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Talkin' Shop with Metal Shop Masters: How artist Rae Ripple ended up on Netflix

The Texas welder-fabricator explains how she went from living on the streets to creating art on a Netflix show

In the first episode of our seven-part Talkin' Shop series interviewing contestants from the Netflix show Metal Shop Masters, The WELDER Editor Amanda Carlson talks with Rae Ripple, a metal sculpture artist from Texas.

Ripple opens up about how she went from living on the streets to making a career working with metal. The Season 1 contestant also talks about how she ended up on the Netflix show, her partnership with machine manufacturer Hypertherm, showing off work at FABTECH 2021, and some of her latest projects.

"I used to eat out of trash cans and run the streets," Ripple says in the interview. "And now I just made a wing sculpture for a multi-million dollar company that was featured at a welding convention to promote myself in a show that just came out on Netflix. When I think about it, my head just explodes. I still doesn't even seem real."

You can also read more about Ripple's journey to becoming a metalworker in a profile we wrote on her in 2020.

Also be sure to watch more from our Talkin' Shop with Metal Shop Masters: Episode 2 with Luis Varela-Rico, Episode 3 with Tom Patsis, and Episode 4 with Seven Bailey.

Talkin' Shop with Metal Shop Masters: Rae Ripple