Returning to Create: From Career Pause to Tiny Worlds You Can Hold

Throughout my career, I have had the opportunity to design a wide spectrum of products: logos, high-end fashion, bedding, engraved mugs, mailers, advertisements, packaging, and the list goes on and on—hopefully never to be completed.

Anyway, I took an extended leave from my career some years ago to be a full-time caretaker for my sons, who have autism. When I reentered the field a little more than a year ago, it became evident how much things had changed. I wrestled with the heavy political traps buried around like land mines, and also with the emergence of AI. The idea of having to plunge back into this world seemed off-putting, combined with the idea of sitting behind a desk. I decided that I longed for a new experience: one in which I would be at the helm.

This opened the floodgates for possibilities. Since I have a disability that has significantly shortened the length of time I can draw, I began to explore new methods of development as well as final outcomes for products.

This brings us to this piece. Miniatures and dioramas have drawn me since childhood. I adore pint-sized thrills tucked into marvelous little worlds; the fragile details and intricate delicacies make my heart long to sing. So part of my path toward reemergence meant spending time leaning into what I love. I began to create inspirational images of miniatures. What I didn’t expect was to develop a following and find others in the community who were equally moved by this creative focus.

Since I am well-versed in moving products from concept through to production, it got me thinking: people like myself long for more than just inspiration. They want to behold the tangible results. So recently, my family and I have been exploring the possibility of expanding our product lines of digital files and print-on-demand to include miniatures and diorama pieces. We are still very much in the concept phase, but we ARE starting to research production aspects. It’s both a frightening and exhilarating prospect, and I plan to bring my community along for the ride.

Much in the same way that my blogs and Pinterest descriptions describe a journey rather than the detailed subjects of my work, this will unfold as a story: image upon image, word upon word, until one day (hopefully) the result will be a physical piece that speaks like a storybook you can touch with your hands. In the meantime, continue to explore the digital inspirations, and as more develops, I will take you all along for the ride.