by Columbus Visitors Center, celebrating everywhere art and unexpected architecture in Columbus, Indiana.

Tickets for guided tours and trip planning information at... And by WTIU members.

Thank you!

>> Coming up -- >> BRANDON: Travel to Morgan County to learn about the historic art of smithing.

>> ASHLEY: Visit Bloomington to hear the story of some very unique pottery.

>> BRANDON: Learn about the origins of one of the Wright brothers.

>> ASHLEY: And meet the Birdhouse Man, and discover his one-of-a-kind roadside attraction.

>> That's all on this episode of -- >> BOTH: Journey Indiana.

♪♪ >> Welcome to Journey Indiana.

I'm Brandon Wentz.

>> And I'm Ashley Chilla.

And we're coming to you from the Grissom Air Museum in Miami County.

Adjacent to the Grissom Air Reserve Base, the Grissom Air Museum houses more than two dozen aircrafts from World War II through the Cold War.

Visitors can see these machines up close, climb in a cockpit, and even experience what it was like to fly them inside one of the museum's simulators.

>> And we'll learn more about this fascinating museum in just a bit.

>> But first, we're headed to Morgan County, where producer Adam Carroll brings us the story of a group keeping alive the historic traditions of smithing.

[pounding] >> KENNY: We're really wanting to preserve our past, and that is passing down that art of blacksmithing, tinsmithing, saving that living history that we're trying to capture here.

>> KIM: It's kind of one of the lost arts.

It's one of those that most people think don't exist anymore.

Most people know very little about or don't have much knowledge of.

How we hold on to those values, that today, if you want something made in metal, you go to a welding shop or machine shop, and they cut away the metal and hand you the piece.

♪♪ >> ASHLEY: The art of smithing has been around since anyone anywhere needed items made of any kind of metal.

From horseshoes to cups to pots and tools, smithing was necessary to live in a society.

In Morgan County, at Old Waverly Park, two types of smiths present their art to the community -- tinsmiths and blacksmiths.

>> Basically, somebody that wants to get learning how to blacksmith, they could actually use a pair of pliers, a pair of vice grips.

1,100 or 1,200 degrees is all it takes to forge weld, where you can actually bend metal a lot.

You just need a good, red fire to get that going.

I always tell work smarter, not harder.

The redder it is, the easier it's gonna be to shape.

>> DARRELL: Important thing about making something out of tin, tinware, is being able to visualize it in the flat.

Because you'll get flat sheets shipped to you in crates.

You can actually form it with your hand, but it would be not perfectly round.

So we actually have a machine called rollers.

Fit this into the rollers, and the rollers, when you roll this tin through that, it makes a perfect curve the entire time.

So you can come out with a perfectly round shape.

And the same way with a handle and the wire.

If you use a piece of steel, called a conductor stake like behind me, and form it over real tight, you'll get that perfect shape without kinks in it.

And then when you add a little bit more metal, little bit longer, you can pound it over and lock it in.

You can actually get a good seam and just, it's all locked together.

This entire cup is made with most solder, just lock joints.

And if you can see the piece, if you can visualize it in the flat, then you have the ability to cut it out of a flat sheet, and then form it up into the shape.

>> ASHLEY: Even though they have vastly different techniques, they both hold importance in continuing the history of the art.

Both work as old-style form and function, allowing people of all skill sets to learn the techniques.

♪♪ >> I'm involved.

I'm actually doing something with my hands.

Though it may not have a tremendous amount of appreciation by a lot of people, if it has appreciation by a few, it leaves a purpose for me.

♪♪ >> MICHAEL: It's difficult.

For me, it's challenging.

I don't like doing things the easy way or something that comes easy.

I like to feel that I worked for it.

♪♪ >> DARRELL: I think tinsmithing is interesting if you're good at math.

You have to be good at geometry to unfold something and lay it out, all the different angles and everything.

It's a clean craft.

It's not too dirty.

You do get cut a few times on the metal.

But it's something that can be done even in a small garage.

>> ASHLEY: The art of smithing can be for anyone.

The hardest part is keeping the traditions alive.

Passing the stories and the techniques in person is the most important part.

♪♪ >> I always liked working with my hands, and it gives me a way to leave a trademark that after I pass, somebody will always have it.

The stuff I make will outlast me.

>> KENNY: I just like being able to teach the kids.

Keep learning, because I learn every day I'm on the forge.

And just keep passing that art down.

We don't want to let it -- we let all the old-timers that got all that knowledge that don't get a chance to pass it on, before long, the art's gone.

It's really tough to learn that whenever you don't have mentors that's willing to show you and help you learn how to smith.

>> The only way that the tinsmithing knowledge is passed on nowadays is by hands-on, meeting other tinsmiths, and learning how to do it.

