Hey all!

I've had a horrible year. The worst year of my life, by far. My beloved dachshund passed away from kidney failure at 16 years old, which was an expected passing but still incredibly difficult. He was like a son to me and I feel empty without him. Exactly one month later, my other dog, a 7 year old corgi, passed away from lymphoma that we didn't even know she had until she collapsed and we took her to an animal hospital. We could not afford $10k for an abdominal surgery to take out her spleen and other infected parts, and that would have only bought her a month or two extra anyways. We had to make the call to let her go.

After both my dogs passed away, I slipped into a deep depression and fell behind on work, despite still working every day. I was starting to fall behind, then I was asked to be the Guest of Honor for Denfur this year and I was thrilled, but it was A LOT of work and a lot of prep, which combined with making 2 partials to sell and 1 partial to donate to the charity, in addition to badge pre-orders, I fell further behind in my queue. After Denfur, I had some take-home art commissions I needed to do which delayed me a little too. I spent the next 2 months frantically trying to catch up, then I had to start preparing for my next convention I was selling at, Anthro Northwest. Right before Anthro Northwest, my grandmother passed away from complications from dementia. As if I didn't have enough loss already this year. I was only able to complete 1 partial to sell instead of the 2 I wanted, and again I had badge pre-orders to do and homework after.

At ANW, I caught the nastiest cold I've ever had in my life, and spent the entire week following the con laying in bed sleeping and unable to do much of anything. I'm STILL struggling with lingering effects from being sick, I have to take a midday nap most days because of the fatigue. I've also been having stomach issues since. All while I fell further behind. Since May of this year, I have been working nights and weekends in addition to working all day, just to try and catch up. I have gotten to the point where even despite the extra hours, I'm working at half speed despite my best efforts, and I feel like I can't get above water. My fursuit queue was supposed to be done by the end of this month, but it is delayed a bit. I had a serious breakdown last week and starting on plans to commit suicide. I'm okay now, I have support systems in place and I will not be getting to that point again.

I have restructured my schedule, forcing myself to have weekends and nights off again so I can hopefully cure my burnout and get back to my high level of productivity. I used to be able to work so fast I could make a fullsuit in 2 weeks, now it's taking me 3-4 weeks. I have already contacted all of my existing clients with these updates as well as what dates I will be working on their suit, as I'm trying to be as transparent as possible. I am actively making changes to help myself and help my awful mental health.

This gets me to my next point, art commissions. While I was at ANW one night I had a mental breakdown about selling at cons and doing art commissions at my table. I've decided it will be best for me if I just no longer offer art commissions, at all. I will not be taking or doing any art while I am at cons, and I will no longer be offering art commissions even online. I am wanting to take back drawing as a hobby as I haven't been enjoying it with it as part of my job. This will allow me to love drawing again, and finally draw things for myself. In addition, I will not be attending any conventions in 2022, and I have already contacted the 2 cons I had tables for already and cancelled them. I will be spending 2022 working on myself and my business. Without the distraction and stress of cons and art, I think I can make some considerable improvements to my life and my mental wellbeing.

I will return to cons for vending and attending in 2023, most likely beginning with ANW 2023, which will be in January of that year. When I return to vending at cons, my business will be a bit different. I will have 2-3 premade partials for sale at each con, as well as a variety of premade fursuit parts like tails, feet, and hands. I want to move more towards offering fursuit pieces and away from art, as trying to do both at every con has been incredibly stressful and exhausting.

I understand that some people are likely to be upset with me for no longer offering art, as I know there are a handful of people that have been waiting for me to reopen. I apologize, but I cannot take your commissions. I hope everyone is understanding about this.

I greatly appreciate all of my amazing clients, every single one in my queue has been nothing but patient and understanding and has not pushed me about completion or anything. Right now, my fursuit commission queue will be empty as of mid-March. I have been telling people I will be reopening suits in January, and I wanted to have my queue clear before I opened but I don't want to keep pushing back my opening date so I will still do it in January. Likely, at the beginning of January I will hold an auction for a custom fullsuit slot, which will be a guaranteed slot and will be put right at the end of the current queue to be finished in April. On January 31st, I will open regular commission slots which will be for April-June 2022 completion. I want to offer a guaranteed slot for the auction as I'm at the point now where I have more people applying than I can accept, and it's become a bit tougher to get a slot. This way I can gauge what the market things my fullsuits are worth, and one person does not have to compete for a slot.

The new slots will be April-June 2022 completion as I said, and I will likely open again in June for July-October 2022 completion. My goal is to open 2-3 times a year and have wait times of around 1-4 months.


Thank you all for your understanding as I undertake this journey of self-improvement.