Analog Craftsmanship to Digital Dentistry: The Experienced Eye | Jim Stallings, CDT | EODP #38

00:00:05:40 - 00:00:26:19 Rob Welcome back to the Evolution of Dental Podcast, brought to you by Evolution Dental Science. We share the stories of the people and the technology shaping the world of dentistry. There's a 300 year old stone cottage hidden in the mountains of Wales, where LED Zeppelin wrote half of a record. Exactly one artist has ever been commissioned to paint it. 00:00:26:21 - 00:00:33:09 Rob That man runs a denture lab in Macon, Georgia, and he is our guest today. Jim Stallings, welcome to the podcast. How are you today? 00:00:33:12 - 00:00:35:19 Jim I'm doing well. Rob, how are you? 00:00:35:33 - 00:00:37:45 Rob I'm doing great. Thank you for being here. 00:00:37:52 - 00:00:40:50 Jim Thank you. Thank you for inviting me to be. 00:00:40:55 - 00:00:50:19 Rob So tell me, the the lab on Corbin Avenue has been there for about 60 years, right? What was what was the first job your father invited you to join in with? 00:00:50:26 - 00:01:10:43 Jim Invited me? That's a good work. Well, we've actually. Yeah, we've been at this location for probably 20, 25 years. But my dad started this lab in the basement of a building. I think I can remember exactly. I was in my grandparents house, and I was probably eight years old. Seven years old. And it talks about me going to school. 00:01:10:43 - 00:01:30:23 Jim And I said, I'm not going to school, I'm just going to make teeth. And somehow that's what I did. Doing my dad's like, hey, I need a technician. And so I decided to go to work at the lab. Yeah, we were only doing fixed for our customers. We weren't like, going out and getting, you know, crowded bridge accounts. 00:01:30:24 - 00:01:58:04 Jim So started out doing that quickly became a denture finisher. The art came in later. Just doing this all day long, doing detailed work, you know, looking at a little piece of stone that ended up in the ditch or it needs to come out or, you know, all this little thing. So I just like this is frustrating. Ran into artist and a friend of mine's mother had a gallery. 00:01:58:04 - 00:02:11:06 Jim And so I was like, I think I'm just going to start painting. And so I did. And, you know, that became a side hobby. It kind of became a serious thing when I started selling paintings. 00:02:11:07 - 00:02:19:24 Rob So would you say that the that the tools that you were using in dentistry influenced how you, how you approach painting? 00:02:19:28 - 00:02:43:12 Jim Yeah. Because, you know, like I said, you're doing this all day long and eventually blew my hands out, but I go and I start. I took studying under an art instructor for a few months. I didn't really take, you know, I took lessons, but it was more like, here, paint this. So I was, you know, going back to the same old thing I was doing, dental technology. 00:02:43:12 - 00:03:14:02 Jim I'm like dabbling with the brush, trying to make this like. And he said, here, take this knife and paint this picture before you leave. And I was like, okay, how? And so I just started doing it and I started slapping paint on the canvas. And as I kind of realized a bit of freedom. And that was kind of what I was searching for, from my dental technology to something broader that I could express myself or my feelings with, you know, with big knife strokes. 00:03:14:04 - 00:03:36:21 Jim And so that's how I kind of developed my own technique of painting with a painting or palette knife and using, you know, impasto effect of thick paint and that kind of thing. And so I kind of developed a knack, especially painting trees. And so I kind of became the tree painter. 00:03:36:26 - 00:03:46:55 Rob The tree painter. Yeah. I was reading that the first place that took a chance on you, so to speak, the one of the first one to hang up your paintings was Grits Cafe. What was that like? 00:03:47:00 - 00:04:14:57 Jim Well, that was kind of made me, you know, realized that maybe I can do this and make money doing it. And, this couple, they were from Canada. They were opening a restaurant in Forsyth, Georgia, which is about 25 miles from here. And, I had some of my paintings in a gallery in a little town between here and Forsyth, making them for safe. 00:04:15:02 - 00:04:34:12 Jim And they had just stopped in one night, and I get a call out of the blue and they said, hey, we're opening a restaurant in Forsyth. We'll call it Grits Cafe, and we like your art. And do you have any other paintings? Because I only had a few. And I said, well, I have a few here at home. 00:04:34:14 - 00:04:55:47 Jim So they were like, okay, can we come down? And so they came down and they took everything I had, on a handshake. I was like, you know, I was trying to write up a contract and all this. And Amy, it was like, Jim, just just don't worry about it. It'll all be good. So I started putting art in there, and so it gave me it gave me something to paint toward. 