State of the Studio

Life is finally settling down a little bit. To recap - in the summer of 2017, I announced that we were having a baby AND moving across the country. Since the last State of the Studio post, we've had the baby (who is now a whopping 8 months old!), a few more California adventures, traveled back to the Midwest by way of the Utah National Parks, moved in to our apartment in Kansas City, and I have a tiny studio space set up. 

HE WAS SO TINY.

One of our many, many hikes in Utah.

As it turns out, babies have a way of turning even the best-laid plans upside down. Who knew, right? (Spoiler: I should have.) I had this wild idea that I'd be able to work both before and after babe came, and that hasn't happened in the slightest. Working (or sleeping, showering, cleaning, etc) when the baby naps only works if the baby naps. Seven months in, he's finally starting to sleep really well at night and I can start to see some work time in my future.

So what's next? At least for a while, I'm not going to be chancing commissions. I hope to sculpt some new western trees for casting (which means learning how to make molds, yikes!), work on the western saddle guide, and slowly pick away at an Arabian costume that's been in the works for over a year. Just for fun, here's the evolution of a Stablemate scale tassel. I've only tied, trimmed, fluffed, and brushed around 75 of the over 100 tassels that will go into this project. It's more of a marathon than a sprint, but the Mares in Black podcast is keeping me entertained.

Left to right: normal clothes pin, tied tassel, trimmed, teased, and brushed. The tassel will get another trim after it's on the costume to make sure everything is even.

Thanks for hanging in there with me, and I hope to be more actively making tack and participating in the hobby from here!