…and I don’t feel any different. Which, considering all the fantastic things that happened for my work in 2011, is quite a good thing. It was also a Long December, so. It feels a bit like soggy pickles to rehash what happened in 2011, even though 2012 is only a few days old. Oh well! Soggy pickles ahoy.
Some of the best/worst/prickly-learning-experience parts of 2011 included: having my appendix removed forcibly after several days of deliberations by doctors about whether or not my appendix actually did need to be removed; being able to take a trip to Seattle, Washington with my partner; having my artwork shown in several shows in 2011, including shows with the Seattle Erotic Art Festival, the Lowbrow Society and Femina Potens; having my illustrations accepted into two issues of Salacious Magazine, one published last year and one gearing up to be published in a few weeks; spending lots of great times with friends; learning how to embroider on felt — seriously, freezer paper makes life amazing; having a few serious dog health issues that got caught early and hopefully taken care of; finding oodles of new bands to listen to – at the moment I can’t get enough of Grizzly Bear, Lykke Li, Bon Iver, Little Dragon, Gotye, Kimbra, Passion Pit, Ra Ra Riot, Yeasayer and Lana Del Rey, despite my reservations about her violent-leaning lyrics; getting several weekends to spend time with my extended families; having exceptionally great experiences as a vendor at the holiday Renegade San Francisco and Bazaar Bizaar shows; and, last-on-this-incomplete-list but not least, having my picture taken with an enormous animatronic preying mantis.
Kira Scarlet & The Preying Mantis
See? Life doesn’t get any better than that.
And, so that it doesn’t get lost in my terribly long paragraph above, one of the greatest things about 2011 was experiencing so many fantastic reactions to my work, both in person and online. Having folks come and talk to me at shows made my day and my year, as did seeing the lovely notes people added to pictures of my work online. I strive to make my work in ways that is meaningful to me, and I would be happy to keep doing so without any feedback, but the fact that folks are enjoying what I’m making just completely tickles me. So thank you, craft show & internet visitors; your support makes me so incredibly happy.
So! It’s now 2012. Gosh. I’m a big fan of using the turning of the year to revisit where I’m going and what I want to do with my work and my life and I’ve got some epic plans for 2012 already. As such, I’m hoping that you, internet, will help me out with this project:
Are there any kinds of items or pieces that you want to see in the Scarlet Tentacle shop? Do you crave more hardcore embroidered art pieces? Would you rock an apron with a vagina dentata on the front? Were you one of the folks asking me for a second edition of Beefcake? Would you be interested in coloring a Sexy Zombie Pin Up Girl Coloring Book for Adults? Stickers? Posters? Plushes? Oven mitts? Unicorns and ponies and rainbows and feelings? Etcetera, etcetera, etcetera? Let me know! I’m currently working on my plans for new stock so I would love to hear from you if you have feelings about particular items.
Oh, and speaking of feedback and connecting and saying hi,though I’ve been on Facebook for a while, I just got around to creating a Facebook Page for Scarlet Tentacle. If you are on Facebook and enjoy my work, please do consider clicking that handy Like! button. I’ll be rolling out some discounts and special offers and prizes and embroidery patterns and whatnot exclusively for my Facebook fans in the next few months, so I’ll make it worth your while (insert suggestive eyebrow wiggle here).
Scarlet Tentacle - audacious handmade 