(upbeat music) - Here's what's coming up next on "You Oughta Know."

Five New Jersey friends come together to create a fun-filled experience that's turned into a franchise.

Calling DIYers, this Philly woodworking class may be the next project you are looking to tackle.

Plus we'll show you an interesting way to preserve your wedding memories.

Welcome to "You Oughta Know."

I'm Shirley Min.

Some brides will spend hours searching for the right wedding dress.

You wear it, take pictures, and then put it away.

My dress has been stuffed in a box in my closet since 2009.

Well, a local entrepreneur has come up with a way to put the dress back in the spotlight.

(tender music) - When it comes to a wedding dress what you're wearing is a reflection of who you are.

It tells all those around you how you feel about yourself.

A blending of your personality, your aesthetic, and your own body, the way that your form lives in the world.

My name is Renee Chase, and I'm the owner of the Ceramic Bride, and I make replicas of wedding dresses, and I was born to make things.

The first step in my process is to analyze the image of the dress, make a paper pattern of what I feel the dress may turn into.

I pretty much always knew I wanted to be a fashion designer from the time I was in fifth grade, and all I wanted to do all my life was make clothes.

After I graduated college I started my own business manufacturing sportswear.

I got a call from "The Philadelphia Bulletin" and they needed a fashion assistant.

I sold my business and started working as a fashion writer.

Drexel called and said, "Can you teach a class?"

I became head of the program and for 35 years I was devoted to just building that program.

After a long time of that I really wanted my own creative life.

I started trying to make bowls, and it just wasn't working for me.

And my teacher was demonstrating a bowl, a turning bowl, and she said, "I'm gonna show you how to put a dart into this bowl."

And I thought, "Dart, oh, my gosh, that's a word I really understand from my own world."

(bright music) I've created this front and this back for this dress.

The next step is to roll out clay to about a quarter of an inch thick.

And I use a clay roller.

I had to stop taking traditional clay classes because everything I was doing was against the rules, against the grain of how you make clay.

I pretty much decided I was gonna learn on my own and I just made clay dresses until I kind of perfected my form.

It felt like it was a truer artistic expression of myself.

My niece was getting married.

That's when the idea for wedding dresses happened.

And what a happy, wonderful experience it's been making things for people who are at the best time of their lives.

10 years since I started making wedding dresses.

With clay there's always a certain amount of dryness or wetness that you need at each part of the building process.

I've really felt I could apply all of my sensibilities to the clay just as easily as I could to fabric.

The joy I got from making these wedding dresses was so great that I thought, "Why don't I go into my retirement years doing something that is joyful?"

I feel like my hands were a gift and I love to use them.

(gentle music) - If you like working with your hands, you oughta know about this woodworking shop in Philly where you can learn how to make everything from a cutting board to furniture.

Grab those safety goggles and take a look.

(cheerful music) North American Street is starting to become an arts corridor in Philadelphia, a big reason why Michelle Lipson moved her workspace here.

(saw whirs) - I moved into this shop in 2019 from my studio in Port Richmond, and with the intention of focusing specifically on teaching.

So it was a move from doing mostly custom work to teaching these classes for recreational woodworking and furniture making.

(chill music) (saw whirs) - [Shirley] Here Michelle hosts workshops, classes, and private lessons teaching the art of woodworking.

- Within that broader definition, you have people that are cabinet makers, furniture makers, carpenters.

Those are slightly different sets of skills.

- So people could come here and make a cutting board.

- Yeah, so I do this as a workshop.

We're just making a board, but we actually can use quite a few of the machines in the shop, so it's sort of immediate gratification.

- It's so pretty.

- Thanks.

- I love it.

- Like I have people do their birthday parties here, or family reunion, or sometimes it's just a date night.

Most of the people are beginners.

So although the projects don't necessarily look like beginner projects, they are geared towards people that have never done anything before.

Everyone wants to be here, and this is why it's so much fun to teach because it's their recreational time.

Most of my students, they just want something to do with their hands.

Maybe they're behind a desk all day, or they just haven't had an opportunity to be creative.

They come, they're excited to be here, and they're scared, which is great 'cause they listen to everything I say.