00:04:55:48 - 00:05:17:04 Jim So I just kept doing it. And then I think in 2013, I think it was 2013, I had a call, I was at dinner and one of my dentist friends, there was one of my accounts who has one of my account. She called me and she's like, have you heard about a? And I was like, no. And she sent me a picture. 00:05:17:04 - 00:05:52:31 Jim It was on fire. And I was like, wow. So anyway, getting a car go up there by watching this place basically burn, you know, being gutted on the inside by fire. And, I lost about 35 paintings. It was, you know, I was sitting there thinking, what was me? But all these people have lost their job for a while, and, and I think it was kind of a good thing because I started to, you know, you've got paintings there. 00:05:52:33 - 00:06:13:00 Jim You're not wild about some of them. And so it was kind of like a clean out the closet thing. And they were, you know, they were planning to rebuild and everything. And at the time, I wanted to be a little mopey, and and they called me back and said, hey, we're rebuilding and we're putting a barn next door. 00:06:13:02 - 00:06:28:48 Jim Can you do all the work for that? And I was like, yeah. So it was kind of like a reboot. You know, I still put paintings up there and sell paintings up there. And so that's the difference. Got a story? 00:06:28:52 - 00:06:46:31 Rob Oh, I didn't see you there. Hey, y'all, it's Robert with the Evolution of Dental podcast. If you love these stories and you want to see more guests, more content and help the show, please remember to share it. Like it? Subscribe to our channel and hit that little notification bell if you're watching on YouTube so you can get notified of our new episodes. 00:06:46:33 - 00:07:02:04 Rob New episodes drop every Friday. Follow us on all the socials. You'll see all the latest content. Looking forward to seeing you there. It has has the work with the with the paint palette knife influenced how you wield a wax spatula or vice versa? You think? 00:07:02:07 - 00:07:28:38 Jim As I started to paint, I wasn't doing a lot of waxing. I was still doing finishing and, you know, setting teeth and things like that. So I wasn't really trying to carve dentures. I still do occasionally, but it's easier to paint than carving denture, I'll tell you that. And so it was, it just kept me free from the details, you know. 00:07:28:43 - 00:07:35:51 Rob Gotcha. Yeah. Because wax carvings taking material away and your style is piling material on. 00:07:35:56 - 00:07:36:43 Jim Yeah. 00:07:36:48 - 00:07:38:36 Rob You have to, like, switch modes, right? 00:07:38:38 - 00:08:00:57 Jim And with painting, you can cheat the whole lot because you can cover up things and scrape things and do all that sorts of things. But with wax, in addition, you got to really make it look real. It's more or less routine. I and I'm not doing I'm doing very little hands on dental technology now because of my hands. 00:08:00:57 - 00:08:30:09 Jim But, you know, when I was doing that, it was like, well, it's with me as a formula. It's like, okay, this is how you accident. This is how you paint a tree. And so it can be a little routine and maybe, a little too predictable. So I never did take a denture case and really get into, you know, who's this patient? 00:08:30:09 - 00:08:52:36 Jim I mean, a two selection. Yeah. Who's this patient I'll do? Is he or she. You know, what kind of tooth what I want to use here. But the waxing part, you know, I mean, I would get, you know, a little detailed if we're while we were doing some internal staining, using the case, the dental stains and the Ivo cap system, and it was turning out very, very beautiful work. 00:08:52:36 - 00:09:11:38 Jim But then, you know, the people that I were working for, although they do pay a price for their dentures, it was a lot more work. You could really justify the charge and the economy in my area. So devil's just kind of a side fun project. 00:09:11:43 - 00:09:14:26 Rob Gotcha. And less of a less of a full focus. 00:09:14:29 - 00:09:16:24 Jim Right, right, right. 00:09:16:24 - 00:09:34:50 Rob Well, I mean, I guess so. I suppose that makes sense, especially kind of considering your style of how you work with both things. And so what would you say is different about how you do dentures now versus how you were doing dentures when you first started? Or or even better, how when your dad was doing dentures? 00:09:34:55 - 00:09:43:40 Jim Okay. Well, when dad, you know, when I first started, when he first if the fact. It was funny, I had some old. 00:09:43:45 - 00:09:51:50 Jim Photographs on the walls and one was a Vulcan, but I don't know if you've ever seen a volcano. This is a little I. 00:09:52:04 - 00:09:54:48 Rob I'm only ever heard of a volcano. To be honest. 