Reminding myself of my first intentions

So I guess I have to remember that a lot of what I'm doing is being an artist & sharing my art.

Yeah, it's tiny & I've seen one or two of them in my nephew's mouth, but it's still a little bit of a sculpture that only I can spit out of my fingers & brain (really, who else would come up with meatloaf piranha?).

If I sell it, that's great. If I merely make people smile from seeing tiny art, that's good too. Ultimately puppets make people happy, and happiness is really pretty kick-butt-amazing.

So the question comes in with "do I lower prices so people can own my art?" Not right now. When my prices were lower, my production had to be higher to meet demand. That compromised my workmanship as well as my creativity in the creation process. (one can't just spit out UniCorns when one is making mass-produced red fish with really creepy orange eyes, now can they?)

It'd be nice for people to want to own tiny pieces of art, but now isn't the time. I guess I'd rather people spend money on things they need...like real bedazzled tampons, rather than their finger puppet counterpart. Or food...they could buy food.

I wonder what attitude I should have going into this pirate festival this Friday, though. Do I allow it to inspire some awesome pirate themed puppets? Or do I crank out lots of easy-to-make, lower quality finger puppets that I can offer at a lower price to cover the pricey-for-me booth fee? It's a tough.

For comicon, I allow everything I encounter from now until then to inspire kick-patuchus puppets, done over such a vast period of time that I'll have enough inventory. Thankfully comicon kids appreciate tiny expensive things made with my girl-hands.

Brown Bunny of DOOOOOOM!

I really like the phrase "....of dooom" I think it tells a lot about someone/something, and yet allows that someone/something to keep a certain mystery about them. mmm doom bunnies.

still figuring it out...

Alright, just because I've got my plot of land & need to watch my fruit ripen (hmm...) doesn't necessarily mean I have my act together enough to have places to put the fruit (uh..yeah), or even to let others know that I've got a sweet little farm goin on (I think my analogy has fallen apart)...

So I did the Sunnyslope Artwalk last night. The good news is that I got sweet new packaging for my finger puppets the day before, which just finished off what they'd been lacking in person for so long. Alright, then! Sunnyslope art-walkers, be prepared to fall in love with some delicious puppet pie! Booyah! In your face artwalk-y people! Yeah!

Ok maybe a little less than that...I had a few people tell me how awesome they were & how I should try to sell to children's boutiques in Scottsdale & I had others tell me that they recognized me from the Puppet Slams. I sold 2 finger puppets to some really rad teenagers who came back 3 times before they got money from their parents (Thanks, stranger Mom & Dad!).

So that's good, right? I made my money back from the booth fee plus three dollars! $3 is good for 8 hours, right?

I mean, it would be good if the people to the right & left of me hadn't been selling things every 5-10 minutes....I felt very over-looked. And I wasn't the whole night, I did get people coming by & telling me that my stuff was great, but anytime I had a lull, it was a long one & nobody else was lulling.

They sell so much better online, and I'm not sure why. Are people buying them because they like what I write? Do they just look horrible in-person? Are people afraid to pay $12-$18 on something 2" tall in person whereas they're okay with it online? Why did I forget to buy eyes while I was at Michael's the other day? Drat......And what about Naomi?

So I was sitting back and observing a lot. My friend Erin makes the most amazing Sock Zombies in the world. She just won a Best of Phoenix Award for them. We were in the same issue of the Phoenix NewTimes, I was in as an artist, she was in as a winner of "Best Zombie Related Art", & I'm all manners of proud..Anwyay, she was on one side, and some tweens were on the other side with bottlecaps-turned-magnets that they were selling for charity. I kept hearing "Whoopies" "Sock Zombies" all night...

Was anyone saying "Puppet Pie"? Well of course not...in order to see those words anywhere, they'd have to walk over, pick up a plastic box & look at the bottom (of which the lids keep popping off) before they could even find the words "puppet pie". And even then, when they flipped things over the first things out of their mouths were "No choking allowed" and then they'd say the name of the puppet. Just walking by, from far away they could see some things in containers & a pig hand puppet inside of an unfinished wood dollhouse (I keep saying I need to put electricity in before I put wallpaper in...so I'm stalling)--but nowhere could they see the fantastical words "Puppet Pie" to intrigue them to see what was in the actual booth. (On a side note, I dont think I'll use the dollhouse again until I finish it. because really...)