(Michelle chuckles) (soft music) I want people to have a reasonable amount of fear.

These are dangerous machines.

We go over everything.

No one does anything that they're uncomfortable with, and we talk about all the safety concerns and stuff, so everyone is very comfortable by the time we actually start running the parts.

(gentle music) I think people are really disconnected from what it takes to make something.

And a lot of people come in here who have never made anything before, and it's really engaging to have them learn how things are put together 'cause I think that they find it really empowering.

Even just during the course of a few weeks you see someone's confidence really change and that's pretty fun.

- Michelle's cutting board workshop is a big crowd pleaser, and you can even bring food and drinks to enjoy after your time on the power tools.

This next story is about a New Jersey woodworking couple whose handcrafted furniture is an expression of love and appreciation for the raw beauty of wood.

- [Abe] My grandfather had a sawmill.

My uncle had a sawmill.

I worked in a sawmill.

Bonnie started to help me by sanding and really loves sanding.

In doing that, she's gotten better and better.

She makes really great stuff.

(upbeat music) - Abe is excited with a certain portion of it.

He likes the dynamics of design, and then you get to where you have a piece that is recognizable as what it can be.

- [Abe] That's where Bonnie really steps in.

- [Bonnie] So I'm kind of the cleaner upper and finisher upper.

- [Abe] Inspiration strikes at all different times.

Sometimes it's a walk in the woods and you can see a shape in a tree, and sometimes that's enough and I never have to make it.

- [Bonnie] Starting out as a hobby, that's great to have all these unfinished pieces here, there and everywhere.

But in making a decision to turn this into a career, we need to have a finished product to let out into the world.

(whimsical music) - [Abe] Good wood is actually bad wood.

If carpenter ants got into something and just chewed their little tunnels through and ruined it it tells the whole story.

That ant did the most of the design.

That's our best stuff.

We highlight imperfection, that's our favorite thing.

Look at it from a different angle and maybe it's the prettiest stuff.

Maybe there's beauty in that.

At the end of any given day, did you plug in the branding iron that is, like, the, you know, the dinner bell's almost about to ring.

The exciting part, that black and white to color transition is about to happen.

No matter how much you feel attached to it let it go to wherever belongs.

- [Bonnie] Where it belongs is so, so often exactly where it belongs.

- One piece in particular that we had, and it was a piece of pine that had been struck by lightning, we put a high price on it 'cause we didn't want to let it go.

And after maybe a year or so we said, "We are not enjoying this."

And we brought it to a show.

A couple came along, and you know, they listened to the story and they purchased it.

- And it was okay to let it go.

It turned into something way bigger than it would have if it was sitting in our attic with a sheet on it.

It's an emotional attachment.

- [Abe] People with children show a lot of pictures of their kids.

People with pets show a lot of pictures of their pets.

We show pictures of furniture.

- [Bonnie] We really went into this thinking, "Okay, he's making something.

I'm finishing it up and we'll sell it."

And it's really more of we're investing in people as much as they're investing in us.

And part of us is living in each of those pieces that are held in people's homes, and in their sacred spaces.

And we feel honored to be part of that.

- Seven years ago, five New Jersey friends created South Jersey's first escape room.

Today, Exit 4 Escape Rooms is a franchise that's keeping smiles on people's faces.

(eerie music) - Come on in, make yourselves at home.

All right, so welcome to the wand maker's curse room.

Soon as I leave you're gonna get a quick little video here that lets you know what you need to do to win.

- An escape room is a room with a theme that you go into and you solve a series of puzzles all leading towards one ultimate goal.

Sometimes it is to escape, but sometimes it's not.

Sometimes it is to maybe build something, solve something, or diffuse a bomb, if you will.

So it's all just about promoting teamwork towards an ultimate goal.

- And I did blue, green, red.

- I think it's blue, red, green.

- [Jake] Basic concept for an escape room is you want people to work together, communicate with each other and try to find something for the entire group, something that everyone can do, everyone can see, and you know, everyone works together towards the goal.

- So the first one is that right there.

- So Jake, what you were thinking is this is the first room and the hallway runs completely down.

- Yeah, so like, yeah.

Building is is a lot of fun.

