The Double Grind: Balancing Booth Prep, Homeschooling, and the Next Generation of Creators

The studio light has been burning a little later than usual lately. With the Gypsy Soul Fair in Fort Smith coming up on April 18th and 19th, my workbench is a sea of Raven skulls, clay textures, and hardware. When you’re preparing for a big show, "enough" is a moving target. You want to make sure every person who walks into your booth finds that one piece that speaks to them, and that means long hours and a lot of focus.

But my "coworker" doesn’t always follow a 9-to-5 schedule.

The Art of the Pivot

Most makers talk about the "hustle," but fewer talk about the "shuffle." Juggling the business with homeschooling my daughter requires a level of flexibility that would make a gymnast jealous. Because she’s neurodivergent, we’ve learned that monotony is the enemy of progress. If a lesson starts to feel like a chore, we pivot. We switch up the medium, the environment, or the approach to keep that spark of curiosity alive.

It can be exhausting to constantly reinvent the wheel, but then I look over and see why it matters.

A New Maker in the House

Lately, the inspiration in this house has been a two-way street. She sees the long hours I’m putting in for Gypsy Soul—she sees the setbacks with balance, the triumphs of a perfect cure, and the steady determination it takes to build something from nothing.

And now, she’s ready to jump into the arena.

We are so excited because her 3D printer and supplies are almost all here! Watching her crave that creation process is probably the proudest moment of my career so far. She doesn’t just want to "play"—she wants to learn the entrepreneurial side of things. She wants to be a creator in her own right, building her own brand of magic.

Why We Do It

The days are long and the "to-do" list for the fair is even longer, but there is a profound joy in watching my little creator grow. Whether I’m troubleshooting the weight distribution on a pair of earrings or helping her calibrate her new printer, the goal is the same: to show her that we have the power to create the world we want to live in.

If you’re heading to the Gypsy Soul Fair in Fort Smith on April 18th or 19th, come say hi. You’ll see the finished products of all these late nights—and maybe a little bit of that shared family spark in every piece.