I’ve been making beasts with wings this past week. Lately, I feel like I can fly. I feel like I can do anything! What brought about this levitation in my attitude?

Friday was my last day at a day job that made me feel meek, worthless, and dead inside for over two years. Maybe that’s a little dramatic, but it did put me in therapy. At the beginning of this year, I didn’t want to make Nonesuch Dolls anymore. I didn’t want to do anything. The Sproutlings bloomed from this dark period out of pure desperation to convince myself I could still be creative. I thought doing something different would make me feel alive again. It helped a little, but I didn’t start making true progress until I began talking to a therapist. I soon discovered that the guilt and shame I felt wasn’t my fault. I was being bullied at work and felt trapped by the steady paycheck. Slowly, I crawled out of my depression and starting seeing options again. I didn’t have to spend the rest of my life at a dead end job. I could choose what I wanted my life to be.

I made a game plan and started saving my money with renewed purpose. I would stay at my day job until next spring and put in my resignation two weeks before my birthday. It would be my birthday present to myself. In the back of my mind, I wished I could leave before the busy season at my day job in the fall. The beginning of the holiday season would be the perfect time to kick off my self-employed artist endeavor. I filed the thought away as a pipe dream and tried to see the bright side of waiting. I started sewing again and felt at peace with my day job situation for the first time in months.

Well, I guess the saying rings true, “Be careful what you wish for.”

In July, I taught comics at a summer camp for three weeks. To do so, I took the evening shift at my day job with the promise that I would get my day shift back when it was over. Toward the end of the three weeks, my manager informed me that I was no longer eligible for the day shift and “offered” me the evening shift. It’s hard to explain why this was the final straw for me without going into a long winded back story about my complicated relationship with this manager. You will just have to trust me when I say I had no choice but to hand in my resignation a whole lot earlier than I intended.

Things didn’t really turn out the way I had hoped. My savings account isn’t as plump as I would like. But I am 100% sure I made the right decision and I’m absolutely elated to finally be working for myself. Today was my first official day as a self-employed artist and I will work hard to ensure that there will be many more to follow.

Leander the Griffin

king of earth and air
powerful and dignified
the royal griffin

Available here!

Equuleus the Pegasus

the divine winged horse
bears heroes into battle
a muse for poets

Available here!

Things are starting to calm down a bit so I suppose I should tell you what I’ve been up to!

At the beginning of July I was invited to teach comics and manga at a local school’s summer camp program. For three weeks I really felt like myself again. I am a cartoonist first and foremost. If you were to meet me on the street and ask me what I do, I would say, “I’m a cartoonist.” If prodded further, I would go on to say, “I also make art dolls.” When I was growing up, my two favorite activities were drawing and making up stories. When I was 10 years old, I was exposed to my very first graphic novel (ElfQuest, by Wendy and Richard Pini). Something clicked. “I can draw and tell stories at the SAME TIME?!” From that moment on, I decided I would be a cartoonist when I grew up.

I never stopped drawing comics. When it was time to choose a college, I did so based on the available cartooning programs at the time. I ended up enrolling at the School of Visual Arts in NYC to study comics. When I got there, I was dismayed to discover that my Freshman year would be spent doing Studio Art. This wouldn’t do. So I switched into the Animation program where I trained in both traditional and stop-motion animation for two semesters. In the middle of my Sophomore year, my peers in the Cartooning program were finally making comics. So I switched back to join them. It was kind of sneaky, but I worked things out very carefully so I would have the correct credits to graduate on time. I had a unique experience at SVA that I wouldn’t trade for anything.

Straight out of college, I landed several teaching gigs and loved every minute of it. But it wouldn’t last. I was convinced I had to get a “real job” and things spiraled from there. I missed some opportunities over the years that I regretted. So when this teaching gig practically fell into my lap, I grabbed it. And it was amazing. I taught 6 classes over the course of 3 weeks. My students were 7 to 12 years old and all of them were amazing and incredibly enthusiastic! I even had one class that was ALL GIRLS!! That has never happened to me before and to be honest I thought it was the greatest thing ever. When I was a kid, I was “weird” for liking comics. I was always the only girl in cartooning related programs. It tickles me how much things have shifted. Comics are for everyone! And it’s finally catching on.

Taking this teaching gig was the best decision I have made all year. It did have some consequences that I will talk about later, but rest assured it was for the best!

In other news…

My boyfriend of 8 years proposed to me last week! I still can’t believe it! We’re over the moon to say the least.

That’s all the news I have for you today! Now that the summer camp is over I’m sewing again and you can expect some new Nonesuch Dolls soon! I also have a couple of Sproutlings in the works and a side project that I think you will like! Stay tuned!

That little blue puppy started it all… It’s hard to believe how much the Nonesuch Dolls have grown! It just goes to show you that practice and determination pays off.

I started making little felt dolls in 2006 as a way to keep my hands busy. It was my very last summer vacation before my final year of college. I made these little dolls all summer and throughout the school year. They weren’t pretty, but they were me. I loved making them so much! About a year after I graduated, I decided to take my hobby to the next level and start a small business. I invented the Nonesuch Dolls and opened a shop on Etsy. Nonesuch Garden bloomed!

The Nonesuch Dolls went through several transformations since I opened my shop. I developed a love affair with wool felt and dumped the cheap stuff. (I’ll never go back!) I enlarged my pattern and switched to jointed limbs. I developed a special way of painting felt so I could express accurate animal markings. I created packaging and certificates to make my dolls extra special. Most recently, I started signing my dolls with a tiny ultrasuede label emblazoned with the Nonesuch Garden insignia! It took four years to get to where I am today. I feel like everything is finally falling into place.

Lately I’ve been thinking about all the things that have lead up to this moment. I’ve been thinking about all the people who taught me the little things that would become the building blocks for the Nonesuch Dolls. My Mom taught me how to sew and make patterns. Making plush animals and doll clothes with my Mom are some of my favorite memories from my childhood. I learned how to sew a blanket stitch in my Home Education class in Middle School. I used it to applique eyes and teeth onto a crazy dinosaur pillow I had made. My aunt showed me a wonderful embroidery technique that would later become the little round eyes of the Nonesuch Dolls. The owner of the local scrapbook store was invaluable when I was developing my packaging and certificates. She helped me brainstorm which materials and techniques would work best. My small business adviser has been my biggest cheerleader. She has helped me become a more savvy business person and gain confidence in myself and my products. The Nonesuch Dolls are more than just cute plush animals. They are a road map of my creative life and the people I have encountered along the way.

Every stitch I make takes me another step further along my creative path. I hope you are as excited as I am to see where it leads.