We have the designers.

We have electricians.

We have carpenters.

We have a lot of people that make this go from a pile of construction equipment to a fantastical land.

It's very cool process.

All of our rooms here are completely private.

You will only be going in with whoever you decide to bring.

So there's a lot of different goals in all of our rooms.

For instance, in the police station, you have to break into an evidence locker and get the exonerating evidence before time runs out - Throughout this room, you're collecting different wands.

So once you have the appropriate amount of wands you can take them, put them in the wand receptacles here, and they will trigger a magic video.

You're gonna go over to this.

- In our three sons cantina you have to rescue a little baby creature that's been frozen and you have to let 'em freeze.

So there's always some kind of weird goal in every room.

So you could do any number of things.

It's a lot more complex than just escaping.

So if you're in the room and you feel like you've hit a wall, we have little clue buttons in every room that you hit.

And then someone who's monitoring the room can send you a little nudge in the right direction.

They'll always know where you're at in the room and so they can just kind of give you a little hint, like maybe look at that a little closer, or try this a little differently.

And you know, we are a member of the team basically.

We're here to help.

- All right, let's get another clue.

- [Jake] So all of our rooms take no more than an hour.

You might solve it in less than that, but you will not be in there for any longer than 60 minutes.

To make a room, we could get an idea from anything.

Something could happen on a TV show.

We could see something on the side of the road and think, "That would make for a good room."

And then next thing you know, we're talking to each other, and we kind of tend to work backwards.

What's the ultimate goal?

How do we get there?

And then can we build that?

And it's usually we've found more often than not lately the answer's been yes.

So we've had some truly insane ideas all the way from a cantina in outer space to a video store from the mid-nineties.

We can do it all basically.

- [Player] Yeah, we did it.

- [Jake] Come to a room, come see us.

It's a lot of fun and we love to have ya.

- We're winners.

- Exit 4 Escape Room is just one family friendly, fun-filled activity in our area.

Here's a look at a few others.

(upbeat music) - Topgolf started with twin brothers in England.

It eventually came to the United States in 2004.

We have a variety of experience levels that play here.

Topgolf's for everyone.

When you come, you can expect a golf bay for up to six of your friends.

You'll be given golf clubs and a bay host who can accommodate all of your food and beverage needs as well.

To dispense a ball, you'll just wave your club over the red sensor and you'll dispense one ball at a time.

Every ball has a microchip in it so it tracks the flight of your ball and ties to your particular score.

We also have high definition cameras which will also track the flight of the ball.

We have a variety of virtual games.

We also have games embedded in our targets on the field.

We have Angry Birds, which is a virtual course.

It's great for our younger guests that allows you to hit a virtual screen just like you would the Angry Birds game.

We also have Topgolf which is scoring through our target system.

Then we have virtual golf courses, like Pebble Beach and things like that.

The skill level is secondary to you having a good time.

(chill music) We have traditional golfers that'll come in on a day that maybe the weather's not cooperating, so instead of going to a green grass course they're gonna come hit some golf balls.

We do have a traditional driving range, but we also have a variety of games, food and beverage for those first time guests looking for a social atmosphere.

On a Saturday night, you can expect a lot of events.

They range from bachelor parties to more social experiences.

We also host a ton of corporate outings as well.

- We all need time to connect and decompress.

Topgolf is a great environment to do it.

We get to swing the clubs, eat good food, bond.

There's a great place to sit.

It's a really upbeat atmosphere.

- In the summer months on the rooftop terrace we'll have cornhole and connect four.

So there is a ton to do even if you're not golfing.

We also in the summer host a summer academy, part golf instruction, part kids camp, and it's an opportunity for anyone ages six through 12 to get some golf instruction along with a little fun.

The phrase Topgolf is for everyone really resonates here in Mount Laurel and the community has embraced the venue, and we're excited about the future.

- [Shirley] Welcome to Sugar Factory Philadelphia.

(cheerful music) - [Christina] Sugar Factory is all about celebrations.

We specialize in fun, very frivolous items to drink and eat.

- Would you say it's a restaurant, a candy shop?

- [Christina] We're an ice cream shop.

We are a bar, we're retail.

