Juwels is taking a nap. She’s been
taking one almost every day these past couple of weeks. She’s deep
charging before the holiday rush. I told her to figure out which muscles in her
shoulder normally seize up on her every holiday, and work them, stretch them, strengthen them. Get acupuncture –before- you're
hurt. I can’t have her talking about her “dead arm” again this season. It’s too
painful, for me, gritting my teeth and helpless to help.
“Should we cancel these orders?” I’ll ask. “I can just tell them that
we’re dead. They’ll find other indie artists to support.”
But we could find uses for the money, and we both know this, so she
declines, not wanting to stop in the first place, but just mentioning that her
arm has no felling, and that she’s looking down on it and not knowing who’s arm
it is, but I’m a fixer, and wish I had some Caractacus Potts skills to
help swipe those candles, and fry those eggs and wash those dishes, but I
don’t, so I just pre-trim her wicks and "fire" her from time to time. This
happened last year, and I did her job and mine, and banished her to bed with a hot
water bottle. Oh, the holiday’s are fun. That feast of feasts where no other
animal could ever catch so many fish in such a time, and even if they could, how could they eat them ? Unnatural, this holiday harvest, but I didn’t make the
rules to the game, and we just brace ourselves.
We’ve
been doing this long enough to know what’s coming, growing each year, well,
besides that first year when we accepted an order to supply the entire
Anthropologie franchise with a
twist ending of, surprise, a feature in the holiday catalogue and web sales. Ha
Ha Ha …
We've got stories about drowning in milk and honey …
That
was madness. Seriously madness. Sixteen hour shifts, everyday, and “days” consisting
of 7pm to 11, 12, or 1pm the next day. Not sure why we worked through the nights - I think we just slowly burned ourselves later and later into the night, and woke up later and later, until we'd crossed over that daily divide. Vampires?
We were freshly
moved from sunny Los Angeles to
the mountain, shacked up in a warehouse (we couldn’t fit the wax alone for that single order in the Winnie … by the way, I always found it crazy that Anthro would be
so bold as to book a forty-eight-thousand dollar order with us after seeing the etsy
interview where we made no secret of the fact that we’d just started out and
operated off the tiny four burner stove in our 24 foot Winnebago. How did they
think we’d get it all done in two months … a month and a half, really. But I
figured they just thought about buying and not making, and thought,
“they’ll figure it out.”
We almost didn't ...
We almost didn't ...
And to top it all off, we’d just
invested most of our etsy interview money in a booth at the California Gift Show (this
was before we knew about Anthropologie) but we went to the show anyway, no
refunds, and we booked a ton of indie stores. And all this before we’d really
done the math to see if it made sense to do wholesale at all, where we'd be selling
everything 50% off… Shut up and GO! Ha Ha Ha. . The American Dream, but forget
about sleep.)
That order alone could be a chapter or three. The shop heater was out, and
the studio mates who worked below us could be cold and strange and inconsiderate. The roof leaked, but that didn’t matter because
it was so cold inside that the puddles froze. We were on the backside
of the building, in a shadow, with ice slicks, and game-show-style pallet stacks on hour 28 of the shift.
And Juwels broke her pinky as we frantically yanked pallet straps, and one snapped back on her.
And Juwels broke her pinky as we frantically yanked pallet straps, and one snapped back on her.
She cried, more from exhaustion than pain, but I'm sure it hurt. And the truck driver just
stood there with a stupid look on his face, waiting beside us with his floor
dolly and idling truck in the snow, and I wanted to scream at him to go away
and stop staring at us. And I wished he’d just told us that he was in no big
hurry when we’d talked about our crazy last shift before the shipping deadline. Maybe we wouldn’t
have snapped that strap? Maybe it was just a warning of something bigger?
And this was just the internet segment of their order, less than half, and
on we worked, eating cereal and fried eggs at four in the morning, and choking down
green powdered super foods in place of salads.
I
didn’t want the money anymore. I just wanted the job to be done and over, and to
have the two of us set free from this crazy contract.
Since we had little money in our startup, there was an investor
involved in dealing with the realities of producing this order. She was a woman from a 1950's
novel, a small but very wise and powerful woman from the Hollywood hills. We
used to watch her cats and plants and swim naked in her pool while she was off in
Paris for fashion week. Those were good little getaways. The Winnie
would have a break from the streets and the nasty notes and tickets left below
her wiper back in Venice and sit empty and at a severe angle in Barbara's magnolia
shaded driveway.
Anthro
wouldn’t pay until thirty (45) days after they inventoried
the product, but we tightened our belts and got it done in a blur of beeswax and red sleepless eyes. We sent that
spooky amount of money back to Hollywood with a thank you card and a gift
certificate for a float in a local deprivation chamber.
Done?
No.
Then we got to work on the pre-booked store orders and tag teamed etsy sales. That was our first holiday, happening at the end of a nightmare move, but at the beginning of a movement. Last holiday wasn’t as bad. Chia did break her leg in the middle of the madness and had to live in the house (under the table) and be carried out every two hours through the night to "go potty" .. but she's potty trained now, both of them are since ezzie had to move in and go out nightly, too. She doesn't like being alone ... But we had a helper, two helpers, and this year, we’re doing it mostly alone, intentionally, and we’ll be cutting back on wholesale and cutting it all off a tad early if need bee. We’re not looking for Everest : )
Done?
No.
Then we got to work on the pre-booked store orders and tag teamed etsy sales. That was our first holiday, happening at the end of a nightmare move, but at the beginning of a movement. Last holiday wasn’t as bad. Chia did break her leg in the middle of the madness and had to live in the house (under the table) and be carried out every two hours through the night to "go potty" .. but she's potty trained now, both of them are since ezzie had to move in and go out nightly, too. She doesn't like being alone ... But we had a helper, two helpers, and this year, we’re doing it mostly alone, intentionally, and we’ll be cutting back on wholesale and cutting it all off a tad early if need bee. We’re not looking for Everest : )
Aaaaanyway ... more true stories to come. And !! To all our friends who think they’ll bee getting pollen
arts goodies for friends and family this holiday, feel free to send your orders
in advance. We'd loVe to get some of it going now !! And you can even pay later
if you’d like : ) We trust our friends !! We're just looking to dig some irrigation channels to future fields
and be as sustainable as possible : )
Here's a list of all our candles - { Click }
Here's a list of all our candles - { Click }
We'll make sure you get a Free Bee !!
---- > email us at pollen arts (a)t) g male : )
---- > email us at pollen arts (a)t) g male : )
loVe !!!!
p&j .. & c&e .. &?