00:09:54:52 - 00:10:21:28 Jim I'm vulcanized dentures or rubber dentures. And there was a process. And I did bring a picture up here of it. It's just a crude machine that actually processed vulcanized rubber under pressure to make. And they were very, very crude looking. But those were kind of the, I guess, one of the first artificial dental materials other than, you know, buying into animal bone. 00:10:21:28 - 00:10:46:52 Jim But, we were doing the, you know, just regular analog ventures and, and our flask. And that's been the system for years and years and years. And my dad was he was wanting, you know, to stay ahead. And if something came along, he wanted to, to try it by it. I could tell you a couple of things that we did have that people don't have it here. 00:10:46:55 - 00:10:53:57 Rob Yeah. Like you said, you've taken a very different approach where you kind of held back on diving into digital. Yeah. 00:10:54:02 - 00:11:14:45 Jim My dad, I mean, he was president of the Nail one year. And, you know, he was just about every leadership role in the state and the region. He was at one time. So he'd go to a lot of trade shows. And, we bought an IV cap system and I've got still sold the day was I have a base with IV Clark. 00:11:14:48 - 00:11:30:07 Jim We still use it today. I have a couple other base systems, but we like the high impact material. But we've stepped into some digital work, and that's where you know, having I've. Ocean has come in. 00:11:30:19 - 00:11:37:24 Rob A couple years ago you bought a scanner. And what's that experience been like. How does that look for you. 00:11:37:28 - 00:12:12:07 Jim Well early on you know, I buy the scanner at the end of 2019 right before Covid and, I, you know, so we didn't use it very much. I was considering doing printed dentures because print was everything. But we do a lot of printed other things like duplicated dentures, copy dentures, surgical guides and things of that temporaries to temporary dentures for try ins and things like that. 00:12:12:12 - 00:12:39:43 Jim So we, you know, like I said, I didn't go in real deep real quickly, but we bought a scanner and we bought a printer and didn't get a lot of use. And the, the dentures that we did make, you know, and I know quality has improved and there are so many denture I mean printable resins out there and interests have come printed dentures a long way. 00:12:39:43 - 00:13:17:50 Jim But at the time, just like everything else, it wasn't you know, it wasn't a solid technology at all. It's just one that I have found in this industry. Things get out there and then they're improved on. And that is from a printed denture to an attachment system. And you probably have noticed that, you know, their attachment systems that come out and they're all great, but then they have to tweak them and they have to reformulate or redo things because there are problems that they never expected that would happen with them. 00:13:17:50 - 00:13:22:57 Jim So, you know, is it oh, they come to the market too fast, I don't know. 00:13:22:57 - 00:13:29:40 Rob And that's what led you into, into into looking at the I've ocean as a digital option. 00:13:29:45 - 00:14:00:50 Jim Correct. I'm still a fan of Detroit. Acrylic can be in them. I always been a fan of I've o'clock even back at Williams Gold days. And, I you know, that was just a step. Okay. If we want to go digital, if we want to advance into digital and we are losing the ability to find old analog setup technicians, then we need to get up on digital. 00:14:00:50 - 00:14:32:55 Jim And so we did, and, you know, there's a whole area that I can talk about, about proficiency and things with the CAD cam technician today versus the old analog technician like I am, because fortunately, right now we can get a design, our, my technician that has been training on digital and doing that, he doesn't have quite as much experience as me. 00:14:32:55 - 00:14:54:57 Jim And he's able to, you know, the computer is pretty interactive on, you know, developing setups, but they still need I think they still need an experienced eye on them. And so he's learning a lot because I'm able to sit down with him and say, okay, move this to okay. Move it out over the ridge limit. This is this, this is this. 00:14:54:57 - 00:15:25:24 Jim And he's been able to respond to it and he's learned a lot. He's getting to the point now where, oh, where's that venture. Oh, it's getting Milt. And I'm like, okay, so that's the goal. That's my goal. Because I'm like I said, I'm not really bench technician and I'm just kind of trying to be the go to consultant to answer the questions type and not have to be there all the time and hopefully not be there very much. 00:15:25:24 - 00:15:36:21 Jim But, you know, so we're dipping our toe into the water and not diving in and been happy with that approach. 