- Tell me about the candy room over there, because that's like my jam.

- Yeah, in every Sugar Factory we have a retail component, and we have candy available by bulk.

- [Dad] What did you get?

- A taffy.

(upbeat music) - We have regular sundaes.

We have regular milkshakes, like you would, strawberry, chocolate, vanilla, and then we have our insane milkshakes.

- When you say it's an insane milkshake, what makes it insane?

- [Christina] Insane that the outer part of the glass is covered in chocolate, and the goodies that match the name of the milkshake.

- Hi, thank you.

I don't even know where to start.

Heavy.

- Our rainbow sliders are one of the most popular items ordered.

They're designed after our logo.

(chill music) - Mm, good.

What is the smoking candy goblet?

- [Christina] That is one of our signature drinks.

- Oh, my goodness, wow.

This is my kind of dessert.

Mm, chef's kiss, very good.

So good.

(Shirley laughs) - [Christina] Sugar Factory is just a fun time.

We have great food, great desserts, incredible drinks, and you can have a nice dinner for two or you can have a huge party.

We like to make great experiences happen.

♪ Thunder only happens when it's raining ♪ ♪ Players only love you when they're playing ♪ - We had the idea for opening a karaoke place in Collingswood because Michael actually used to live in Japan.

- Karaokes in Japan is very cultural.

It's something that you do with your family, with your friends.

- [Ronnie] We said, "We should open a place here," and we found a great building, and we refurbished it and here we are.

We show them back to their suite.

You get an iPad, tambourine, microphone, so we show you how to use all of that.

Once you get in your suite, the vibe is just fun.

You can sing and have some drinks.

We have partnerships with restaurants in Collingswood and you can order right from us.

We'll go get the food, bring it back to your suite, and you have everything you need.

♪ Let it go ♪ ♪ And I'll rise like the break of dawn ♪ ♪ Let it go, let it go ♪ It's just really a super fun time.

And give it a try.

You can do a party or you can come for a date night.

When people are leaving and saying goodbye, they're just so happy and that just makes us so happy.

- Patrick Stoner talks to the stars of Apple TV+'s most watched drama series, "Silo" in this week's Flicks.

- We do not know why we are here.

We do not know who built the silo, and why we are underground.

We only know the world outside our sanctuary is death.

- [Patrick] It's the number one drama on Apple TV+, just renewed for a second season, stars Rebecca Ferguson, Tim Robbins and others.

It's a story of the last 10,000 people on Earth hiding in a silo hundreds of stories deep where they feel they're protected, but not.

Rebecca, welcomed me to it.

- My darling, Patrick, you are welcomed into the room.

- The fact that you welcome me is touching.

It seems to me that one of the characters in "Silo" is the environment, this insular feeling.

- I completely agree.

The environment and the settings is also one of the reasons to why I fell for the show.

The idea of the humans putting themself in a situation that they then have to live through.

And the consequences of the idea of breaking loose interests me.

I like it as a concept for me to work in as an actor.

I mean, if everything is light and wonderful, how boring to make that movie, right?

- I think what carries the lightness is the character of Juliet because she is on a quest for truth.

It's a very personal quest.

It's coming from a love that she had for a man and his death had questionable circumstances, and she wants to discover the truth.

And so she starts to peel layers off of what the veneer is of the silo and starts to discover more and more how the silo really operates.

And so there are the official narrative of the silo and there is the truth.

- I have to assume that it is always a pleasure to have something going on underneath that it's not necessarily obvious.

- I think what is so fascinating is the fact that we have a character who we don't know how to relate to because she doesn't relate to us.

So what happens?

You sediment emotions, and you com compartmentalize them, and hence why a character becomes good at one specific item like a machinery, or there's a bit of an autistic-ness to her nearly, and I love the fact that what generates her, there's anger in her, and the ripple effect of her seeking this truth is the unraveling of so many untruths.

- Rebecca, thank you so much.

I appreciate your time.

- Thank you for coming in.

- Tim, thank you very much.

Good to see you again.

- Nice to see you too.

- Stay well.

- You too.

- Thanks so much for tuning in this week everyone.

Have a great night.

Bye.

(upbeat music)