Okay, so Sarah Stork, you are a welding artist. Is that kind of the title that you normally go by? That's typically what I go by because I'm using welding as my medium to make metal sculptures. So that's why I say metal, I'm a welding artist because I work with and I'm using the quality. - Okay, perfect. So we are here at Fabtech 2025. You get to be my first interview on the floor, which I'm really excited about. And you are also the now second in our Women in the Trades series. So yeah, why don't you just start off, tell me a little bit about what you're doing right now and maybe a little bit how you got into what you've been working on. - Okay, so I first started to learn to weld. I went to the community college and got my associates in code welding, but that wasn't the path that I was headed on. I really just wanted to learn to weld, to build a fence around our property, to keep cows on. And so I go there to the community college and the instructor noticed that, "Hey, I'm an artist, I can paint." - Yeah. - And he said, "Well, maybe you should make a sculpture for SkillsUSA and so I went to SkillsUSA and Texas and got gold at the state level and then I went to Nationals and got silver in 2015. And what is SkillsUSA? SkillsUSA is like a trades competition for high school students and college students where you connect industry related people with the instructors and students so that way we can promote trades as an option to students, so that way they're not trying to go after that four -year degree or who knows, like a master's and some degree that really doesn't have a job. You know, because trades are very important to have. And we definitely need more in the trades. So SkillsUSA helps get that together, and they had one of those competitions which was Welded Sculpture. So my instructor wanted me I made a sculpture and I made a long horn bulb and I got the silver at Nashum's second place. So again, the next year I did it again and I went back to Nationals and I got gold in 2016. And then I realized I can just maybe just make sculptures and I don't have to be on the pipeline. I don't have to do iron working. I can still apply the structural knowledge that I had learned. Do something fun and creative while also being a skilled trade. Yes, yes. So now I have my own shop on the property. I did build a fence around the property, so we do a house. So that did get accomplished. Okay, okay. And now I have my shop and I've got all the equipment that I need to make anything that anybody wants. And that's what they do. They commission me to make sculptures. And as of right Now I have a two year wait list and I have a massive sea turtle on my shop floor. - Yes, I saw that one on LinkedIn. That is amazing. I was actually going to ask you about that. That's incredible. I love that one. - He's heavy. He's really heavy. - I would imagine that he is. What is, what type of materials are you using for this specifically? - Well, as you know, metal can be very expensive. You can buy gold, make it out of gold. and that's, you know, a pretty high price, maybe like 3 ,000 an ounce or something or maybe 4 ,000 ounce. But, you know, mild steel is the availability you can pick up at most places and it's cheaper than working with stainless steel or aluminum or copper or titanium. And I'm able to experiment because making art, you're still just learning how to find out to how to make a certain texture or, you know, something in a three -dimensional manner because we really do not have any blueprints. A lot of the structural, there's blueprints to follow and like, you know, the whole work procedures to follow and people have already done it before and you'll do it again. Yeah. With all the, you know, AWS and the code wells and that's required for structural but art, you know, we're experimenting and trying to figure out how best to make something look like it's a way you were yes like I want or like you know what it should look like and and just have fun with it it's definitely so trial and error for sure yeah but that could be the fun part of it right you start out with a little piece and you're trying to figure out how to do a certain kind of pattern um and see if that would work on a larger portion yeah and Then you go, well, you know, that's not going to work. Let me try a different way to move that well pool around and get it to freeze in certain areas. So that way I can get buildups here, buildup there. And then I get this, you know, scalloped lip going. There's certain things that I'm trying to apply to. - Yeah. Was that your most recent thing that you did discover? Like your most recent, what was the most recent like specific skill that you kind of tested out to see If you wanted to manipulate the weld to look a certain way, was it that scalloped look that you were going for? Well, not really, but on the sea turtle. I had a lot of complaints about mean knocking down the surface of it because I had to do a built up and here you can look like growth pattern rings. And it wasn't like on the top of the shell, it was just on the flippers. And so I had knocked it down because I've done sea turtles before and that's what I usually do is because I like to create those Valleys to create that that depth with light. Yeah, and so you have