Conversations with Abby Shaner

Today we’d like to introduce you to Abby Shaner. 

Hi Abby, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstories.
I have always been a huge lover of plants and began WoodSolStone as a hobby project! I finished my first wall this past July when my daughter was just 3 days old and posted it on social media. I had one person message me asking to make one for her, so I made one, had another person want one, so I made another one and a few months later started selling my walls at markets in the area. 

I’ll never forget last year before WoodSolStone was even thought of, my husband and I were walking through a market craft show and I said “it’s a dream of mine to create something and be here…creating and selling my art.” And he said, “Do it!” 

Months later it all started happening and hasn’t slowed down since. 

I absolutely love the process, I love the designing and creating process and watching these beautiful pieces come to life. Full of texture and color and all the natural elements that I love so much. 

I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle-free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
It has been a really cool and organically easy road since we opened in the summer of 2021. I feel very thankful and incredibly lucky for that. My husband always wanted to get into woodworking so he started making a few frames and I started designing a few moss walls. We never put any pressure to anything about it. I just thought it would be really wild to sell 3 walls or make them for a friend here and there. Seven months later we are here now, about to start on a large wall for a wine bar opening up locally, and sometimes can’t believe our own eyes. 

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I have always been a more creative type of person and have always preferred to be working with my hands and expressing myself through art in one way or another. Through the week I am hairstylist in Cincinnati and have owned my own independent contracting business since 2011. I’ve definitely been a person who values being my own boss. I love what I do, I love my clients and the great conversations we get to have all day. I love making them feel great when they leave my chair. I love feeling creative and connecting with people on a daily basis. 

Through it all though I am the most proud of my family and my amazing husband and my delicious kids. They are what keeps me going. 

We’d be interested to hear your thoughts on luck and what role, if any, you feel it’s played for you?
This question is a hard one. I would very much consider myself an “unlucky” person who has, by the grace of God, been given some very rare treasures so through that I push forward with “one day at a time” mentality. My husband and I have been through a lot of hard things in our marriage. We’ve gone through a parent’s worst nightmare of losing our first son, Woody, when he was 3 years old. We had our beautiful boy, Bash Wood only a short and hard 3 months after the passing of our first son. A few years later our son, Gabriel Sol was born stillborn and quickly became pregnant with our daughter, Indie Stone after losing Gabriel. Our luck has been both heartache and joy within that same breath. But through the deep pain that’ we’ve been through as parents and as partners, we have been able to find our strength and “luck” through our children and our great love for each other. We make a team that I couldn’t be more thankful for. 

Our great lucky charm has been the creation of WoodSolStone- named after our kids and in honor of their blessing to us. 

Contact Info:

• Email: Woodsolstonestudio@gmail.com
• Instagram: www.Instagram.com/woodsolstone_studio
• Facebook: www.Facebook.com/woodsolstonestudio