FA+
Shop
Life Update: Year of the Rabbit!! (Enamel Pins, Anyone?)
2 years ago
TL;DR: I'm making hard enamel pins for Year of the Rabbit! Keep your eyes peeled for the Kickstarter announcement in a few weeks!
o o o
Hey guys, has it really been a year since I last posted?! Holy cow!
Happy Year of the Rabbit! This is my year, and I intend to make it so! Move over, Tigers! (I love you guys - half my friends were Tigers growing up!)
It has been a bumpy 6 years. I've busted my butt raising my son and rising the ranks at my day job, even through Covid. A work injury set me back, but I've learned a ton of lessons about self-care. For that, the injury was a blessing in disguise.
In the beginning of the Covid lockdowns, my first and only dog passed away. This year, my cat of 12 years passed away. Most recently, my Grandmother, who was a major influence in my life, passed at the age of 90 years, God keep her.
These are the sorts of things I don't tend to share publicly. But this year is different.
As of 2023, I will have weekends off for the first time in 6 years. After a year and a half of physical therapy for my work injury, I no longer have to go to appointments 10 hours a week. I've finally had time to get back to my art.
Among several projects, I've been completing a series of Changeling ink illustrations for a collaborative project between me and my manfriend. With another friend, I am dabbling as a comic colorist.
And now, this year, for myself, and as a reaction to my Grandmother passing, I decided I was done waiting to become a successful artist. If my Grandmother was anything, she was a Tiger. Tigers do not apologize for being Tigers - this is the singular, emboldening thought I have been left with in the wake of her passing. Even when her voice was the unpopular opinion, I cannot help but admire her fearlessness in expressing herself.
As it happens, today I learned what Selective Mutism is - a form of anxiety that causes a person to be involuntarily incapable of verbally (or otherwise) communicating in unfamiliar or high-stress situations. Even if they really, really want to. It is more prevalent in children - who can grow out of it - but it can also affect adolescents and adults. And it overwhelmingly explains many of my fears about communicating myself. (I've not been diagnosed, but it is, at the very least, very relevant to me.)
I was supposed to make an announcement Sunday, but got too anxious. And maybe I am sending the wrong message by admitting it. Or maybe I am sending exaclty the right message, exercising my voice in light of what I have learned today.
All that being said, I am pleased to announce I will be making my first set of hard enamel pins in celebration of the years past and this new Year of the Rabbit to come.
Expect a slew of developmental posts, other announcements, and a launch announcement in the coming weeks, and thank you for reading this far along.
Glad to Be Back,
MOONJAWS
o o o
Hey guys, has it really been a year since I last posted?! Holy cow!
Happy Year of the Rabbit! This is my year, and I intend to make it so! Move over, Tigers! (I love you guys - half my friends were Tigers growing up!)
It has been a bumpy 6 years. I've busted my butt raising my son and rising the ranks at my day job, even through Covid. A work injury set me back, but I've learned a ton of lessons about self-care. For that, the injury was a blessing in disguise.
In the beginning of the Covid lockdowns, my first and only dog passed away. This year, my cat of 12 years passed away. Most recently, my Grandmother, who was a major influence in my life, passed at the age of 90 years, God keep her.
These are the sorts of things I don't tend to share publicly. But this year is different.
As of 2023, I will have weekends off for the first time in 6 years. After a year and a half of physical therapy for my work injury, I no longer have to go to appointments 10 hours a week. I've finally had time to get back to my art.
Among several projects, I've been completing a series of Changeling ink illustrations for a collaborative project between me and my manfriend. With another friend, I am dabbling as a comic colorist.
And now, this year, for myself, and as a reaction to my Grandmother passing, I decided I was done waiting to become a successful artist. If my Grandmother was anything, she was a Tiger. Tigers do not apologize for being Tigers - this is the singular, emboldening thought I have been left with in the wake of her passing. Even when her voice was the unpopular opinion, I cannot help but admire her fearlessness in expressing herself.
As it happens, today I learned what Selective Mutism is - a form of anxiety that causes a person to be involuntarily incapable of verbally (or otherwise) communicating in unfamiliar or high-stress situations. Even if they really, really want to. It is more prevalent in children - who can grow out of it - but it can also affect adolescents and adults. And it overwhelmingly explains many of my fears about communicating myself. (I've not been diagnosed, but it is, at the very least, very relevant to me.)
I was supposed to make an announcement Sunday, but got too anxious. And maybe I am sending the wrong message by admitting it. Or maybe I am sending exaclty the right message, exercising my voice in light of what I have learned today.
All that being said, I am pleased to announce I will be making my first set of hard enamel pins in celebration of the years past and this new Year of the Rabbit to come.
Expect a slew of developmental posts, other announcements, and a launch announcement in the coming weeks, and thank you for reading this far along.
Glad to Be Back,
MOONJAWS
Lovely to see you around again, I still have one of your adopts that was gifted to me by a friend. Glad things are getting better for you 🥰