00:15:36:26 - 00:16:01:09 Rob It sounds like a good approach, and I've seen that. I've seen that work a lot throughout the years, especially with my coaching and stuff, where you have an experienced technician who may or may not want to dive into the digital side of things as much, and then they'll have a younger technician who knows, maybe technology a little better, and they'll work together to create a better product. 00:16:01:14 - 00:16:36:09 Jim And that's something that I was listening to your latest podcast about the green ball. I was enlightened by the fact of his analog approach to conversions. And, I've been doing conversions, hybrid conversions for about two, I would say about 13 years now. And, and the periodontist I work with now, we're starting to do a temporary and doing the conversion that we're using the same way. 00:16:36:09 - 00:17:12:55 Jim As Doctor Greenbaum had said about the smart denture, not using printed dentures yet. And, I have had to do a couple of conversions on really high quality printed dentures, and there were a couple of issues. They don't seem to be as strong as what and say the mill that I should one is and there's another thing with the the materials of PMMa acrylics with presence which I think is going to be solved pretty soon and I don't know how it's light spread. 00:17:12:55 - 00:17:33:45 Jim The problem is. But it was it was enough for me to say, hey, this needs to be solved. It's actually are, hopefully about or at least a couple of products that'll that'll change the courtship of acrylics and print resins into more of a marriage. We'll say that. 00:17:33:50 - 00:17:37:57 Rob Yeah. Is that something you can talk about? 00:17:38:02 - 00:18:07:19 Jim Not in much detail, but if anyone knows, tries to use acrylics and print resins and printed dentures, do repairs and things like that, I think there's some issues out there with the bonding and and strength and things like that. So, I've been working with a chemical engineer who we've developed several products that hopefully about to go on the market pretty soon. 00:18:07:24 - 00:18:21:28 Rob This sounds pretty exciting. Yeah. So it does make me wonder, though, what what about the Ocean Ventures really drew you to that as a solution for digital, as opposed to the print options or anything else for that matter? 00:18:21:33 - 00:18:47:55 Jim Strength? It has not shown the strength that I want to see on a product that we actually market. You know, I was telling somebody actually, today one of my reps has stopped by before this, and I was saying that, you know, print. Print comes out in the print, it, you know, and the reps are selling the printer and you're saying, okay, so what if this printed denture breaks? 00:18:47:55 - 00:19:13:33 Jim What if a patient breaks a tooth off? Well, the easiest thing to say is, oh, you just print another one. Right. And, but what if your file is 500 miles away with the dentist that you used to visit, and, they can't send the file anymore, you know? What do you do then? Do you repair the denture, or do you have to start over? 00:19:13:38 - 00:19:21:24 Jim And I think that's a gap that, you know is being addressed. 00:19:21:28 - 00:19:58:02 Rob Gotcha. That's, That sounds like something that's not as frequently discussed. Frankly, the ocean denture technique is a pretty interesting one, especially when combined with your background in dentures, where it really creates a different sort of approach. It's a monolithic denture, so meaning milled all completely from one solid piece of acrylic, but instead of having just like flat layers, for those who aren't familiar with the ocean technique, it actually uses like a scalloped series of layers within the within the disc. 00:19:58:02 - 00:20:24:48 Rob So that scalloped layers allows you to create natural carve outs for gingival emergencies for the teeth. And that's directly incorporated into the ocean module with CAD, which is something, of course, that we teach a lot of at evolve. In fact, Jonny Jackson lectures on behalf of Iveagh all over the country these days, and you should definitely check out his courses or check out the Ocean Surfaces on our website. 00:20:24:48 - 00:20:48:57 Rob If you're interested in learning more, check the link in the bio, check the link in the description. Send me a DM, happy to talk you through it. And yeah, so it's a really cool technique where you can actually incorporate the manufacturing parameters directly into the process of designing the case so that they complement when it's done correctly. Anyway, they they complement each other hand in hand. 00:20:49:02 - 00:21:07:12 Rob Is that one of the things that drew you to wanting to incorporate the ocean denture, in addition to the strength of just the monolithic? I mean, they have six tooth shades and three acrylic shades as well, which has got to be a little bit of a transition from a traditional workflow. With acrylic. 