Juggler

Today is one of those days where I feel like I have way too many balls up in the air, and that half of them are crashing down on the ground, bouncing around me. But then again, this time of year it is almost inevitable.

A show next weekend. Wholesale orders for the cranes. My daughter's birthday tomorrow. A friend's show to visit this weekend. An article to write. Show applications to send in. Another piece to send off for photography. All good things...great things actually. But there is hardly time to savor the experience, let alone breathe and get the kids off to school, homework done, fed, showered, etc., etc. The last few months has been a tsunami of opportunities and creative growth. But sometimes I want the pace to slow down enough to really register what is going on.
Three years ago I did my first craft show. A "juried" show in the loosest of terms. I was on the front end of the learning curve, but already, I knew, and customers knew, this was not the right show for me. So I have worked slowly up the ladder. Finding, and getting into better and better shows. Gaining confidence in the whole process of doing shows.
Three years ago I began selling my work in a local museum that sold work of members and other local artists. Then another gallery took in some of my work....pens, clocks and bottle stoppers. Things I no longer even make. Now my work is in nearly thirty galleries across the country. I will be doing my first wholesale show next spring.
Three years ago I was reading magazines and books about polymer clay, jewelry and craft business, absorbing as much as I could. Experimenting and discovering everyday in my studio. Today, my work has been in numerous magazines, and I have won several awards, and I am still in that studio nearly everyday, experimenting and discovering.
Three years may see like eons to my kids. But for me, my head is spinning at how this has all happened so fast. I have worked long and hard over those three years. But it has been driven by a passion for what I am doing and a desire to get it out into the world and share it with others.
I had several other jobs/careers along the way before I stumbled into this gig. Nothing has ever come together in this way before in my life. Of course, I can see so many things in my past that have helped me in this journey. Skills I have added to my repetoire or knowledge I have gained that have helped me find my way now.
I still feel like I am at the beginning of this journey, and that there is so much more to discover. But I am grateful to be right here, right now, doing what I am doing, and being able to share it with others.