these lines because you've got shadows So this time around on the turtle. I'm working out over there at fume free I'm doing the the growth rings. Yeah, I'm going to leave them this time Okay They're going around and around and and around and then my eyes start going like this. - Yes. - Towards the end. - Yes. Well, that's awesome that, and you're, so you're doing a live weld with Fume Free. I saw that on LinkedIn, which is super cool. Is that something that you're doing every day of the show this week, or was that just today? - That's today, that is tomorrow, and Wednesday only, Thursday. I have to leave here and then go back, huh? - Yep. - And my flight leaves at two o 'clock so I show up for a little bit on Thursday and I mean like I love you guys thank you so much you gotta get out of here gotta make that yeah and you said you said you are on a farm that's that's where you originally learned how to how to do this skill right well I've learned this skill at the college but I do we live on 14 acres okay and yes we do have farm animals but it's not like a huge - Yeah, okay. - I don't have like 50 cows. I have like, we call it labor camp, that our friends bring over two pregnant females and they have their babies and they graze around for a little while and then they got, you know, take back and then here comes another two and then they'll have their babies. So I get to watch baby cows being born and run around, they're so cute. - I have actually heard, we've had a couple other people on the podcast that had their start or their background was being on a farm and they learned how to weld because they had to fix so much of their own equipment that then it eventually just became it made more sense for them to do it themselves because they were having it done all the time. And so I've just noticed that that seems to be a very common occurrence with people that end up learning the trade is that might end up being the background there. And sometimes that you know repair for your farm equipment You just got to get it done. Doesn't matter how it looks, it just has to work because you've got to finish the job that you started because the rain's coming and those fields need to be plowed. - Yeah, yeah, and it's not going to wait on you guys for sure. - Hurry up. We'll fix it, you know, just temporary fix and then we'll fix it later, but you know. - Are you doing a lot of that too? Are you doing a lot of like repairing your own equipment along with the artistic and creative side? Are you like, I'm done with that. - I'm done with that. - I have moved on from that side of the face. - Occasionally, I guess some friends that will bring something over, like weld some, you know, teeth back on a bucket. - Yeah, something more like low key. - But that's like high carbon steel. So it takes like preheating and having the right filler metal to join that metal together. So that way, you still keep the integrity of that high carbon steel. - Okay, and I only know a little bit about this, but I know enough that, what type of welding are you normally doing? Are you doing, it's mig, tig, and stick welding? Is that all, those are all different? Yeah, there's mig, tig, stick, oxy -fuel welding, which encompasses brazing and then there's plasma cutting, or there's laser welding, but I'm not getting laser welding right now, even though like the guys have been trying to sell me laser equipment, they're like you can use it for your art and I said well I get it because you know oxyfield welding used to be how they did it you know before it was forged welding where you were blacksmithing things together and then every every generation it just there's one more process to add to that list and the more it gets cleaner and cleaner and more precise and you know I like to see where the laser is gonna go, but right now I'm still learning and experimenting. - Yeah, and that's actually, given that we're a tech company within the metals industry, that's something I love to ask people about as well and just get their perspectives on is like, where do you see a lot of these emerging technologies in our industry specifically going? Is that, have you been looking into that the most with like the lasers and all of those kind of-- - And the co -bots? Yes, yeah, so my son he just turned 18 and he graduated high school and now he's at the same college that I went to and he's learning attitude well and I told him I said you know if you want to make yourself very valuable in the welding field for the future especially with that you're young you know computers very well and a lot of these kids know how to do gaming and work with robots anyway if you can learn to weld and you can learn how to work that cobot and learn how to repair that cobot. - It's a very valuable asset to have on a team. - It's like speaking three languages. - Yes, absolutely. And that is something that I think a lot of the conversations happening right now, especially in the LinkedIn community and on our podcast even, is this skilled trades gap. And I know we were kind of discussing that a little bit before rolling about how we do need more skilled workers. And so from your perspective, how are we going to close that gap if we can? I know some people are kind of saying we're a little bit behind on that, but what's your take on helping to close that gap? Okay, so I think the gap had happened during COVID because that's where we were headed in a good direction. A lot of our students are still being interactive and taking trades and learning skills like that. Then then we had COVID and then all of a sudden it was a lot harder to get them to be more social 'cause they were, there was always on their computers and like just FaceTiming people. So now they're getting back into it, which I've heard that the generation that my son had to graduate from, they call that the tool belt generation. 