00:21:07:16 - 00:21:32:12 Jim We have run into a few where it was an ideal and, you know, so you're like, okay, well, and there may be a there may be a technique that we're missing. I mean, we have been too long into this. We have taken a couple of online courses. And, but, so we've not been able to do them on that. 00:21:32:16 - 00:22:01:57 Jim We've just done the two piecemeal where the thief of melt to the base of smell and put them together still, still. I feel that acrylic is better than the present. I might change my mind every year that comes by. It seemed like something. News coming out so far. I still I'll stick by the. 00:22:02:02 - 00:22:16:40 Rob What about the the time saving factor? Has that been a been an appeal to you for the ocean technique? Because they sell it as being a being a finished product like you mill it, you polish it and put it to go. 00:22:16:45 - 00:22:47:02 Jim A little bit of finishing of touch up, things like that. What thing? That my technician, who's doing the design, he's learned to do contour of the tissue very, very quickly and it looks great. So he learned a lot to do that. And there's a curve to learning that. Whereas he may be using wax you know maybe you around with the computer mouse. 00:22:47:02 - 00:22:47:38 Jim So that was. 00:22:47:52 - 00:23:15:36 Rob Something I wanted to ask you about. Like for a man who spent his entire career physically working with the medium up to the point of basically sacrificing your hands, right. What's that? How is that so how is that translating that kind of physical work into a digital space? I mean, I know you're working with another technician that's doing it on a screen, but still you're still trying to communicate that to him who's then trying to translate your physical work into a digital space. 00:23:15:38 - 00:23:18:55 Rob What's what's that look like for you? 00:23:19:00 - 00:23:53:36 Jim Well, one, we're moving along so quickly. It's, you know, I'm seeing less pants, analog pants around. And so I was like, oh, we need someone to interest. And then I go into the room where he's working. I was like, oh, here are it's, I still think that the knowledge is needed. And it's not that the knowledge can't be acquired by a technician using a computer design, because he's quickly learning and it can be learned. 00:23:53:36 - 00:24:20:43 Jim It's just not something that I think somebody can play a video game, can just jump into and start making that quality interest in that with proper function and to physician, because that is still important. Then I don't know. I mean, there's a whole wide variety of origin products out there, you know, in all its bases, you know, all over the place. 00:24:20:43 - 00:24:39:36 Jim So, so far it's working well with us in this quicker. We're able to turn around a mill bencher, a lot faster than we came out. A lot better, in that time wise, if he sat down and said, okay, it takes this long set up for likes, it says. 00:24:39:40 - 00:24:59:26 Rob So faster turnaround time, a little less processing. And you'd say it's a much tougher thing. It's repairable. So that's that's those all sound like pretty big advantages. And one of the things you just pointed out there that I think is probably that got slid past a little bit that I really want to shine a light on is the the analog side of it. 00:24:59:28 - 00:25:25:02 Rob One of the things that Christina White Light, which we had on a few episodes back, she's so cool. If you haven't seen that episode, she's absolutely check that out. She's also from an artistic background. She's a photographer by trade and then found her way into dentistry. One of the things that she said that really struck me, that I really like, and I've been using a lot lately, is that there is no digital without analog. 00:25:25:07 - 00:25:43:52 Rob And what she means by that is, is unless you're designing something in the 3D space. But unless you actually get some physical hands on with the thing that you're designing in the 3D space, then it doesn't ever really hit home. There's no concrete foundation because at the end of the day, you can design stuff all day long. This is going in someone's mouth, you know. 00:25:43:55 - 00:26:08:19 Rob It does always not not sometimes. It always leads to a physical produced product. And I think what you're saying there is a really good point. It's like you can train all day long on the computer, but until you get to see how that looks in person and in your hand and what those screen contours look like in a physical product, there's always going to be a little bit of a separation there. 00:26:08:19 - 00:26:27:24 Rob It's one of the things that I run into quite a bit with troubleshooting and training, especially with digital partials, is I don't know that it's necessarily I think it's a lot of it comes down to the understanding of what the purpose is, because some of these folks are getting into this and not, like you said, not having had hands on with the traditional workflows. 