Saturday

{Weekend Update}

Hello everyone !!!

   We miss you guys! Which is interesting because we haven’t even had the chance to meet you yet. There’s almost that feeling like, ‘God … I need to get a hold of so-and-so’ the same way we think about old friends who we haven’t talked to in waaaay too long : )

   Just a little screen shot of our lives at present: there are candles … everywhere. Wax splats speckle the bamboo floors and occasionally one of us will break down and pull away from the honey pot or the packing table to crawl around like an animal on all fours with a little plastic scraper and our tiny broom. “Ah … I didn’t want to do that, but it’s so nice having smooth, clean floors again.” 

“Thanks, babe!” 

    And then, about five hours later, after dipping wick and trimming candles, the floors feel like a toad's back under our bare feet once again. (We’re both wearing socks right now, ha!) Once the deluge of orders has passed, we’re going to pull out all the stops and give the old floor a good scrape and then hit it with the heat gun and wipe the unscrapable wax clean with a rag. Can’t wait to get the Winnie put back together : ) 




    With that said, we are so amazingly blessed to have this expedited Spring harvest. Etsy front page ??? What ??!!?? We couldn’t believe it when that message came through on an otherwise slow day. “Hey, we think your stuff is awesome, and we want you to be the featured seller on April 11th” I had to refresh the screen to make sure I wasn’t hallucinating. It was exciting and overwhelming  … there was so much to do and so little time. We needed photos and words and product .. and there were new bottles that we wanted to add to the collection, and a lot of time and resources had to go into building those. Many near-sleepless nights passed in preparation for the big day. 

   We had to find a photographer and organize the jump off the Winnie’s roof. Mind you it’d been six years since I'd jumped off anything that high, but it seemed like a fun way to introduce the three of us, and besides, I was curious if I still “had it” and what it would feel like to push myself to the end of a runway leading to a shear drop, to fly again. It was ...errr .. fun .. I think : ) To be honest, it was just like I remember it: a feeling of kind of going blank but at the same time being highly tuned into the elements of fear and excitement and danger and technique. I never realized it when I was a punk skater at 17, but skateboarding, especially when things have to go right or a hospital bed might be in the cards, is a thing of extreme presence, being in the moment and being ready for anything. It’s actually pretty beautiful inside the hard crust of it’s vainglorious and anarchist exterior. It's just the wind in your ears and the feeling of impact, slam, and it’s all over in a blink. But I must admit, my legs did feel like frozen rubber bands for the next three days.



   Here's the last big jump I did ... way back when : ) I actually shot this clip by myself - just set the camera up on a wooden pallet and hit record. I didn't want a bunch of skater kids sitting around on the curb, drinking there Big Gulps and wagering on whether or not my knees would explode. 


   And then my last video part in a film called "be you" Juwels has a guest trick skating a bowl at: 1:19 sec ... 



    Where was I ?? Oh, we were supposed to be looking at a screen shot of the present, and here I go trailing you guys off a roof top with me. Ready? One. Two. Three … Jump! Right now, the dash board is covered in candles, much like every other raised horizontal surface in the Winnie, and the bees are constantly finding their way in through the open windows and skylights to see what’s cooking. When there’s six or seven of them in here at the same time, their little beating wings sound like a noisy power line. ZZzzzZZz. We’ve developed a system to catch and release them using a mason jar and a piece of paper. Sooner or later, the bees will end up following the bright light and teaming on the plate glass windows, buzzing and bouncing off the glass and no doubt wondering why they can see the outside world but can’t seem to get there. That’s when we press the open jar against the window and then slip a piece of paper between the bee and the glass … out you go little buddy. Go find some flowers. They’re such regimented workers that we feel bad putting them behind schedule by luring them in here with the sweet scent of our (their) wax … sorry guys ; )  

    We’ve adapted most areas of comfort and recreation in our home into trimming tables and packing posts. The couch is now a two teared cooling and trimming station. About a week ago, when the orders started pouring in, I burst into the Winnie carrying two random pieces of wood that I found in the community wood shop. And upon seeing them, Juwels said, “What are you doing with those?” 

