Sixth iteration.

Photo copyright Aji, 2023; all rights reserved.

Hard at work in the studio, fans on full blast. It's hot again today, no real chance of rain, and none in the forecast before Thursday. Given the futility of recent official forecasts, I think it's unlikely even then.

What he's working on is the sixth iteration of a particular piece. It's a commission, and one that he feels very strongly about getting right, which means that he redoes it and redoes it and until his happy with it. The first four iterations, thankfully, were mostly continual reconceptions of the design phase, but this is the second fully articulated three-dimensional version (i.e., essentially complete, not just partially), so I hope he's happy with this one. It's amazing, but I thought that about the previous one, too.

If you wonder why some commissions seem to take forever, this is why. He is his own worst critic, and also incredibly meticulous, and that leads to this.

But I sincerely wish we could sell some of our existing inventory. Sales have been terribly slow all year, and I still have to figure out a way to cover not just regular monthly expenses but next year's quarterly tax prepayments (due this year, obvs; that's why they're called prepayments), and $25K to fix Wings's multiply-botched dental work. I'm not numb anymore. I'm tired, I'm scared, but I'm not numb. I'm also mad as hell, but that won't accomplish anything, so . . . . But it doesn't erase the fact that I'm mad. At everything this society keeps handing us, including the ramped-up environmental destruction here and everywhere, to say nothing of the forcible infliction of disability and death on people by this government's criminal refusal to deal even minimally with the pandemic.

And there's nothing I can do about any of it. So we put our heads down and focus on what we can do here, now, but it's all so dependent on the ravages created by the outside world that I can't even focus on that, not really. And I have GOT to bring in more sales, NOW. My Patreon is now down by more than $300 a month, and I still don't know for sure whether I'll get this month's payout, or even be able to keep the platform. Our Web site hits are down drastically from what they should be in any given month, never mind the middle of the year. This despite the fact that there's a lot of new work on the site already, including yesterday's new gemstone bead trio, here. Meanwhile, he has more silverwork in rotation, too (two cuffs, more earrings). And . . . $25K. I don't have any way to solve any of this outside sales, so I'm begging folks, please: All the links are listed below, so please share:

• Sales here; 
• Testimonials here; 
• Amazon wishlist here (current priority still the Zero-Odor sprays, because these days we're back to wet dogs again; and the liquid soaps, which we can't get locally); 
• Patreon here;
• Ko-fi here.

There's lots of fabulous work on the site, and things are grim here, so please share all of the links. 

All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2023; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.