You have to be interested in it to do it.

The only way to get into it or to keep it going is through passing it on.

There are no official school apprenticeships, nothing like that available for this craft.

>> It's all seems to be hopefully we're holding on to some of the past, instead of passing and going beyond it.

[pounding] ♪♪ [pounding continues] >> So Brandon, what do you think you would like better, tinsmithing or blacksmithing?

>> I think blacksmithing, just because of the things that you could make.

Like I would much rather make a sword than a pot.

>> Want to learn more about smithing?

Head over to... >> Earlier we caught up with Executive Director Thomas Jennings to learn more about the Grissom Air Museum.

>> THOMAS: The Grissom Air Museum is all about the history and the legacy of the base.

We started out as the Naval Air Station in World War II.

Transitioned to Air Force up until -- before 1968, it was always known as Bunker Hill Air Force Base.

In '68, they changed it to Grissom.

The craft that we have here, uniforms, the stories, objects that the crewmen or the personnel would have used during World War II, Korean War, Vietnam.

And a lot of it is more Cold War.

That's where we're focused at.

So we talk about the security police, the pilots, the crewmen, crew chief, anyone that worked on the ground, and the armament that they would have used with the aircraft that would have been of the day as well.

Our significant aircraft is the B-58.

There were about 116 produced.

There's only eight left today.

Ours was the third one off the assembly line, so it's the oldest remaining of the eight.

They were going Mach 2 as far as speed goes.

It made it stealth, so the Soviets or any other enemy would have a hard time tracking it.

There was a deterrent.

No one had anything to shoot it out of the sky.

Didn't have a plane to catch it.

So it did its job very well.

When visitors come out here, one of the first things we tell them that they can get into and have a hands-on experience is the F-4 and this Huey helicopter that I'm sitting in.

Just sitting in them, being able to hit the buttons, work the stick or the yoke, gives them a sense of what it was like to pilot.

People should come out to see what this base handled and what it's all about and the history and the legacy.

>> You know, some of these planes have even appeared in movies and podcasts, my own podcast included.

I had a whole story arc where we were on the Air Force Grissom base.

>> Yeah, driving up here, the planes are really stunning and breathtaking.

>> You can learn more at... >> Up next, producer Nick Deel introduces us to the unique pottery of Rebecca Lowery.

♪♪ >> BRANDON: Bloomington is known for its diverse art scene.

But even here, Rebecca Lowery's pottery work stands out.

♪♪ >> REBECCA: Pottery is kind of a 4-D medium.

It isn't complete until you're using it.

So I want someone, when they pick up a mug, I want them to feel it, hold it, and have a tactile experience through their hands, through their lips, through their whole use of it.

♪♪ I am a potter and sculptor.

I combine my two loves and make... sculptural functional pottery.

>> BRANDON: Rebecca's start in pottery was unconventional.

She went to Berea College, a non-profit liberal arts university, where students pay for tuition with work rather than money.

>> I got into the clay program, and my first week of school, I started making -- learning how to make pots to sell for the school as a part of my tuition.

♪♪ >> BRANDON: Little did she know this chance encounter with pottery would change her life.

>> I took one semester of psychology.

Was like, "Not for me."

At the same time, I was taking the class to make production -- to learn how to make production pottery.

And I just said, "Well, maybe I do want to do art."

I got bit by the clay bug and I've loved it ever since.

So I've been doing this since I was 18 years old.

♪♪ >> BRANDON: After graduation, Rebecca eventually settled down in Bloomington and quickly fell in love with the town.

>> Bloomington has a lovely art community, and the clay -- the local clay potters guild really gave me a home.

And they really helped inspire me.

>> BRANDON: But while she made her way in the Bloomington arts community, she felt her work just wasn't connecting with people.

>> I gave a friend of mine a mug to thank her for letting me stay with her.

And she's like, "Oh, thank you," she puts it down.

And then the next morning, to be kind, she used the mug.

And she goes, "Wow, this is a really great mug."

And I had the epiphany.

My mugs are really well-made, but they're not visually striking.

So I decided I need to come up with something different that no one else is doing.

My own glazes, my own style.

And from there, I just pushed into what you see now.

>> BRANDON: Soon, Rebecca's work caught the attention of Indiana Artisan, an exclusive organization that promotes the Hoosier state's best artists, makers, and creators.

>> REBECCA: I applied the first time right before I started doing this kind of work with my older, not very visually impressive work.

And I got turned down.

I did not get in the first time.

I applied again, but with this body of work, and got in with top ratings and everything.

People really enjoy seeing that Indiana Artisan label.

♪♪ >> BRANDON: Today, Rebecca is working with over a dozen galleries and produces between 300 to 600 pieces per week.