It's the same reason that nobody bought the painted dirt clods that Zachary & I sold from the playhouse in my parents' backyard when we were 7. Nobody knew we were there! Had they known, we'd have run out of the painted dirt clods, for sure--and probably have had the local paper come and do a story on the operation to boot! (It really was high quality work)

So long story short...ok not really short, but to conclude my long story, I'm making a banner. Well, I'm designing a banner & I'll have someone print it up & ship it to me.

I questioned whether or not I should just give up doing artwalks, but I think I can't give up just yet. I'll get a banner first, then I'll give up! That's called perserverance, and baby, I gots it!

Again, with the spelling...I hope I got at least a 97%.

It just occurred to me...

a) Occurred was a vocabulary word in my junior year of High School. I will never forget that.

b) I've done a bucket load's of really rad stuff that I feel compelled to list, but then I feel like that would be bragging, but then I feel like if a blog is for nothing else, it's to feel mildly indulgent, even if it's informative, because really most things people do are indulgent. I really hope I'm spelling Indulgent right....

c) I really like run-on sentences. although that didn't just occur to me. I've known this.

d) I really don't think I'm bragging. I'm just being self-indulgent to see every awesome thing that has happened to me in one place. I'm not looking for a pat on the back, because really all of this stuff is a pat on the back in and of itself (however I won't stop you) And they're not in choronological order. They're reasons I'm proud of myself at 2am.

• Etsy made a video about me. FREAKING WOW!
• I was in a Barenaked Ladies video for which my friend Noah Ginex did all his fancy-pants stuff (but he still credited me as a co-concept, set designer, assistant puppet builder, and puppeteer. I did do those things, and feel as though my roles were very minor, but it's really nice to actually be recognized for what I did do)
• I've taught at-risk youth for 4 years the art of puppetry. That right there is something big because someone trusted me enough to do that. And man, kids are really great at writing scripts.
• I was asked to make some last-minute puppets that were in two Phoenix Coyotes commercials. One with Wayne Gretzky (yeah, take that, Canada! I totally got to them before you did!)
• I was commissioned to make 5 puppets of and for 5 famous people (2 of them are legends...one has her own Webster's Dictionary entry) and they now own those puppets. What a kick-tuchus privilege.
• I've won awards for my film-making & writing with puppetry, and have shared those proudly with my friend Mack.
• I've sustained performing puppet shows for grown-ups in Phoenix for 7 years.
• I've managed to send my puppets to people in more than 10 different countries. (like..they even asked for them)
• I was asked to be an artist for The NewTimes Best of Phoenix edition.
• I've managed to titilate more than 3650 people on Etsy.com enough that they've added my shop as a favorite. (freakin' a!)
• People like what I write. (well, up until now, anyway)
• I'm pursuing something that I've loved since I was a toddler. I feel connected to my grandfather, who--even though he died when I was very young, I admired greatly.
• I was asked to make finger puppet kits for the MakerShed (Craft Magazine's online store) & even saw my finger puppets printed in their magazine in an ad for the store! &
• I was invited to be a demonstrator at the MakerFaire
• I've been to Toronto to "work" with awesome puppeteers
• I've received scholarships to puppetry festivals...People want me to learn, grow, and succeed!

I think of myself as this kid who is still trying to find her place (with her puppets) in the arts world....I forget that I've been recognized. I don't forget that my life is really rad & that really awesome stuff has happened to me (well, I forget some of the things)...but I do forget to see the big picture of it all. So here, now at 2:15am, I can see that I don't need to search for my place. I have my place. I've got this nice little plot of land. Now I get to lay down some irrigation & watch my seedlings grow into something even more amazing. Or are my plants already growing and I just need to sit back & enjoy each step of seeing the fruit form? Or is the fruit already there & all I need to do is harvest and eat it? Either way, something needs to be enjoyed.

Mmmm delicious, delicious puppet pie!

Autumn Pumpkin

More and more I'm realizing that I love Autum. Part of that may be because it's a huge break from our wretched summer. Part of it is that I'm older & don't dread, but rather look forward to back-to-school. And part of it, I think the main part, is that I've grown to appreciate the beauty of nature in that this is a time that (bear with me, I'm getting all I-love-the-Earth on you) we're given all of these wonderful things back from Nature. We work hard to plant things all year, and this is the time of year that so many wonderful vegetables are coming back to us. I can't wait for butternut squash soup and pumpkin pie. Even just the smell of the basil coming off of the garden at my son's school fills me with such ooey gooey feelings that I can't help but be thankful and slip out of the internet and into nature.

I'm totally reflective today.

2% Guilt

Good news and bad news on the health-front.

Good news is that I have no gallstones.

Bad news is that I have no gallstones.

