7.07.2020

Gratitude in Solitude

July 2020 marks the 13th year that we've been making little plastic creations and sending them out into the world to meet you. During all that time, throughout all the twists, we've worked like crazy to maintain a true sense of freedom, so we could share the stuff we create with each of you, on our own terms and through our own avenues, with no outside interference. We've been beyond lucky to be able to carry on this operation, and with no exaggeration, every day we're genuinely and deeply thankful for the people that have made it possible. Those people, of course, are each of you.

With the spiked intensity of these last months slamming on top of an already heavy year, the internal perspective on what we do and the reasons why we do it have been under an extremely critical personal examination. It's been harder to stay balanced while so many are hurting worse than ever, even though the injustices coming into focus have been going on all along.

We've contributed what we can to assist the groups that are out there working everyday, doing the toughest and most thankless volunteer work that so many of us never even see. I don't like to politicize this creative area, particularly because it's supposed to be an escape from the various challenges of the world, but talking about life outside the confines of our lighter pursuits sometimes has to happen. I'm only sorry that I couldn't articulate these thoughts, however scattershot, sooner.

Ruminating on the state of the world from within a vacuum somehow triggered a pretty manic output of work for me, and though my right eye is about cooked at this point, some strange new characters (and a couple of old ones) have crawled forth from all the extensive isolated sculpting and drawing. The therapeutic power of the arts cannot be stressed enough and remains eternal. Increased mental static and all, I still feel an absolute passion to make things.

As far as actual activity over here goes, currently the plan is to have our next wave (13th anniversary) available in early August. Hopefully, the additional amount of time we've poured into making these more sporadic releases extra special will make you smile a bit. Beyond that, our family will remain committed to building our bonds with the rest of the world, even from a distance.

We do this together.