'Cause they're expecting that these students, they're very conservative and they work hard and they look at the going to college for your degree, it's a waste of money and a waste of time. And they find that there's gonna be this huge opportunity with businesses where you have those that are gonna be retiring and then they're gonna be moving on and their businesses, these kids are like, I'll take that as a welding shop, and I will make it even better. So I think they're more motivated than the last generation in between, in between from year 2000 and now, like probably right around COVID, that just this little tiny gap. When you have it hooked up like that, you can see the ripple of that. - It's really hard to get, come back from that sometimes and make up for that and well also a big conversation that we've been having within our company and that we've heard a lot of talk about is AI and AI in the industry and then as a whole how it is replacing a lot of those people that went to college. So now everyone's saying now they want the trades workers 'cause those are the people that won't get replaced. Yes, it is. And they're finally saying well like you would be smart to look into the trades as a viable option when you will be the person that you're not gonna get replaced by AI like so many of the desk jobs will be automated and they will become. It's already frustrating enough when you're on the call center and it's like the automated call center and you're screaming right put somebody fucking human on the damn phone. Nothing is more difficult than when you can't even get the number and you have to click like speak with someone No, I want to speak with someone. Please. Let me chat with someone. Then you guys make a big loop right back at the beginning. It's never ending. Yeah, that I fear AI that will get worse We're gonna get frustrated that will get worse But hopefully hopefully I mean it is a great thing to see with this gap. Hopefully closing within our history and I I we had on Chris Luke do you know he's the manufacturing happy hour podcast and he is like he was on our podcast a couple of the so to go and he is a massive trades advocate but his take on it I'm so glad to be hearing about the tool belt generation yet calling it because he was saying he thought as though like we are already behind like we have we're going to have to get caught up and I don't, I don't doubt that we're going to recover from, you know, it'll be fine. A lot of those kids are realizing either they can't afford it. They can't afford to go to that big fancy college and they're going to realize, well, you know what, it's better to make some money now because, you know, you could actually make some good money after about, you know, a semester or two, get a certificate and then you're making like three times times amount of a student that's actually in college working at a sandwich shop. Absolutely and that's on the job training like you are already there getting firsthand experience every single day when you're going to some of these more technical schools versus. And universities and those you know those are all very viable options because you know we still need the engineers and we need but it's you definitely get a little bit more of a fast track like you can get right in there and start making money for sure. - Oh yeah, and kids like money. (laughing) - That's true, they love money. - So tell me a little bit more, exactly. Tell me a little bit more about what projects are you working on right now? - Well, I still have that cast weary in my shop and that's gonna be shipped off to Australia, but I'm just at the point where I'm putting the hardware on and I had to make a mock wood base. It's like a put it on there. So I'm not putting it through that beautiful piece of Burl'd pecan that's been finished out so pretty. So I don't want it to scratch up. So I need to have the whole thing colored, make cleaned up colored and clear coated and then put it on there and then take it down to the place that's going to do the crating and crating for international - Okay. - And that's like a whole like, whole crazy thing. - Oh yeah. And that thing, so I had wrote that one down for our interview because I saw that on your LinkedIn. I love it. Also, I don't know what a cassowary is, but I can say I'm assuming it's some sort of like even like bird. - Yes. - But it is beautiful. I mean, it's amazing. How heavy is that so far? Is that thing solid or is it mainly solid? - It's - It's all framework, it's just a shell over there, but there's so many, like... - It's very intricate, yes. - But I wanted to create that feather -like, finger -like feathers that were going