NOTE FROM GW: Both time and the pandemic have made it ever more difficult to do my work. What this really means is I can only make smaller numbers of things and it takes longer to do the work. I have lost several key workers who cannot be replaced (ever) and all of the work now has to be done by fewer people. Keep in mind we never have had enough time in a day and now it takes true genius to manage all the details. All of us here are aging and with age has come added time away from work to help care for our families and ourselves. I will never compromise the quality or integrity of my work, but I ask your patience in the necessary wait times while we (my tiny team of 2 here and my 3 long distance workers) carry on.

ABOUT DECIDING WHAT TO DO WITH MY LIFE’S WORK:

This is an important announcement for those who follow my work. Although I am not retiring at this time, at 73 with my husband retired and 75, I have been trying to look deeply into who I am, who I have been and where I do see myself going. Nearly all of my friends have badgered me with the question when am I going to retire. Next year, 2024, will be my 50th year in full time business. I have always had a strong belief system that relies entirely on how my inner self feels about whatever the issue is in front of me - from deciding whether to dye the buttons on a new doll’s outfit to whether I should retire and how to do that. I don’t always get the answer quickly, but I rarely proceed without feeling the answer in my heart. And that is why my work is what it is.

This is a complicated problem. It is not like deciding to sell your store or your salon, even if you have done this your whole working life. There is a connection to all of my work that would be akin to giving up a child. How can anyone do this? Long ago I thought my daughter would take it all over, but it became clear that I taught her well. But what I taught her was indeed to be like me but the twist was she became like me but in the way of following her own muse and doing it well. It just wasn’t about making dolls. Early on I had two utterly fantastic offers to buy my business. Even though I would have been rich for life, I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t sell part of me. Much later, I did entertain selling, but for each person who expressed interest, I ended up knowing I could not do it, for I knew that it would be inevitable that they would fail because they were not me. So, then what? Well, several years ago, a seed was planted in my mind that has helped smooth the way. It is a common concept after all in largely Eastern, but also native American philosophy, but brought straight to my heart by the writer Elizabeth Gilbert when she writes in her book, Big Magic, that we are only the custodians of our ideas. They belong to the universe and some of us become gifted with the opportunity and insight to follow the ideas through. So instead of worrying what am I to do with all this stuff, I can adopt a grateful stance that I have been granted the gift of guiding the ideas and inspirations to a place where I could share and hard as it was most times, make a good living while doing it. But back to the problems in real life.

In the meantime, Covid also did its work in nearly upsetting my business financially and due to this, I spent a full year overcoming chronic hives. Then the forces of nature (a direct lightening hit in June causing huge damage to equipment), followed by just recently my workshop computer (an iMac of 12 years) with everything on it died. Replacing it and all the software was an enormous expense plus is representing a major part of each day to learn and update all the stuff from much older versions of all the softwares involved. On top of the usual frustrations we all face dealing with technology and its constant changing ways, I have, as an owner of an online business which has website technology to deal with plus ever increasing (and difficult) security issues imposed requiring more and more IT work, and guess who is my IT person. My tiny staff can tell you that there are many hours I spend althernately cursing and crying. Excesslively. Due to the mounting amount of this insanity modern technology has wrought.

Then a moment came when I had had too much and felt the only solution was to shut it all down. But whenever I had entertained similar thoughts (but related to retiring), it never felt like the answer I had been seeking. In my most recent ranting about spending ⅔ of my time dealing with admin work and technology issues, I heard myself say how much I hated hated hated it and that all I wanted was to bring all the inspiring ideas in my head to life. So, where the real lightening bolt didn’t succeed in getting the message through, the figurative one did. What is now clear to me is that I love to create new and I need to figure out how to make space to do that. That I am exhausted by only treading water to keep the business financially alive by repeating old work on far too many products with far too little help in making them and never enough time to do new ideas. I have only 2 full-time workers plus my office person (½ day per week) and there is no possibility of either finding new/additional workers or more importantly, I cannot do this by myself. So, my plan is to discontinue nearly all old work (even if I still love some of it) to make space to do new.

THE PLAN:
This email Sale-Announcement will be the final offer on all finished dolls, except the Hitty Series, which will continue. Tiny Dolls will also continue for the next year, then many will also be discontinued. Most kits and patterns will continue to be available as will most supplies, but many of those will disappear too as current supplies run out. Lists will follow of everything being discontinued and how to order if you have ever wanted any of the items. This has been a hard decision to come to, but it is the right one. I know this because it brings a sense of peace and some excitement as I look forward to 2024 being able to do new ideas and dolls. I will always have a way to communicate what I am working on.

AS TO CLASSES AND TEACHING:
I love teaching and sharing what I know. Covid and the rise of venues becoming primarily only open to weddings at much higher rates, basically put an end to the kind of in-person classes that many hundreds of customers have loved in years past. Recently I read an article about the value of giving of ones talents after retirement. The article inspired me to think about sponsoring classes where I would teach for free (the only expenses would be my travel, accommodations and any class kits) thus making it more likely small groups could afford to hold one of my classes. Things to think about.