thrills & thanks!

You guys are rock stars! No, I'm serious, you're pretty much all my heroes at this point and man do I have a tall order to fill! I have to admit, going into this I was pretty certain I would get some sympathy orders from a few close friends and family, but I NEVER expected to reach my goal in less than a week. Do you realize what an impact each one of you has had? Starting a home studio is a big deal for a potter and something I did not think was possible even though I had decided to attempt it anyway.

The investment that was necessary was not something I could cover on my own; there was no way I could front the money for supplies, and even with expressed verbal interest, I was incredibly leery about going into debt with the very real chance that every person who said "Your stuff is so cool!" would never actually want anything. The $3k for the kiln alone was a shock on my bank account, and now I'm getting ready to buy clay, glaze materials, and who knows what other tools I'll need; however, all of you came through to support me and make this dream a wild reality! Without each of you, I would have been making mugs and pots in my garage, crying over how much money I had put into a project that never got off the ground, except we are so far from the ground I'm nearly afraid of flying too high at this point.

As I write this, I have 181 mugs that are spoken for. 181 mugs that I need to make for you crazy people! I don't think I've made 181 mugs in my entire art career! Do you know how overwhelming that is?! Where do I even put those while I'm working on them? What if I screw them all up in the first firing? What if I make them all and then you guys hate them? What if the glaze is totally wrong? Good thing I didn't give you guys a deadline... Good thing you guys are patient. Good thing I can always make more...

Edit: Make that 183

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Well, I'm going to leave this as a pretty short note. I honestly just wanted to thank all of you for what you have done. For some of you, this was just $20, some of you much more, but for me, you have completely changed my life. A friend of mine sent me a message yesterday that said, "'If your ship doesn't come in, swim out to it.' You just did this!" It took me a moment to let it sink in, but she's totally right. This was a risk, and I'm so glad I faced the fear because this is the kind of adventure I've always wanted to take, but none of this would have been possible if YOU had not shared my dream with me. 

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So, thank you. Thank you for believing in me when I wasn't even sure what I was doing - just following a dream. And I'll leave you with some June pictures to keep you smiling. She's so needy :) I hope she becomes a good studio dog.

Oh! And keep those orders coming! There is no limit on the pre-sale, so I will make as many as you ask for. Just know that every purchase going forward goes towards more materials to make these awesome mugs for each of you! If you want some and haven't seen the form yet, you can fill it out here.

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Here is June on day 1 of studio training. She did an awesome job and even barked at the first person to walk up which is great since they totally snuck up on me!