everywhere and that depth that goes in. Because you can't just like, "Oh, I'm just gonna scribe it or engrave it." - Yeah, it doesn't work. - No, you actually need to have that nice texture. - Yeah. So you go, oh, that's, yeah, that's incredible. I loved that. I was, I was excited to learn more about that. So out of everything you've worked on so far, what would you say has been your absolute favorite project that you've done? - Oh, I don't know. They're all my favorites when they're finished. - Yeah, absolutely. - When they're done. And between the time they're started in until they're finished. They're not so fun and not my favorite but once they're done and they're you know okay now I love you now I love you now that you know you really go to the top of the yes you're you're good now like you've made me very angry like during the whole process you know I think we can all have been had a moment that we can relate to oh yeah let's see how far this can slide you know Well, since we're, you know, trying to focus a little bit more on women in the trades in the series, how would you say, um, what would your advice be to younger girls and women that are looking to get into the trades or more specifically into welding? Well, um, I don't think they should be discouraged. They shouldn't feel that, uh, being in a male dominated industry is intimidating whatsoever, because it doesn't require having that specific part that makes us men or women. We just need to be able to use our hands, and our eyes, and our ears. And we can do just about anything and we can all, you know, work happily together. - Yeah. - So they shouldn't be afraid of that. You're gonna find some guys that will be very supportive and helpful and I'll defend you when there's other guys that want to talk down to you, but it's just some people are just miserable and yeah, you just have to accept it. It's in every field. I mean, yeah, we dominated industries like say nursing. I mean they they can sit there and talk behind your back. Oh, yeah, and and then oh, she's doing this with that person, she's doing that. You get the same thing in a woman dominated field. Absolutely. So it's not, you know, they shouldn't be scared about coming in. Yeah. We definitely need them and they're appreciated. Yeah. In fact, I think sometimes they find out that, oh, you can make tacos and then you're making tacos for lunch for everybody and they're working and you're feeding them. Yeah, exactly. They appreciate and yes. So So I'm not, you know, I wouldn't think the young girls should be scared and you know, it's a good thing to have that sense of pride and we all have that pride in our work and we should. We should be very, very proud of how and what we do. So. And anything we do, honestly, no matter what it is that you're working on, are you seeing, personally, are you seeing more women entering the field? Do you think we'll start seeing that trend, especially with just the overall skills gap closing? Do you think we'll see more women coming into the field or the metals industry as a whole? - I think we can, and they probably will. We just, there's just gonna be that time in the next year or two when these children, not children, but these 18 -year -olds that they'll go in and then they'll, you know, they'll have their girlfriends or significant others and they'll be interested to help their, you know, partner. Like, okay, I want to try it too. I want to be helpful. Then you'll have more, you know, ladies, but as far as I see, it's been about the same sort of growth. It's very steady and very slow, but it's not necessarily that cute. Let's face it, there's some girls out there that are girly girls and they, they don't want to, you know, work super hard, or, you know, they just, you know, The annual labor side of things, yes. Yeah, which is perfectly fine. You know, you just do what you think that makes you happy and what you want to do for work is fine. You know, you don't have to go into trades to prove that you know, big, strong, tough women and not-- - You should do it for yourself. - I can stand up to any guy, you know? - Yeah. - But, you know, there's some girls who are like, that's fine, I'll, you know, I've had brothers, you know? I have no problem. Like, I have two brothers and quite honestly, I have more tools than they do. And it's not because it was a competitive thing. It's just, I had more of an interest in it. And I think that just, it's just - Visual interest when it comes to it, but not a gender like, oh, okay, never, the sex part where it's a girl or a boy, these are the roles that you should be in. - Yeah, absolutely. - Well, I couldn't agree more, and I think that's a great place to wrap up. Good luck with all of the live welding that you're doing. - I am doing the live welding from the fume free booth, which you can find them on LinkedIn and Instagram. I don't think they're on TikTok. I don't think that it's to Instagram and LinkedIn. And maybe it's Facebook too, but I don't check Facebook anymore. No worries at all. My mom's on Facebook. She keeps you updated, yeah. Well, Sarah, thank you so much for taking the time to be on Irregardless today. And it was so, yes, Irregardless. And it was so lovely meeting you. - Nice meeting you too, and thank you so much.