January: easing into the new year

Hello friends! How is the new year treating you? Personally, I’ve been moving pretty slowly through the past few weeks. It’s so cold out, and the daylight is so limited, that I’ve unconsciously reverted back to the mindset of a hibernating animal - it’s hard to be productive when my hindbrain is telling me to huddle in bed for warmth and sleep as much as possible.

But with the new year, comes the first anniversary of moonkat studio!! This Sunday (Jan 25th) marks the first full year of focusing on my creative practice. This journey has had its ups and downs, but I’m already noticing so much progress compared to last year; I can’t imagine how I’ll feel in five or ten years time. During moonkat studio’s first year, I:

• participated in 12 art markets

• led 8 workshops

• designed 5 custom orders

I mentioned this in my December notes, but when I first started this journey I gave myself one year to try and make something of my craft. Which I’m happy to say that I’ve accomplished! Now that that year has passed, I have another goal for myself - not one that’s based on time or on maximizing revenue, but rather more open-ended: to try and do this for as long as I can. I’m shifting my mindset to focus on an endurance marathon instead of a sprint. This year my goal is to set more systems in place so I can continue to do this sustainably, and to focus on long-term skill development instead of prioritizing quick wins that might burn me out or otherwise cut my journey short.

Along these lines, I have decided to stop offering my current ring designs. This is something that’s a little scary for me, since these rings have been my best sellers from day one, but I believe doing this will help me keep growing and evolving as an artist. Even though I still love the rings that I designed last year, I noticed that I was treating them as a safety net; going into markets, I had an idea of which of the previous designs would sell and exactly how long they would take to make, so I unconsciously prioritized cranking out multiples of the same ring instead of experimenting with new ideas. But I’m just at the beginning of my (hopefully very long) artistic career, and I want to continue improving my skills and pushing myself creatively.

I will be moving my existing ring designs to the archive after moonkat studio’s one-year anniversary. If there is a design you have been interested in, you can order it here until January 25th, after which I will be discontinuing these designs in favor of shifting my focus to work on new designs and techniques.

Speaking of new ideas: I’ve recently started a pet project (excuse the pun) - a little charm in honor of the upcoming Year of the Horse! Here’s a peek at my truly horrendous first attempt - it looks more like a sloth than a horse, poor buddy… along with some more shapely subsequent iterations.

For the necklace I’m envisioning, I’ve been drawing inspiration from the traditional jade pendants on red string - but with some twists to suit my own taste and design style. I’m still working on perfecting this, but my hope is to get it ready by Lunar New Year, which this year falls on Feb 17th. I’ll be sending another newsletter once I have a final product I’m happy with, so watch this space!

Also coming up in February: more workshops :)

The first will be in Brooklyn on 2/21, in partnership with RecCreate Collective. This will be my 7th (!!) time teaching with them - I’m always happy to be back in this beautiful space.

The second will be a little closer to home in Philly. I’ll be holding the next Carve & Sip workshop on Saturday, 2/28 at Social Beings, a sunlit yoga studio in Point Breeze.

For my independent workshops (aka the Carve & Sips, not the ones with RecCreate) I will be changing how I price things - namely, I will be decoupling the workshop ticket price from the material / casting price of the finished rings. What this looks like:

• Ticket prices will be lowered to $85 (compared to $145 previously)

• Silver material is NOT included in the ticket price

• Participants who choose to have their finished wax designs cast in silver will have a separate charge for casting and finishing their rings

• These additional charges are priced based on the amount of silver needed for the specific designs

As you may or may not know, the price of silver has been rising drastically in the past few months, and it was no longer economically feasible for me to run these workshops with my previous ticket pricing. My hope is that this new approach will keep my workshops reasonably affordable, especially for people who just want to learn a new skill or make a dainty ring, while still allowing freedom for people who want a chunky statement ring and are willing to spend more to make it a reality.

If you’re interested in learning a new craft or making a unique keepsake, tickets for the 2/28 Carve & Sip workshop are available here!

That wraps up my thoughts for this month. For all of my fellow East Coasters: I hope everyone stays warm and safe during the winter storm that may or may not be hitting us this Sunday! And as always, thank you for reading ♥️