00:26:27:24 - 00:26:48:38 Rob And they may not have a printed model and a printed partial to try on first, you know, they're seeing it on the screen, having never really touched that before and not really understanding entirely what they're blocking out and what that influence is, and how much you do or do not want certain aspects of it blocked out for retention or passivity. 00:26:48:43 - 00:26:52:57 Rob I think that's a that sounds like a really good point to me. 00:26:53:02 - 00:27:18:55 Jim Yeah. And, you know, I get into general dentistry. I recently went to the Dental College of Georgia and, you know, tour school and everything. I know about 3 or 4 students, three of them who actually worked in my lab for they went dental school. That kind of helped them get up on removal bus before they went. And now they breeze it through that part. 00:27:19:00 - 00:27:40:43 Jim You know, I think they don't get as much training adventures and which is can be a good thing because you can kind of take it and it's then help them along and teach them, you know, the ways that you make that year. And it seems to work very well because then you have that relationship with them and they're kind of like, okay, hands off. 00:27:40:45 - 00:28:08:43 Jim You take care of that. And, you know, we can work together. But my friend who's the dean, associate dean, he he said, you know, we're not able to teach us much because back in the day when we, you know, when the student had to do so many partials, I mean, they didn't have implants, they didn't have these other modern technologies that they're having to learn, you know, scanning and things like that. 00:28:08:43 - 00:28:26:43 Jim In dental school, it's the same period of time. It's not like, okay, you got to go in extra year now, learn all this new stuff. They're just trying to learn at all. Same way with with the actual technician. There's still a lot to be learned, and it's not something that's talking a day. 00:28:26:48 - 00:28:31:52 Rob So more to learn, but not more time. 00:28:31:57 - 00:28:37:07 Jim But not more. Not so. 00:28:37:12 - 00:28:57:07 Rob That's a that's definitely a barrier. Speaking of barriers, there is an ocean between us and the painting that you did for. Forgive me how you pronounce this again it bon your or okay. 00:28:57:09 - 00:29:02:45 Jim The official official pronunciation is brown or a little. 00:29:02:48 - 00:29:22:50 Rob And I'm a huge LED Zeppelin fan and I've never been able to pronounce that day. And even still. So how did how did you guys make that connection? Like where did they find you? And I mean, I don't imagine that they were that they were searching like, I need to find a denture guy in Georgia. Like, where did this connection come from? 00:29:22:50 - 00:29:25:45 Rob That's really it's really fascinating to me. 00:29:25:50 - 00:29:49:21 Jim Well, you know, people probably wondering what LED Zeppelin has to do with dental technology. So I, you know, I paid it over the years. And one time I was a big leads up on fan when I was a kid, and I still am that cottage that they, they went to in Wales. It's called and they wrote some music there. 00:29:49:21 - 00:30:17:38 Jim I was always fascinated by it. So one day I took a picture of the internet and I painted. It was from the photograph and, I've never been one to paint something without permission of whoever holds the copyright. I'm just not. I don't pull pictures off the internet, paint them for profit. So I had donated that painting to an art auction up and down in the town, up near Atlanta. 00:30:17:38 - 00:30:42:50 Jim And, and I was like, I wonder who bought it. One of my favorite paintings. But, you know. So anyway, I just thought, oh, I'd like to think more of that. So I did some research. I found out who owned the cottage now, and it happened to be the, the daughter of the man who bought it right after Jimmy Page and Robert Plant were there. 00:30:42:50 - 00:31:03:26 Jim And, so I was talking to her husband. I was like, hey, can I get some photographs from y'all? And so I can paint? And he said, why don't you come over here and take it yourself and paint them? And I was like, okay. He said, maybe we can put something together. And so, so here we go. 00:31:03:31 - 00:31:38:12 Jim We gotta, we gotta Wales and I get photographs and I paint a series of paintings of the cottage and the land surrounding it. It just kind of organically grew into other artists in the area and, you know, with different types of art. And so they had this, and we called it the project at the time, the museum in the town, the town is and and so I had an exhibition, a solo exhibition in my, my wells, which was in that a big deal to me. 00:31:38:12 - 00:32:07:19 Jim And they actually have one in their on private collection, which if you go on my, now it's my, my website and go to their private collection, you know, it's kind of cool to see my payments there. I think I probably the only person outside of Wales as a painting in their collection. So we developed this friendship and, I never got to meet anyone from LED Zeppelin, Jimmy Page or Robert Plant. 