Many of you know that I make handmade art that I call "
Cross Bottles" and sell through my blog store,
Cross Bottle Guy.
This year has been sort of a struggle for all of that creativity. A couple of years ago, I moved all of my product - bottles, crystals, etc., etc. - over to a cooperative artist space. The building was one of many unused high schools in the area, taken over by a not-for-profit and designed for this artist studio/mixed use office sort of space for small businesses. It was a great idea.
Each renter/artist gets what was an old classroom. Some of them are larger than others, many of them have the old desks and lab tables still in place. The doors are locked, and you're free to sort of come and go as you please, and even take part in monthly "open house" style gatherings.
It worked out well, until things started to disappear. First small things, an unadorned bottle, a handful of crystals - and then whole boxes of bottles and crystals, a soldering iron, an orchid ... come on, who takes an orchid? So, I had to switch up the studio, move it somewhere else, and in the process, time in production stopped.
I settled on a small little space that was private, my own sort of brick and mortar. There were plans to do something big here, not just Cross Bottles, but the little shop my heart had always desired. I sunk money into the space - but then found that the owner had been foreclosed upon, and the bank gave me 90-days to find somewhere else to go.
Further delayed, I started to worry that my art would lose interest. I made a few from home, and they sold. Then I made a few more, and a few more. I realized that I found a creative streak while working from home that I hadn't had in months of working in a studio space. So, I figured out a way to make a studio there (
I'll show you soon!) and I got to work!
The efforts of that productivity are beautiful and I would love for y'all to pop on over to the
Cross Bottle Guy site today, and take a look! Everything in this load in is 50% off! Yep, no tricks. Just treat yo' self to a handmade work of art during this SUPER AMAZING sale, in time for your early Christmas shopping. Anything made and posted between now and the end of November will continue to be 50% off, just as my treat to you - and a thank you for your continued support!
And for those of you who are collectors, I thank you, from the bottom of my heart. You have no idea how much joy seeing these beauties go into your homes brings me, and I so appreciate your patience with me while I set up a new space. I promise, no more lulls. There'll be plenty of beauty on the shelves from here on out!
