Ep 11 - Art, Health, and Metal: Bri’s Welding World

Due to recording circumstances, this is an audio-only episode. In this episode of Two Bolts Short of a Flange, hosts Brooke and Eric welcome guest Brianna (“Bri”), a sanitary stainless TIG welder and online creator ( @_ravnoye_welds). Bri shares her path from high school metal shop and a planned CNC route into years of hardware retail before choosing welding school to pursue stainless TIG. Bri describes her work shifting from field installs to shop fabrication, including upcoming projects like a beef tallow dehydrator skid, and discusses how welding pushed her to confront C-PTSD, seek therapy (including EMDR), and become an informal mental-health support person at work. The conversation covers getting into sanitary welding through a school contact, taking time off during COVID, changes for women in the trades, what a safe workplace looks like (supportive management and mental-health awareness), odd jobs like boiling horse-blood vessels and medical incineration facilities, and advice to young women to persevere and let their work speak. Timestamps00:00 Podcast Welcome Back00:43 Meet Bri the Welder01:38 Sanitary TIG Life03:50 Weld Art and Colors04:40 Metal Shop Origins06:17 Bring Back Shop Class08:12 Welding and Mental Health11:15 Finding Sanitary Welding13:00 Stepping Away and Return14:30 Women in the Trades17:11 Defining a Safe Workplace17:39 Flexible Hours and ADHD17:59 Toxic Management Fallout18:51 Weirdest Welding Jobs20:12 Pickling and Shop Practices22:15 Funniest Jobsite Moments24:57 Advice to Younger Self25:45 Advice for Women in Trades26:28 Rapid Fire Questions29:45 Wrap Up and Where to Find Pod Links Instagram:⁠  / twoboltsshort.podcast⁠   TikTok:⁠  / twoboltsshortpod⁠   LinkedIn:⁠  / ⁠   Brooke’s Links Instagram:⁠  / lainggerr⁠   TikTok:⁠  / lainggerrr⁠   LinkedIn:⁠  / brooke-laing-59397a295⁠   Eric’s Links Instagram:⁠  / _erichyatt⁠   LinkedIn:⁠  / eric-hyatt-b5b977352