00:32:07:19 - 00:32:25:02 Jim But a couple of years ago, Jimmy Page did show up with his daughter there. He was just taking they were taking a trip to places, and he wanted to go back. And, so he was able to sit and look at my art and talk about it, but it's kind of cool. 00:32:25:07 - 00:32:26:43 Rob That's very cool. 00:32:26:48 - 00:32:51:55 Jim Anyway, so yeah, I still have a connection. I still paint paintings inspired from there. But, you know, it's just it was just one of the, you know, I have these little bits of thing that keep me painting. And although past couple of years, I kind of had a, a wall and my inspiration to paint, I'm picking it back up now. 00:32:52:00 - 00:33:02:19 Rob That's super special. And didn't you, weren't you telling me before that you named your your studio after the cottage behind the house, or am I misremembering that? 00:33:02:21 - 00:33:23:33 Jim Oh yeah. Yeah, yeah, there's a there's a cottage is not well known. It's just the ruins of a college cottage. So you go back over the hills and far away to do this, this work and, you know, big evergreen trees. It's very peaceful. There's nothing around. And all of a sudden, you see, these ruins of the whole cottage is very fond of. 00:33:23:36 - 00:33:47:55 Jim Here's all. And it was called Pin Pinner. And, you know, there's not much record of then in the books, but it was a cottage like Bernard I it was just, you know, stuck up in the Welsh hills and people that there and they, you know, that was their life. So today, I mean, they are off grid. 00:33:47:57 - 00:34:03:36 Jim They, you know, have fun solar and, and water, you know, coming from the screen. And, you know, it's very, it's very earth friendly and great. 00:34:03:40 - 00:34:20:45 Rob That's definitely to name the name, the studio after the cottage that no, like Balmorhea is already kind of obscure. To name your studio after the one behind the famous one is it's it's definitely an interesting choice. Why did you choose that? 00:34:20:50 - 00:34:48:50 Jim Well, I was just still inspired by it, inspired by my trips. I went over one time with my friend and he wasn't able to go to my opening, so he went with me and take on it's the paintings. And so we ventured out and found that cottage. Well, we went to it with the owners to hire. And so one day, a couple of years later, my wife Amy and I, we were over there and they had to the owners had to go be somewhere. 00:34:48:50 - 00:35:14:31 Jim Some they just told us to go hang out there. So we were called there by ourselves and I took her back, you know, and show her, shut her this cottage. But, but, you know, so just inspired to name it. That's cool thing. You're like people. How's that? And I also brought back some slate from the area, and I put some slate in the floor of my on slate dust in the floor of my speedo. 00:35:14:31 - 00:35:23:33 Jim And also I've got a piece of slate that kind of in the shape of an arrow. That is kind of a direction to my studio, but it came from there. 00:35:23:33 - 00:35:35:07 Rob So that's so cool. That's so cool, Jim. This has been so much fun. So where can people find you online and what would it be, your art or your lab? 00:35:35:14 - 00:36:17:38 Jim Jim Stallings, art at Jim Spelling's art on Instagram Jim Stallings art. Is my website. I don't have any lab information. I don't, you know, we we were selected then. They've been it's been a while since we've taken you accounts and I take them by referral. I just I don't call and and so never had the need to grow in the social media realm because of my desire to kind of maintain, we be able to continue to laugh when I'm, I'm gone but not be a heap flat. 00:36:17:40 - 00:36:23:16 Jim Just do good quality work that people, you know, good. 00:36:23:21 - 00:36:29:16 Rob Quality boutique work. What a blessing to be able to do that and carry on that that legacy. 00:36:29:21 - 00:36:54:28 Jim Well, yeah, I'm you know, I just my dad was such an inspiration to me. We worked together for at least 35 years. Every day you're working when you're following your mother every day. It's a blessing, can be a curse, but it's mostly a blessing. And, you know, he he he left a lot in me, and, you know, so that's why we carry on. 00:36:54:33 - 00:37:17:49 Rob That's fantastic. Thank you again for joining us. And thank you, everyone else, for joining us for this episode of the Evolution of Dental Podcast. Look for us on all the social media platforms as Evolution of Dental podcast and all of the different podcast streaming platforms as well. Please remember to like, subscribe if anything in this episode struck you, please leave us a comment or shoot us a damn. 00:37:17:55 - 00:37:26:33 Rob We'd love to hear from you. We always look forward to getting your feedback and never stop evolving.