Rejection Letter

Hello artists of all natures,

It's no secret I've been in a slump for the past month or so. Before I headed off to California for my magazine photoshoot with my cousin (to send photos off to the editor in England!) I was feeling a bit unmotivated to continue, but as my friends and family assured me I had been working nonstop for so long that it was natural to burn out and have a break. I've spent the time flailing about, staring at my art supplies and feeling almost entirely unwilling to even pick up a needle. Then I did a bit of re-reading in my notes...

October 2nd was my brother's birthday, but it was also the day that I trucked my inventory down into town to try and sell a piece or two to a lady in town I had spoken to the month before. She told me she did most of her buying in October and had shown a great deal of interest over the photos of the pieces. I even told her the price range (~$200+) and how I do my pricing, agreed that she would be the only person in town who could display them, and that she could raise the price as high as she wanted (since she would be buying them outright as opposed to paying me when they sold).

The dress I made to fit into her shop.

When I arrived she told me she would probably only be able to sell them for $150, max, which meant she would have to buy them at much lower to make the profit. This, in of itself, I think is entirely reasonable when I stand back. It makes sense to me as the foot traffic in town certainly wasn't high and her shop doesn't sell in the price range I'm looking for. Even so, I cannot help but take it personally after having already discussed my pricing with her (and even explaining how I have no markup on my pricing - it's only materials and time) and getting my hopes up to be so outwardly put down.

The crown jewel to this encounter is that she asked me to come back with jewelry instead. I don't think I need to elaborate more on how I feel about this.

This is, in essence, my first rejection letter. It is different to have a store open and have lots of people look it over and not want to make a purchase, or the numerous people who would rather just buy a pattern from me instead of a finished piece (despite me not selling patterns currently). This is a face-to-face, personal, month-in-waiting, meeting. It wasn't a guarantee she would've bought anything, but her reasoning was so contradicting for me and the insult to injury comment about the jewelry, well... you can see the result of my poor ego, a whole month of not working! A whole month of feeling extremely unsure of myself and not even wanting to wake up out of bed as the days passed.

As with all things, once I can pin down the cause of my emotions it becomes much easier for me to tackle the problem head-on and adjust my behavior. The past month I've been a complete lump and not understood why I was lacking any motivation and now I've been able to find the root. With this new self evaluation I can readily tackle the projects that've been sitting patiently for me with an actual plan of action instead of just a list of things to get done.

The mysterious mysteries set of projects (a total of seven mysteries) is a month behind schedule and as such I've had to rewrite the entire plan. The new plan of action is much more feasible and just as mysterious as before. Previously, I was worried that I would be able to find enough time even with the month-extra buffer, now I know I'll have enough!

Princess Peach has another set of size 15 color-lined rainbow-coated beads coming in that are actually matched to code. Who knew that the original bag of size 11's that I had were Miyuki 0355 and not the random bead store's "35B" random baggie marking? And who knew that finding size 15s to match is completely ridiculous?! I should've predicted it, really, afterall it's impossible to find pink seed beads that aren't named after a million bubblegum-ballerina-salmon-carnation adjectives.

I will now reveal the secret bead dress I've been plotting - it's based on the Star Trek dress uniforms, specifically a mash between Next Generation and the Original Series. I've been keeping it a secret because I'm really unsure about how to make a miniature badge that will work, but I think I can use some Crystaletts "blank" backings to use for the base and a print-out Judikins-glazed top for the badge. Shout-out to my Puzzle Pirates friend, Tilla, for helping my track down many Trek related miniatures and finally suggesting the Judikins glaze as the custom solution!

I'll be moving my plans for a beach dress out to my second work station so that I will always have more than one project going again. Monochrome Eumelia, likewise, belongs at my first work station since the majority of her pattern is digital. Princess Peach will be at the first station as well.

With that my creativity seems to have taken hold again, much to my happiness! My most sincere wishes to the rest of my friends who have also been in a bit of an art slump lately - if you're anything like me, if you keep digging for a reason eventually you will find it.

Ashley Mae
Pinky