Photo copyright Aji, 2024; all rights reserved. |
More work in progress; there's a lot of new work coming soon. The wristband here will probably be up tonight, as well as another big old-style all-silver cuff. Three pairs of earrings in the wings, larger silverwork ones set with single stones, and four Warrior Woman pins, as well as six or seven new pairs of gemstone-bead earrings in The Standing Stones Collection. These will not be parts of trios, like he's been doing in recent years; this is back to freestanding bead works, probably at a slightly lower price point for some of them. A lot of these new pieces date back months, and he's been trying to get to them; he's finally getting some decent studio time now.
Which is good, because as I've been saying, our finances have been devastated this year. And it's gotten worse recently, between the roof and the truck. Based on the quote we got the other day, I'm guessing we can get the roof and the overhang [the water is going through and risking rotting the deck and front door and windowsills; we wanted to do an overhang originally, but then I almost died, more than once, and that got back-burnered along with everything else still unfinished on the house] done simultaneously for something in the neighborhood of $4 grand, so $4k in sales is my new immediate goal. That way we can get the materials ordered, even though they won't be able to do the work before September, probably, given the rains.
Of course, we're out the $2 grand-plus already for this part of the roof repair and the part for the truck. It'll be at least another grand, and probably substantially more, for the labor on the truck. I'll need to cover that, too, which probably means than a $4K goal. Wings just heard from the mechanic, asking him to text a photo of the key assembly, so I'm guessing that although we paid him last Friday, he hasn't even ordered the part yet, which means that everything could get a lot more costly before we're done. And we both have medical stuff coming up, including the fact that I have to keep a smooth grand set aside for my imaging next month. So while last week's sales/breathing room helps right this moment, over the long haul, it hasn't materially changed a lot of things. The expenses from last year and the first half of this year broke us so badly that we're still way behind on everything. I have GOT to put a big chunk on our tax bill, which is weighing heavily on me constantly. [You wonder why I don't sleep? Apart from pain, that's one BIG reason.]
Over last weekend, I finally got 7 new offerings [8 pieces total, 2 sold as a pair] up yesterday: Art Deco Labradorite cuff here; Art Deco purpurite cuff here [and already spoken for]; triangle wire youth bangle here; Art Nouveau vine pattern-wire youth bangle here; small Art Nouveau pattern-wire bangle pair here; malachite earrings here; and Picasso jasper earrings here [very haunted Gothic stones!]. He's finally getting a chance to get caught up a bit on stuff that he's had to back-burner since last year [more in the works already, the new wide silver cuff and the wristband I mentioned above, and the three pairs of larger earrings with stones, plus four Warrior Woman pins and all the gemstone-bead earrings, probably by Monday or so]. And I still need to make sales at a rate of at least two per week for the rest of the year for us to catch up [and that's just breaking even]. So: Go buy! Please! Links are here:
- Sales here;
- Testimonials here;
- Amazon wishlist here (Amazon cards are probably most useful at this point);
- Patreon here;
- Ko-fi here.
After such a grim year, this one already even worse than the last, we really need to get 2024 onto a better footing, so please share all of the links.
All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2024; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.
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