Where I'll be and what I've been up to

Apologies for not updating that today I was down at Roosevelt Row - I will be there 10am-4pm tomorrow as well. I'll be there next weekend for First Friday (will update when I know where) and then 10-4 both Saturday and Sunday on Roosevelt & 2nd. 10-10pm Saturday the 9th and 10-4 on Sunday the 10th. My dance card is full!

Now, what I've been up to . . . It's been a wild transition from managing a space with a specific purpose and goal to being an artist in my own right. I had so many things I'd already made when I launched out on my own - and when they sold I was left with the question of what to replace them with. What did I want to make?

There are things that I enjoy making. There are also some I either don't enjo, or just aren't as artist driven as I would want to make on my own. So I want to make earrings, but what earrings? What earrings would reflect my style? How do I find my own voice? What do I want to say?

This is on top of figuring out how to sell at markets, and how to have that work-life balance I set as a goal for this year. I tend to become very introspective and quiet at times like this.

I've come up with some answers.

For example, I love mushrooms.

No, I've never done shrooms - it's on the list of things I tend to avoid because I don't like feeling out of control. I do love the eating kind - and I just love them aesthetically. They are able to be both adorable and hardcore. They can be cute and threatening. I love them in an Alice in Wonderland sort of way.

I also love Steampunk - have loved it for years.

So I started seeing my creations go down one track or the other - and they were fun. I love the papers and charms I've been finding. But I also felt conflicted because I was speaking a confusing message. What do I actually want to say?

Then it hit me.

Two weks ago I started seeing how these ideas can overlap and imagining what that could look like. I started trying it - sort of testing the waters. I made some ornaments that I thought woudl either come out tragic or be amazing. Thankfully they're the latter! I will be adding them to the site over the next few days - but they go very fast and I'm going to do them so that you order an ornament, give me some ideas of what you like, and I will surprise you with one. I'll share some pictures and I think it will be really fun!

I started doing some crossover in the jewelry - metal mushroom charms and glass mushrooms ... They will be loaded as well.

Then I turned my focus to the clocks. I hadn't been happy with how some of the steampunk ones had turned out. But what if the fix wasn't more steampunk? What if the fix was mushrooms? No cliffhangars here ... the fix was mushrooms! So I spent the last week making the fixes and unveiled them today. I absolutely love them - and I've found my voice!

There is so much I want to say that I feel so deeply and too often lately I can't find the words. Or, rather, I have the words but they would be community guideline voilations on several platforms. And some of them I've said so many times I feel exhausted saying them again - especially when so many seem to either not watn to see or, worse, to actually want the things that leave me cold inside.

Mushrooms are amazing!

The edible ones are packed with so many nutrients. The special ones are being used in groundbreaking research - among other things to help people heal from PTSD. Our country needs healthy nourishment and so many people today are walking around with PTSD - even if it's just from the last 8 years! (I could say since 2020 but if we're being honest it started before that).

Steampunk is powerful and inspiring. It is anachronistic and retrofuturistic and allows us the opportunity to ... let me just quote Wiki quoting.Julie Anne Tadeo and Cynthia J Miller:

As a form of speculative fiction, it explores alternative futures or pasts but can also address real-world social issues.

It's a lot of technology, and metal and it's all about function - stylized function but functionality nonetheless.

So what can happen if we are willing to reexamine the world of the past (few years), and imagine a world of the future that is rooted in continuing forward and focused on healing from the trauma we've all endured? If we can find a way forward, it's going to have to be through reimagining what was and what can be. It's going to require being willing to change our perspecxtive and see things in a different way.

The good news is WE are amazing, powerful and inspiring and if we can heal from our PTSD we can imagine a very different future than the one that feels like it's barreling towards us no matter how much we try to slow down.

So be Alice. Embrace Wonderland. Accept the fact that we are daily subjected to the Mad Hatter and asked to follow a White Rabbit. But we're badass - we can do this. Tighten your corset and own your life. I hope you're catching the vision because I can keep going with the similes and metaphors but I think we'd both get tired of that. Instead, let me introduce you to what I'm calling Punkshroom. I got the photos done and loaded for the 6"x 6" clocks - let's start there.

Without further ado - meet Alice's Memories