It’s OK if you don’t remember me; it’s been a bloody long time since I updated this thing. We’ll get acquainted again.
I had a very busy and productive summer. The bulk of my time was spent on Mockingbird Studio stuff – making inventory, formulating new Touchstone™ recipes, selling stuff, and doing business-y things. My brain doesn’t like to do business-y things, but I was smart enough to hire Kelly five years ago, and she’s pretty good at that sort of thing. Kelly keeps the shop math stuff going and sells everything not nailed down, while Jim, who has been with me for six years now, is a one-man assembly machine who also cleans up after us both, throws out seemingly random commentary that invariably results in some brilliant innovation, reminds me to eat, writes juicy ad copy, and keeps the shop spider-free.
I could not do what I do without Kelly and Jim. They both routinely go WAY above and beyond the call of duty and if they ever figure out how much I depend on them, I’m screwed.
I have other marvelous Minions, too:
Bob, who marches in the parade every faire day in the ridiculous heat and humidity, wearing ten pounds of velvet and wool carrying my banner… with a smile on his face;
Robin, who can string bracelets faster than any other three humans on the planet and keeps me laughing;
Bridget, who can measure and cut beads like whoa and who is willing and able to learn how to make all the things;
and Grayson, who is the very handsome face of Mockingbird Studio on the road. He’s helping me to figure out ways to get my work into shops outside of Ren Faire venues, and doing ALL the legwork for that.
And now there’s Juli, who is not me, but who spells her name the same way I do. Other Juli is a webmaster, and she is building a website for Mockingbird Studio. She is waiting on me (of course) to get product photos taken and uploaded, but the “bones” of the site are in place and just about ready to launch. I am beyond excited about this!! Stay tuned, because there’s an announcement coming VERY soon.
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The parts of my summer not spent working on Mockingbird Studio stuff? Oh, nothing much… just helped my daughter organize, plan and execute a FABULOUS wedding. She and her new husband tied the knot (literally – instead of lighting a unity candle, they tied two cords into a fisherman’s knot!) on September 14. I did stuff like print and help glue invitations together, make bridesmaids’ bouquets, make centerpieces and place cards, shop for bridesmaids’ gifts, make programs and favors, nag attendants about getting their clothes in order, and sic my sister on unsatisfactory hotel clerks. This same sister also hosted our out-of-town family AND the bride and her girls the night before the wedding. Including herself and her husband, she had SIXTEEN PEOPLE sleeping in her house. I’m not sure if she should be canonized or institutionalized.
Because of my participation in Renaissance faires, I know people in every possible profession, so the photographer, the DJ, the officiant and the on-site stage manager were selected from my friends, the bride’s dress was altered by a seamstress friend, and some of the wedding dessert goodies were made by yet another friend. (It is worth noting that if the bride and groom were in need of a biophysicist, a geologist or a nine-times Guinness world-record-holding whip cracker, I could have found those for them easily too.)
The wedding was beautiful, and the bride and groom honeymooned in Mexico.
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And now I head back to the studio to take some photos of bracelets. Remember what I said – big ol’ announcement coming very soon!
XOX
Juli
mockingbird studio 