In this episode of Whatcha Making, hosts Alex Duffey (Duffey Woodcraft) and Alex Adams (Type A Furniture) are joined by the "Queen of Mosaics" herself, Bri from Wood & Wilder.

Bri takes us deep into the world of custom dimensional wood mosaics—sharing how she started woodworking after being laid off while seven months pregnant, her journey of finding raw, honest vulnerability on social media, and why she strictly skips wood stains in favor of natural grains, exotics, hammered copper, and embossed leathers. She also breaks down how she designs directly from outdoor memories and keeps tight geometric tolerances without pre-made templates.

Plus, the guys catch up on workbench wins, shop fails, and maker highlights:

• What’s on the Bench: Alex Duffey's holiday prep with pocket games and CNC builds, Alex Adams tackling large slab flattening on his CNC spindle, and Bri finishing up pre-orders while wrangling shop solar panel installations.
• Shop Disasters: Dead orbital sanders, garage lighting mishaps, bowed Peruvian walnut, and a multi-day CNC troubleshooting saga that came down to a circuit breaker replacement.
• Maker Shout-Outs: Highlights from Altitude Gallery Bozeman, The Woodbuster, Old Mountain Woodworking's viral stink bug reel, Perlin Pine, Duir Moon, Holst Design Co., James at Honest Hands Studio, Ezra's Woodworks, Chelsea at Evergreen Daydreams, and celebrating Logan Newman’s new router book launch.
• Shipping Woes: Real talk on heavy mosaic deliveries, packaging battles, and why freight crumple zones matter.

Connect with Bri & Wood & Wilder:

• Instagram:@wood_n_wilder
• Facebook: Wood and Wilder
• Website:woodandwilder.com

Support the Show:

• Join the community on Patreon:patreon.com/whatchamakingshow
• Proudly sponsored by Next Wave CNC (nextwavecnc.com)

In this episode of the Whatcha Makin podcast, hosts Alex Duffey and Alex Adams welcome special guest Peter Capar of Ptree's Workshop. Pete shares his journey from restoring secondhand tools in his garage to running a successful small-scale manufacturing shop powered by an army of Prusa 3D printers and a massive Laguna laser.

The guys catch up on what's on their benches, including Alex Duffey's Dungeon Crawler Carl loot boxes and pocket cribbage boards, Alex Adams' hickory CNC projects and 3D-printed Spoodermans, and Pete's adventures in small engine repair.

For the main topic, "Risky Business," the trio dives into the leaps of faith required to grow a making business. They discuss the realities of investing in expensive equipment, the value of making "small bets" to test the market rather than going into debt, and the biggest risk of all: knowing when to step back from the grind to prioritize your family and mental health.

Plus, maker shoutouts, a farewell to the lumber side of Burl n' Grain, and thoughts on Bambu Lab's newly announced 55W CO2 laser.

It’s an episode about nothing—which means Alex and Alex get right into the weeds of shop projects, tool troubleshooting, and prep for the busy fall season.

• On the Bench: Alex Adams runs a marathon print session making giant pop-culture popcorn buckets and 5x-scale Lego minifigs, while Alex Duffey doubles his production of Dungeon Crawler Carl boxes and harvests homegrown Wine Cap mushrooms grown in CNC sawdust.
• Whatcha Breakin': An all-out battle with 3D printers. Duffey essentially rebuilds his entire printhead assembly after repeated jams, while Adams hunts down elusive layer shifts and loose hotend screws.
• Whatcha Sellin': Winding down farmers markets, weighing consignment vs. monthly booth rent in local shops, and the realities of holiday inventory planning.
• Community Spotlights: Mind-bending miniature room pranks by @AndrewVideo, life-size Dragon Ball Z pods from @CosplayCorp, wooden lightning bug fixtures, and ice cream churned from wild wood by Justin Davies.

Upcoming: Catch Alex Duffey teaching at the Texas Woodworking Festival this weekend