But despite the success, Rebecca's craft continues to take shape.

>> REBECCA: I think of my work as touching that little part of your inner childhood, bringing out the joy that you had when you were little.

And I tell people, I think everyone should have a little magic in their day.

And I come at it that way, like what will make this more fun?

What will make this more enjoyable for someone?

>> You know, you always hear about the, like, struggle to make something artistic, but also to have it be commercially desirable.

And to see someone go through that process and change what they're doing to fit that is really interesting.

>> Yeah, and her pottery is beautiful.

I would love a piece for my own.

To see more of Rebecca's work and maybe grab a mug of your own, head over to... >> Up next, producer Saddam Al-Zubaidi takes us to the birthplace of an aviator who helped make this museum possible.

♪♪ >> JACK: The aviation started when he was young.

His dad brought home a little device that when you spun it, it would fly.

And from that point, that sparked those boys into wanting to fly.

♪♪ He was born in 1867, and he was born here in Millville, Indiana.

♪♪ Wilbur Wright was half of the Wright brothers who had actually pioneered flight in the United States.

They were the first ones that proved themselves to be the first flyers.

He was kind of mischievous, I guess, when he was little.

Him and Orville would sneak out to the barn lot and take some of the equipment apart just to see how it worked.

And then Miss Susan Wright, the mom, would actually have to take them back to the farmhouse the next day and make them put the stuff back together.

She wouldn't help them.

They'd have to do it themselves.

So they were -- they were just kids, you know, ornery, but kids.

Orville started a newspaper business, and he was the editor, and Wilbur went along with him.

And so they had a newspaper for a few years.

Then they went into the bicycle business.

It was repairing at first, then they built their own bicycles.

And all along, they were kind of getting things ready to go to Kitty Hawk and start flying -- or start trying to fly.

I really can't imagine what people were saying about these two crazy dudes, down on Kitty Hawk, bowler hats on, ties, trying to fly.

"People can't fly.

If God wanted people to fly, He'd put wings on them," you know?

And they'd go down there just to watch them wreck.

Tear up the plane, they'd go back, fix it, and do it again.

And when you look at it now, they were heroes and they were just smart, smart people.

But back then, they were thought of as kind of kooky, like a lot of the other really intelligent people, you know, in life.

They were the biggest influence in flight.

The main thing is that they were the first in controlled flight.

They were the first to take off, turn, and come back.

That's why we think of them as the fathers of aviation.

His father actually was real adamant about clean water.

And he was always worried about making the water clean so they wouldn't get whatever the disease was.

And Wilbur, I think maybe he was in France, and ate some shellfish and that gave him the disease and he died of it.

That's what he died of, 1912.

Milton Wright, his father, wrote later about his son Wilbur in his diary, "A short life, full of consequences, an unfailing intellect, mild temper, great self-reliance, and as great modesty, seeing the right clearly, pursuing it steadfastly, he lived and died."

♪♪ >> ANNCR: Welcome to the birthplace of Wilbur Wright.

Milton Wright, Wilbur's father, purchased this house and acreage for $700 in 1865.

>> SHANK: The house here, where Wilbur was born, was run by the state for years, and now it's a private organization, the Wilbur Wright Foundation.

And it actually burnt twice.

And was rebuilt this last time an exact replica of the original house.

And there's a lot of the wood and stuff that's in it was in the original house.

♪♪ The replica we have here at the museum is probably the most accurate.

And the reason I'm saying that is we actually have the chain from the Diamond Chain Company in Indianapolis, Indiana, and that's the same thing that the Wright brothers had on theirs.

We have the only plane that has that.

So ours is the most exact replica.

Took the guy about 10 to 12 years to actually build the plane.

And it did fly.

It got up about 18 inches off the ground and he put it back down.

He was afraid he'd tear it up.

It took him so long to build it.

He had a 13-year-old daughter that actually sewed all the Dacron.

This is not a cotton top on ours.

It's Dacron.

And that was one of the things different from the original.

Measurements at 60 feet wide.

It's 600 pounds.

It has a 12-horsepower, 4-cylinder motor that was actually designed by the Wright brothers' mechanic for the original plane.

We have a lot of flight history.

We've got a place called Main Street back here.

Looked like Main Street in Dayton.

It shows their first business was a printing press.

and we got a bicycle in there, kind of replica of the bicycles.

It's really a great place to read.

We have so much reading material here.

It's really a gem in the country.

♪♪ >> You can find out more information and plan your visit at... >> And finally, we're headed to Loogootee, where producer Tyler Lake explores the colorful world of the Birdhouse Man.

[laughing] >> ASHLEY: There's a lot of laughter around Bill Larkin's place.

