Hi there,

We're the Nelsons and we're so glad you're here.  We are a little family-run operation with a heart to share the work of our hands. Here at Bronze Basin, we aim to create and live meaningful, God-honoring lives and this doesn't stop with our work.  That's why Colossians 3:23 is at the core of all we do.  

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My name is Ashley and my husband is Will, and together we have 3 young boys, George, Duke, and Charles.  We got our start on an island in Alaska, where my husband was born and raised.  I ended up on Kodiak Island after taking a summer boat job, burned out from working in corporate America in my home state of Texas.  Will and I met the following summer at a Fourth of July bonfire and the rest is history.  Our little homestead by the foggy Pacific Ocean was where we grew strong together, raising children, chickens, a few pigs, a couple of dogs, a woodshed, and a weather-sturdy greenhouse. 

 

We have been living in the Arizona for about 4 years now.​​ Health reasons brought us south and we're finally beginning to acclimate. Will works rotationally in the oil field of Alaska and I get to care for our boys at home, schooling them, feeding them all the homemade food and teaching them God's ways.  It's my greatest work and reward.  Woven within the hours of mothering and tending to our home, I work to find pockets of time to create artwork.

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Art has always been a form of communication when I can't find the words or actions to suit the occasion.  Purposeful artwork is where I come alive; solving problems with functional beauty is my way of creativity.  As a youth I was passionate about creating anything I could put my hands to. When my mom taught me to use her sewing machine at age 13, my whole world blossomed open.  In high school I focused on interior design and in college I studied photography and graphic design.  For the next decade I worked as a photographer and illustrator, but always with a sewing machine nearby.

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When I became a mother, drawing on paper didn't feel like it was serving my family anymore.  It was then that I put a pause on artwork and logo design, to learn how to make soap and a whole slew of other apothecary goods.  This satisfied my desire to contribute something useful to my family and feel connected to them at the same time.  Then, when George turned 2 years old, I gifted him a handmade pearl snap shirt made from a lime green cotton fabric with a little bug pattern for the yokes.  That was the first time in my life I had ever had success with a pattern.  Since then, I've made over 100 custom yoke shirts from homemade patterns and mounds of other projects.  Leathercraft didn't enter our world until we moved to Arizona, but it was the culmination of all that I had worked towards in the prevailing years that funneled into creating with leather.  The designing, drawing, sewing, and sculpting ~ all for the sake of creating functional artwork.
 

If you have questions, comments or a special request for soap, leatherwork or art, please write to us.  Our heart for Bronze Basin is to be a blessing to all those that come into our path, to accomplish God's will and share with what has been shared with us.
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Thanks for visiting us here,

the Nelsons
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