Inside The Studio: The Spooks Are Awakening
I would like to quickly let everyone know that at this time I will be attending a local Halloween event in Ogallala for three nights. It's a new event that details are still being worked out but I can confirm that weather permitting, I'll be out at Ogallala's Field of Fear October 17th, 23rd & 24th and we are still working out times because they have a pumpkin patch during the day and the haunted maze at night. I will be making posts once I know more information on the time and exact address for it. This event is brand new this year so somethings some details are still getting worked out. I just wanted to quickly let everyone know about this so people know to watch out for it. I got confirmation on the dates for vendors while I was working on finishing this blog and the first date is right around the time I post my blogs and send out the newsletters.
I hope your August went well. I spent a large part of the month creating. I have been working on so many things lately and I can hardly wait to share it with you.
Some of you may know that I was working on a some new painted bookmarks last month and I am happy to say that I have finished painting them. I will be working on scanning them so I can make laminated paper versions available.
I would have been much farther along on making them but, I had to replace my scanner and that was a huge hot mess to deal with. The morning after I finished painting the final bookmark when I got the scanner out that I've had since 2021 had died. Nothing I did would get it to turn on and so I placed an order for a new one and had that one never got delivered and had to struggle to get that sorted out and a new one reordered. It took a few days but it was thankfully taken care of. I was so incredibly annoyed but thankfully, the new one has arrived and is working!
I plan on working on scanning the four bookmarks and getting the laminated bookmarks done. I'll be getting them sealed, photographed, and sleeved over the weekend while I'm off. I will not be making them or any of the new products I talk about this month available until after Soulfest on the 26th.
I plan on sending out a short newsletter and making a shop update blog after the items are available in case anyone is really eyeing anything.
As for other new items coming to the shop, I will have two mini sticker/washi sheets available. For years I have been wanting to make washi tape but it has never happened for numerous reasons. One thing I can do is make "samples" and I am not going to lie, I got this idea from a couple different artists, one of them being Acorn & Crow Studios. I love her little washi sheets that she makes as part of her Corvid Cache (her monthly snail mail club).
Why I didn't thing of this start making them sooner I don't know. Like, this is something I can do easily on my own if needed since I have a cricut machine from when I use to make my own stickers. I still keep sticker paper around for when I have online orders so it's not outside the realm of possibility. I have the supplies! I will be placing an order with one of the sticker companies I get mine made from with so I know I have some available in case something goes wrong on my end with my cricut. I haven't used it in roughly a year and after my scanner died I'm now side eyeing the cricut because that would be just my luck. It's also never has really like me much which doesn't help.
One of the washi sheets is going to go with my Crystal Banger set I put together at the start of the year. And for the second washi sheet, I am doing something near and dear to me. It's absolutely nostaglia filled for me and that is a Halloween set. The art for it is actually a good chunk of what I worked on at the end of August after I had finished up the bookmarks. I have two designs that are actually my original washi designs from a few years ago. One is black with white spiderwebs and the other is white with black spiderwebs and both have matching spiders hanging from the webs.
I also love Halloween especially more vintage halloween and so for the rest of the sheet I made one design that some is a bunch of blowmold candy buckets that I drew up after spending far to long looking online for a blowmold my grandmother had when I was just a little kid. I then drew a bunch of candy to have overflowing from the buckets for a second design and I adore it. It kind vaguely reminds me of some of the fabrics my grandmother would buy for us to do crafts with when I was younger and that was a fun little thing I noticed after I finished designing it. And of course to round out the sheet and to take full advantage of all the candy I had spend days working on, I finished it off with a piece that is just the candy. I can't put into words just how much this has quickly become one of my favorite things I have ever made and I am now more determined then ever to make this into actual washi tape. I want to be able to use it everywhere.
I even love the border that I made to fill up the blank space. I made a little repeating pattern that featured bats, stars and moons on a dark greyish background with little splattering of orange, purple and white giving it almost a night sky look. This feels so much like the version of Halloween that I have been so desperately missing the last several years and I can't get over it. It's given me so many ideas for things I want to explore and do in the future and I am so incredible giddy every time I look at it.
If all goes according to plan I plan on making a sticker sheet featuring most of the elements, possibly as a mini print we'll see how that goes.
I will have three new notepads available soon as well. They have arrived and I have stamped my logo on the back, labeled and sleeved them. And with the pattern I made for the washi sheet border I'm also working on getting it turned into sticky notes as well.
I'm also so incredibly excited because soon I'll be able to start painting the fox piece I mentioned last month inspired by Project Hail Mary and I'm unspeakily excited for that especially since I have done the thing I have needed to do for years and invested in my very first H frame easel so my cats aren't knocking my paintings all over the place and I'll be able to adjust it so I can sit or stand while I work! It took forever to build thanks to some really poorly made instructions but it's been staple and solid so I'm not complaining to much about it.
I can hardly believe how much stuff I have managed to get done recently. Most of this year has been so busy and I have been so burnt out all summer that I'm surprised I have gotten hit with so much inspiration lately. Granted having Soulfest coming up has also helped keep me motivated and going with the new pieces I have been working on.
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