use them. It's not furniture.
SPEAKER_01I love that. I love I love art that is also useful. Yes, functional. That's functional beauty.
SPEAKER_05Functional art.
SPEAKER_01I love that.
SPEAKER_05Absolutely. Yes.
SPEAKER_01So when we talked about the materials kind of have their own way sometimes, how does that affect your custom orders?
SPEAKER_06It does. And that's one of my one of the first questions, or one of the first statements is we're talking to a client. I want this, this, and this. And they'll send me pictures, which is super helpful because I I don't always see what they're seeing in their head, vice versa. And so they'll send me pictures, this pattern-ish, or they'll say this pattern with this coloration with this, and I'll I'll talk to them. Like I can get close. I can keep the same colors, I can keep roughly the same patterns. No guarantee you're gonna get this this picture. In fact, guarantee you're not gonna get this exact picture.
SPEAKER_05Right.
SPEAKER_06But it will be very close. And if you don't like at the end of the day, if my client's not happy, it's not they don't have to take it. It's fine. But more often than not, that's better than the picture. That's like, and it wasn't my doing by any means. It's I just put the colorations, the reds or purple hearts or maples, whatever, together, and it came out how it came out. Nine times out of ten, everyone's in love with that.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, so good.
SPEAKER_06Beautiful wood. The epoxy is even worse. Like, I people like, I like this green. Like, neat. Should have bought that one. Because I I'll get close. My wife, uh, she's measuring all her mica powders, and she's getting close. Ish, close in like horseshoes' hand grenades. Like it kind of close.
SPEAKER_04Right, close, close is gonna count, guys.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, close counts in horseshoe hand grenades and epoxy coloration.
SPEAKER_01There you go.
SPEAKER_06So it's it's really fun.
SPEAKER_01If someone wants to order from you, what's the best approach to reach out to you?
SPEAKER_06Any of the social medias, uh, my email, cases customs uh cases customs at gmail. Um, any of that's easy. My Instagram is c.customs, Facebook is cases customs, any of it works. I I check them all daily.
SPEAKER_01Okay. We will put a link to that in the show notes so someone can just reach out to you and ask for their custom woodwork to beautify their home. And this is such a great way to bring Rome to home because you are in New Mexico. Yeah. And before we wind down, I just want to to get kind of a feel. Since you are under the umbrella of the New Mexico Department of Agriculture, what uh qualifies you, I guess, for being under their umbrella as far as being specific to New Mexico?
SPEAKER_06That's the thing. So I live in New Mexico, everything's built here in New Mexico. Majority of the wood products I I get and I use are actually here from Merdoso. Otherwise, they're out of Albuquerque. There's a store up there I use. So everything's a local product right here in Mexico, Redoso, New Mexico, to be exact.
SPEAKER_01Love it. So even the wood comes from New Mexico.
SPEAKER_06A lot of it does, yes, ma'am.
SPEAKER_01A lot of it, but not all.
SPEAKER_06Not all of it. No, so some of like the cutting boards I'll use, Padu, Brazilian purple heart, babinga, stuff like that. It's all an exotic import. I they just it doesn't grow here.
SPEAKER_05Totally.
SPEAKER_06But like your pecan, the pecan tree you have, I get a lot of pecan here. We have a lot of black walnut, maple, like doesn't come from here, here, but I can get it out of Albuquerque. And then for the charcuterie, juniper, cedar, there's just a lot of New Mexico woods I can use in my charcuterie. I can't really use in the cutting boards because cutting boards doesn't need to be a closed grain hardwood. Charcuterie can be anything pretty.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, right. Okay, okay. You're gonna make it hard.
SPEAKER_01That's awesome.
SPEAKER_06Absolutely. That's exactly right.
SPEAKER_01I love it. So I love that New Mexico flair that you bring in, but your designs aren't necessarily. Like New Mexico themed in that regard. They are just they're crafted and created in New Mexico, and you bring your flair and your instinct and craftsmanship to the whole thing. Is there anything, Case, you want to say about the New Mexico Department of Agriculture?
SPEAKER_06I mean, they they've been great. They I know Nick Frazini, which I don't know who you guys are in contact with. Nick Frazini is the guy I talked to, and then Sabrina up there. They are awesome. They're trying to make sure New Mexico is pushed higher on the list of things that we're capable of doing. Those guys go everywhere. Nick's supposed to be heading to DC this coming Thursday to take NMDA somewhere. They have a event trailer that they take all over the nation to show New Mexico to everyone else. We have green chili, we have produce, salsas, woodworking, jewelry, everything. And so they're doing a great job promoting New Mexico as a whole.
SPEAKER_05Yeah.
SPEAKER_01And I love that we get to bring that flavor, that flair to our home because I don't live in New Mexico anymore. So it's just really fun that, you know, as we roam and as they're roaming and spreading the word about all the fun things that are created in New Mexico. And that's something that we can personally bring home. And we're excited to see something of yours in our home. And we really appreciate your time and you're just getting to know you a little bit a little bit. And y'all, we're gonna post some of his artwork on our socials at the Roamies. So again, all of that goodness of links and such will be in the show notes, so you can click on those and connect with him and get your next tankard or cutting board or charcuterie or describe whatever else you make.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, but get it in the sooner the better, because he gets a lot of orders. Yes.
SPEAKER_06That is a true statement. Be patient. Come on. I appreciate it. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Thanks so much, Case.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, thanks. Well, thank you guys. I appreciate it. Yes,
Closing Thanks And How To Follow
SPEAKER_06sir.
SPEAKER_01You know, patterns can be comforting, beautiful. They can tell you things about yourself. Some patterns are things we've inherited, some patterns are things that we've built. They help us recognize things in ourselves. And they don't have to be a cage. We can keep the things that make us happy, get rid of the patterns that don't. We can leave room for something completely unexpected. And I think that's the best kind of pattern to have: patterns to keep learning, to keep noticing, keep making, keep exploring. And every once in a while, go somewhere you've never been, try something you never tried, and find and discover a new pattern. We want to say one more huge thank you to the New Mexico Department of Agriculture for supporting this episode. And again to Case Force and Case's Customs as well for supporting this episode and joining us and sharing his story and his work. We will have links in the show notes to all of these things so you can get connected with them. And we love getting to highlight people who are making beautiful things, especially when those things are made with skill, intention, and a whole lot of love. So if you love beautiful custom woodwork, definitely check out Case's Customs and see what Case is creating. And as he says, you name it, he'll make it custom. Thank you again for roaming with us, and we'll see you on the next one. We hope we've inspired you this episode.
SPEAKER_04So join us next time.
SPEAKER_01Please subscribe to, rate, and share our podcast with your friends.
SPEAKER_04Or, you know, whomever.
SPEAKER_01And please like and follow us on Instagram, YouTube, and Facebook.
SPEAKER_04We are also on X and on all social platforms. We are at The Roamies. That's T-H-E. R O A M. I E S. And our main hub is our website.
SPEAKER_01At www.theRomies dot com.
SPEAKER_04That's right, that's T H E.
SPEAKER_01R O A M. I E S dot com. We'll be there until next time. Yeah, thanks for listening. Bye.