Of course, there's a lot of birdhouses and a lot of other stuff, too.

>> Hey, I'm Bill Larkin.

I really don't have a title, but this has kind of evolved into a tourist attraction of which I didn't really plan to do.

>> HOST: And even a recent surgery hasn't kept Bill from greeting tourists and dreaming big, like he's always done.

>> Well, I was working at Crane and I had flowers outside.

I had 30,000 annual plants and I watered them, for the last year, it got up to 7 to 8 hours a day, 7 days a week.

And I thought at the end of the year, he ain't gonna have flowers no more.

>> ASHLEY: So Bill, being nothin if not ambitious, had another idea.

>> BILL: I had over 300 hanging baskets and I would put -- the top board was flat.

So I decided to put something up there.

I tried to buy birdhouses and they would just fall apart.

So I went to some place and they said, "Well, we sell lumber, why don't you build some?"

I built a few, like six.

They were crooked.

I finally got better and better at it to where after I filled out the outside, it got up to about 4,000, almost.

People were wanting them, so I kept building them and giving them away.

>> ASHLEY: That sense of generosity and over-the-top ambition just seems to be the way Bill does things.

>> I have been nuts all my life.

Before I moved here, I didn't do -- I didn't even know what a birdhouse was, hardly.

But I got into collecting stuffed animals, washing them, and giving them away.

And I would do at least 2,000 a year.

So I'm just crazy.

I retired in 2003.

36 years at Crane writing computer programs.

>> ASHLEY: And after a lifetime behind a desk, Bill doesn't have much use for a computer.

>> When I retired, my son came here and he says, "Dad, I want a new laptop.

I'm leaving the old one here for you."

And he came back a couple months later.

Said, "You haven't even plugged it in."

I says, "I have no intention to plugging it in."

I don't want to even type any more.

>> ASHLEY: Not that he has time to sit around on the computer anyway.

>> BILL: I had about 4,000 outside, and I probably gave away maybe 2,000 of those big ones?

These little ones, I probably give away between 4,000 and 5,000 each year and that's been the last five years.

So it's a huge number.

>> ASHLEY: Those big numbers aren't just for the birdhouses.

Bill's place is a big draw in southern Indiana.

>> Well, the biggest group I've ever had in my life was last summer when a Jeep rally came here.

It was 256 Jeeps.

>> ASHLEY: And folks keep coming back to get more birdhouses, see what's new, and to show someone else the wonders of Bill's birdhouse paradise.

>> I have at least two or maybe three big tour buses each year, and they always want to come back.

>> ASHLEY: And they won't have any trouble finding the place.

Type in "Birdhouse Man," and Google knows exactly where you're trying to go.

>> [Bill laughing] I could not believe that when people told me, you know, they'd call, "What are the directions?

Where is your address?"

Now you can just Google "Birdhouse Man."

You don't have to put in my name, address, or anything, and it'll bring you block by block here.

>> ASHLEY: And it's not just the tourists that keep Bill company out here.

>> BILL: Come May through June, it is almost deafening in the morning with all the chirping.

>> ASHLEY: Bill has more birdhouses than most people could imagine.

But there are a couple he likes to show anyone who drops by.

>> This one is made on a 3-D printer, which I did not know anything about a 3-D printer.

This family was from Michigan.

They came last spring, and in the fall, this thing just arrived in a box with a little note.

"We really enjoyed your place.

This is the best I could remember what your house looked like."

>> ASHLEY: But it was his daught and grandson that made his favorite birdhouse of all.

>> It's got pictures of my oldest grandson when he was 4 years old.

The boy is now 19.

>> ASHLEY: That makes it clear -- Bill's wonderland has been around a long time, but it may not stay that way.

Bill's thinking of packing it in soon.

>> Well, I'm not sure how long I'm going to be here.

My son's been wanting me to move and get out of this place, 'cause I can't really take care of the outside at all.

>> ASHLEY: So make sure you find your way to this birdhouse paradise before Bill packs up and heads south for the winter.

>> You can feel free to stop by Bill's house in Loogootee to check out his birdhouses.

And if you're lucky, he'll give you a birdhouse just like this.

>> And before we say goodbye, let's climb inside of the cockpit of a couple of these historic pieces.

♪♪ ♪♪ >> All right, Brandon, I'm in.

Do you have faith that I can drive this thing?

>> I sure hope you can, because I don't think my controls work.

>> Gosh, I don't think mine work, either.

[laughing] ♪♪ >> Production support for "Journey Indiana" is provided by Columbus Visitors Center, celebrating everywhere art and unexpected architecture in Columbus, Indiana.

Tickets for guided tours and trip planning information at... And by WTIU members.

Thank you.