Planning First Breeding Project

[Ellentomologist]

Hello!

First of all, please correct me if I am doing anything impolite or against forum policy! I'm fairly new here, though I have been lurking for years. If I do anything wrong, I certainly want to correct the issue ASAP.

Now, on to the "meat" of this post. I've been keeping reptiles for several years, but am relatively new to ball pythons. I've wanted one since I was a child and have kind of obsessed over them, reading up on forums, books, and Youtube channels (well, "watching up" on there I guess) for the past 3-4 years. Recently I graduated college and got my first job with a modest but very livable wage, and as such decided to purchase my first ball python, pictured below, as a graduation/new job gift for myself.

His name is Piombi, like the pasta, and I have more pictures of him available though nothing super convenient to post if anyone wants a better look at him. He's a Pastel Yellow Belly het Clown, about 8 months old, through a breeder who has a good reputation (even confirmed gender in front of me and showed me pictures of the parent, plus gave me the care card for Piombi). While I realize it will be quite a while before he's of breeding size, I did buy him with the intention of eventually doing some breeding in the future. Otherwise I wouldn't have gotten the het clown, honestly.

I had really intended to buy a female when I went to the expo, but Piombi just really caught my eye. The S.O. loves yellow BPs and I love morphs with pastel in the mix. I'm hoping to get a female in the next few months so that I will have them both of breeding size in 2-4 years (around the time I'll be in a permanent living situation), which is why I'm posting here. I'm looking for morph suggestions for Piombi's future "girlfriend".

Obviously something that is at least het clown is ideal, and since I'd really like to make some sterlings/pewters cinnamon is also preferred, though I am flexible on that. What would you guys recommend personally? Obviously I'm young and inexperienced, and I don't intend for this to become anything more than a hobby, so I would like to focus on a small number of high-quality, beautiful snakes.

Thanks in advance!
-Ellen