I was hoping that would be it so we could get my galbladder out of there & life could go on--without pain. Wouldn't that be nice? It would. Look at that, I didn't even make you think of an answer. I so nice.

It could be a peptic ulcer. I mean, did you see the list of all the stuff I had to get done in 2 days? Yeah, that's ulcersville right there. But again, nobody's ruling out my gallbladder.

So...about the guilt. I've left my shop really unattended all summer long & decided I'd get things back to normal once we were home from vacation & the boy was in school--I wasn't exactly expecting to start working the same day as well. I actually did pretty well when we first got back, but now I'm Mrs. Slacker Von SlackyPants McGee . You can call me Slacky for short, I suppose. Hmm no, on second thought, I want the respect of my full name being used. Mrs. Slacker Von SlackyPants McGee to you, friend.

So, to make up for it, do you think I've made new puppets? Listed new things? Heck no! Instead I've re-arranged my shop & dropped some prices on things and put them into what we like to call a "Sale" category. Yep, Mrs. Slacker von SlackyPants McGee is really putting in the effort, now.....without actually having to put in any effort.

And I'm not writing this to plug anything (this is a lie), I'm writing to inform the people about my slackage. So don't be surprised if you don't see me mention that some puppets have dropped anywhere from $2-4 in price. I know, I know, you'd like me to tell you about the future of this sale section, and how different things will rotate through and how you might find your favorite puppet slapped in there as though I don't even care about the workmanship--but I won't tell you that because I can't see the point in making this blog post about self-promotion. That'd just be selfish. I think we've established pretty well that I'm not selfish, I'm a slacker.

Just in case you missed it:

oh change, you silly weasle, you.

WOW! What a week!

So....On Tuesday of last week I found out that the puppetry after-school program's funding is in question/limbo/happy-go-funny-wait-time-happy-hour. So that's my normal school-year job. Which means who needs a job to keep that fabulous car? This girl! (I'm pointing to myself...that is..when I'm not typing.)
It's made known to me that my son's school is looking for someone as an after-school assistant. I find out on Sunday that they'd like me to apply to at least sub in the classroom while my job with the theater is sorted out. They want me to start Wednesday. Like...I have 2 days to get everything I need in order.
What do I need in order, you ask?
CPR/First Aid certification
Food Handler's License
TB Test
Vaccination verification
Criminal history notarized
Application
Resume
4 letters of reference
plus a little back-to-school shopping for the boy-child (who is an official kindergartener!) and he needs non-character slippers for Wednesday as well. (we started the same day--see below)

I got it all done and made his slippers from scraps of leather my mom had given me years ago & puppet fleece (not Antron, don't freak out).
I felt like superwoman. really. I felt like what I accomplished in 2 days shouldn't have been attainable. It was the back-to-school miracle.

I got up on Wednesday morning to make my family a happy breakfast of scrambled eggs & toast & saw my boy off to school.......Then went back to bed with some of the most horrible cramping EVER.

I thought I'd eaten something wrong, or was maybe nervous...or hey, maybe I even gave myself an ulcer...either way, I went off to school, eating anytime my tummy was bothering because it felt like I was always hungry--painfully hungry. Really, really painfully hungry.

So that went on 2 days/3 nights before I decided to go to the doctor's office. yeah...turns out I have gallstones. yay!
At least she's 98% sure I have gallstones. Her stat order on the ultrasound meant that I get to wait until this coming Thursday. (They originally told me a week from Monday-I said no thank you, they got me in Thursday.)
So in the meantime, I get to experience pain that's pretty darn close--if not equal--to when I birthed the kiddo nearly 6 years ago. Yay! And I get to eat a 0-fat diet. that's not the letter O sitting there, that's a zero. And the sad thing is that even applesauce and bananas aren't settling my tummy down. Stupid gallbladder and its stupid-stupidhead.
I'll likely have to get it removed--which is welcomed at this point. I'm on day 5 of this. I'm all for not experiencing this anymore.

I do feel badly that I had to call in on my third day there. I'll see how tonight/tomorrow morning goes before I call in tomorrow.

So that's all non-puppetry related...because you need to know about my gallstones, right? yes.

Anwyay...on Saturday I dragged myself over to my sewing machine to make 8 more glove monsters. I did them for the cancer fundraiser, but didn't sell any, so I might put them up on Etsy soon. Other than that, though, I'm not making much. It's just difficult to concentrate when your stomach screams at you every 10 minutes.

I think it hired the mob.

Hey did I ever show you the bunny I made for a custom order? You've probably seen it by now, but nevertheless...