It has been a hectic but transformative few weeks, but I'm very excited to share that I finally got around to updating my shops with hand-dipped spell candles!
You can choose from pure white or sigilized candles, and can even send me an image of a sigil YOU designed to be carved into the candle.
I've also added birthday candles to the shop, something I'm very excited about even though it's out of the norm a bit. As I was dipping the taper candles, and letting my kiddo run around with her very own "mini candle", I remembered her first birthday when family members arrived with those awful paraffin wax candles from the grocery store. I would have loved to have celebrated with candles that I could trust (rather than having to delicately explain to my stepmother why I didn't want those candles dripping into my kids first ever cupcake). So, it's a little "off brand" (but fuck it, I'm not a brand), but there they are! Ethical & safe birthday or celebration candles for your next wish :)
Rat Corp is the leading company in the Rat Handling and Welfare industry. Luckily for you, they’re here to teach you the correct way to handle your fellow rats. Original print on 100% recycled paper stock by Gomgrut
Merry Christmas to all friends and followers who celebrate🎄
May you have serenity within whether alone or with others.
Remember you are never alone
Feel the Light of the Universe shining on you💚
Hear me out. I love winter. I really do. As a native Californian, I will never get over the delight of having the real seasons I enjoy here in the Midwest.
... but I must admit, the lack of blooms to harvest right out my back porch, the distinct lack of roses in the air, and the absence of looking forward to weekly photo sessions with my flowers really has left a hole in my heart. I can't wait to ooh and aaah over my rose arbor again, or get fully stuck in on arranging once more.
Until then, I'll be putting together puzzles of my favorite floral images.
If you're that person, the person who right now feels like peony and rose season is much too far away, then my floral puzzle collection can be a balm for your soul. Pick a puzzle or two to save for a rainy day, or for a cozy and bright activity for two.
Rest assured any puzzle you choose from my shop is human made by me, not AI created.
The deadline for Christmas puzzle shipping with the Priority option at the latest is December 13th and it's December 8th for Standard shipping.
Before I felt comfortable announcing that I now offer puzzles of my work, I of course had to playtest them. So here is my middle child, looking down at a puzzle-ified version of my youngest, contemplating destruction.
I can happily report that I am over the moon with the print provider I chose and the quality is excellent. Nice print, thick pieces, and even some irregular shapes. I can't wait to gift a couple at the end of the month and have a couple more in my cart just for me from my animal rescue photography days, or from my summer garden, and of my own herd.
The deadline for Christmas puzzle shipping with the Priority option at the latest is December 13th and it's December 8th for Standard shipping.
Check it out and grab a puzzle at MuseAndMaker.Etsy.Com
When you support #SmallBusiness and #IndieArtists, you're giving me, a real live person, a reason to go on creating. You're supporting #creativity and it's truly appreciated.
My shop is on sale December 1-18 and 25-29. If you wanted to #ShopSmall and #SupportArtists along with making a real difference in someone's life, click my shop link. :)
Alright dear ones, it's time to make a little announcement.
For anyone reading this without context, let me provide some:
My partner & I own Rancho de la Libertad: a regenerative agricultural project and spiritual & artistic sanctuary in the high desert. We host ceremony here, provide a landing space to travelers interested in what we're doing, I provide ritual tattooing to those who need it, and we're doing the slow work of regeneration of soil and moving to turn back the ecological desecration that's occurred here in the last 150 years since the settler & gold rushes.
But it's in trouble. We're poised to lose our primary income stream soon, and this means that we won't be able to carry the current mortgage on our house. We're looking at purchasing instead a plot of vacant land between 40 and 60 acres and living in tipis, completely off grid. This positions us actually better for a few different kinds of opportunities. We can expand our regeneration efforts, live more sustainably, eliminate our energy costs (currently a huge part of our monthly bills), provide more living spaces for less money for travelers & residents, and have animals that we don't have the space for here, like horses & cattle.
Losing Rancho de la Libertad wouldn't just be devastating for our family, but for the artists & wanderers that we routinely host here for ceremonies, stargazing events, tattooing rites, and more generally so that they have the space to escape the city and have physical space in which to create and rest.
With that being said, we don't want anything for nothing. I recently (as you all know) opened up a ko-fi store, and am going to be releasing an Etsy store in the next 24 hours as well. We will be using our collective creative skills to craft meaningful spiritual objects in an effort to try to begin an alternate revenue stream.
I additionally will be posting a goal on ko-fi to crowdfund land and get us started. If I've held space for you, provided a beneficial meditation, or if you've stopped by the ranch and you have 5 dollars to spare, please consider if we're worth some of your support.
I will still make a point to not turn this into just a sales channel: I don't aim to trade this beautiful community I've found for sales. Occasionally you'll see shop updates or discounts from me, but otherwise the rest of what I share will be the same.
And for fun, I've opened up a discount on my ko-fi shop from now until the Winter Solstice.
My Sketch Sale is LIVE! A few sketches sold immediately. There’s still plenty to choose from. Prices range from $10 to $75 with themes of nature, fantasy, and portrait studies. 🤍
For the next 72 hours, all prints on my kofi are "pay what you want" with a minimum of $1. That's right, that means that for the cost of shipping and a dollar, you could get a limited run print that will never be printed again!
I wanted to make them free, but kofi won't let me. Still, this is a really great deal. If you've had your eye on any but the cost has been prohibitive, now is the time to take them off my hands.
As we all know, the algos managing the visibility of publications on other networks are getting worse and worse.
But it's particularly obvious when the randomness of notifications means that two posts published several years apart on Instagram end up side by side in the application.
The post shown first is from 2021, I had 500 fewer followers than today, and yet it had made over 1,500 likes.
The one below is my last published drawing. It has barely reached 130 likes, less than 5% of my subscribers.
It's really become exhausting for artists.
~
On le sait tous, les algos gérant la visibilité des publications sur les autres réseaux sont de pire en pire.
Mais c'est particulièrement flagrant quand le hasard des notifications fait que deux posts publiés à plusieurs années d'intervalle sur Instagram se retrouvent côte à côte dans l'application.
Le post montré en premier date de 2021, j'avais 500 abonnés de moins qu'aujourd'hui, et pourtant il avait fait plus de 1500 likes.
L'autre en dessous est mon dernier dessin publié. Il a péniblement atteint les 130 likes, soit moins de 5 % de mes abonnés.
After wrestling with the decision for a while, I've decided to offer my favorite one-off piece for sale: the nail collar!
I have plans to make something similar in the future that fits my current lifestyle a bit better, but in the meantime, this piece truly deserves a life off the shelf. It's something I'm very proud of having made, I think it's beautiful.