Good news, the tl;dr:
I have figured a way I can do custom orders based on my creation and work process.
The new page is in the works explaining details, and I look forward to connecting with you about your request when you feel called.
Madonna Pietra degli Scrovigni, 1884. Marie Spartali Stillman ; Photos taken by me
When plans go awry
I spent the last year trying to make a 'plan' work for my business—I later learned it was not the way I was meant to truly work—and in that time, my creativity became very blocked. I have a handful of creative spirits that insist I work in certain ways or else the ideas slow down until they disappear. I must listen to this and work within a certain process or I cannot create. This may sound 'out there' to some but it is how I know to articulate it. Every time I sat at the jewelry bench, aside from perhaps two months time, of the entire year, I had a block so intense I could not generate and develop ideas. That space-that-gives-my-life-meaning was almost empty. I would pitter around here and there with different things, and always put love into what I made, but I could not find any particular thing to demand my focus. I have been there, when the creative spirit is so strong that it becomes you, you become it. In this state, there are so many ideas that not many things are more important than expressing them, through whatever your medium may be. It is difficult to even spend time preparing healthy food for yourself or getting proper sleep. Creating takes over. (I am practicing balance here.) I could not access this no matter what I tried, and I felt lifeless.
My goal was to produce a lot of simpler pieces so I could sell many things. I wanted to market to galleries, boutiques, et cetera. A lot of people do this beautifully, successfully, with a swagger, so I planned to get there as well. I figured this would be the way to direct my business. But as I say, the creativity suffered deeply.
A quiet pause
I took a month or so off from making things to try and identify what was trapping my creative flow. This is the pain of using your creativity as what sustains you in the material realm. It is a must to consistently produce, despite the state of your ability to do so, and if you do not then you may not have a roof over your head next month. There is a lot on the line and you had better figure out why the ideas have gone. I honored this demand to be quiet and reflect. 'Coincidentally' it timed with the winter solstice when I ceased to make. I spent a good part of the winter season hibernating, so to speak, on the creative front. It was almost equally painful to idle my hands but through reading, meditation, walking, and building luxurious fires against the snow, I became much better at it.
Herein I learned a great deal. I learned why this energy was blocked. I discovered the way I am supposed to work. I tapped into wells of inspiration that run so deep, they have been inspiring people for a very very long time.
Where love grows
I find my inspiration grows, my creative spirits are happy, and the output flows, when I do not try to produce large quantities of things at a quick pace. That business model will not work for me. And that is okay! It is okay to spend many hours on one piece of jewelry: from the exploration process of giving shape to ideas from the ether, to the moment of decision 'This is what I will make!', to the physical creation, to the piece's completion packaged as a gift, every step with intention. This is what enables me to have more ideas than my hands can physically keep up with. This is the state I desire to maintain, as well as the stamina to spend many hours at the bench each day... back to balance and eating / sleeping / moving / loving well.
Custom orders fit into this How, you ask. Being told exactly how to make something is also a gigantic creativity killer, for my way of working. I have done it and know my aversion to it. I don't intend for this to sound grandiose, rather it goes back to as I said above: if I don't feed the creativity properly, then it goes away, as does a roof over my head.
A gift I now bestow upon my creative spirit is listening to it. As should we all!
At your service
After a period of 2-4 weeks when I have completed a collection, there is a period of time where I feel very open to creating an interested person's ideas of their own talisman. The creative spirits need a rest I suppose, because they quiet down and I have an exciting free energy to follow ideas down your path. In keeping the request simple, for example: 'I would like a wolf with a piece of moonstone', everything flows. That I can do. That I would love to do. I do not want to be told how to draw the ears or create the symbol.
I also do not mind recreating a style that is already featured in my shoppe, where we can select a stone that is uniquely yours, or you can provide your own. I know many wonderful stone sellers online or if you are local, nearby, where you can go and pick out your stone. You can also leave it to me as that is my love and my specialty.
That is an overview of how custom orders will work. If you have questions about whether an idea would work, we can talk about that too. I hope this doesn't sound impossible to work with, I don't intend to sound that way. I do know if this all sounds good to you, then we will work together splendidly. You will become keeper of a talisman you will cherish and it will last long enough to be passed down for hundreds of years.
I welcome your inquiries.
~Christi