   “Here, hold this one,” I said, passing her an unattractive slab of laminated wood that came off an old broken dresser. I could tell she didn’t like the look of them, but I was excited about my idea of workspace adaptation, so she helped me piece the improvisation together. We pulled the sheet of plywood out from under the couch cushion and precariously rested it on top of the wood planks which we had just pinched to the left and right side of the couch like table legs, and wallah: we had a new six foot long by three foot deep work table that could help accommodate this rush in candle production.

“Pretty good, huh?” I said.

“Yeah, it’s a good idea, but we’ll build it up with some different wood,” she said, giving the large table a poke and watching it sway back and fourth.” 

“This’ll be fine,” I assured her, already cluttering it with piles of unfinished candles and tools.


  
   We haven’t had a couch since, but surprisingly, we’re almost done with all the orders. Hundreds of candles, addresses tapped into the old type writer, burners lit and wax melting, and as crazy as it sounds, we’re going to miss it when it’s all over, this rush of filling the orders and the idea of all the lovely homes that our pieces are going to find themselves in is a thing that can almost leave you light headed. And the thought of everything we're able to do to the Winnie (more solar panels and batteries, a few tires, some odds and ends to get us ready for the road ... this is going to be a good Summer - can't wait to share our plans!) 

    Another thing that we wanted to mention: We have the sweetest customers in the world ; ) A few days ago, I went through the sold orders and messages a lot of our earliest buyers with a little thank you and an apology over the extended time that it was taking to get everything out .. seeing as though it’s just the two of us running off super food smoothies, late nights and loud Indian music. And we had so many responses saying things like, “Push my order to the end of the line, no rush.” 

   Everybody seemed genuinely more interested and excited about the success we’d been so lucky to find, and had no issue with letting the handmade process ripen and come to fruit naturally. So thank you all for your patience and understanding! That’s not to say that we haven’t been working 16-hour days, but as I said, it’s a bit of a rush, like remaining in a sweat lodge and drifting with the steam. And we’re always laughing, hugging and kissing ... and occasionally dousing each other with ice water. To anyone out there waiting for a package, the wait is almost over. We’re surrounded by hundreds of little golden owls and Milk Weed jars, and we’re going to send them off to the post with the glow of new parents catching that last glimpse of their little one stepping onto the school bus for the first time. (Tear.) 


  Okay - I’ve indulged too long on this post, and my back is actually staring to spasm as I’m sitting on the hard floor in narrow aisle in front of the couch. (the kitchen table, where I normally setup, is cover in finished  candles, and juwels is wrapping them in vintage pattern paper and grouping them into the little school buses that will take them to your doorstep, so I’ve had to type in some creative locations … like in the driver’s seat with our little overheating laptop propped upon the steering wheel : )

   We’re so excited to finally start a blog. We always wanted one, but never got around to it. But the invitation to display on the front page really lit a fire under our bee-hinds : ) And thanks to the scouts at etsy, we’re so lucky as to have a couple hundred subscribers before even getting started! (We’ll reward you good boys and girls with some raffles and giveaways soon) Tomorrow evening, we’ll be recharging at the hot springs and bottling some live, mineral rich spring water from a cool source up the side of a mountain. 

   We’ll bring the camera, so you guys can wet your whistle and dip your toes along with us : ) Also, another quick blog idea that we had was to post the unedited etsy featured seller interview. I know that a lot of you guys are fellow sellers, and who knows, when you click back from this page, you might have the “we think your stuff is awesome” message from the administrators … and it might be interesting to see what got edited or trimmed out of our original words. I have a tendency towards literary indulgence (this post was supposed to be a few lines : ) , and dare I say, digression … so we knew there would be some changes and trimmings to our original scrawl. Anyone interested to read the uncut version?    



   That’s all for now. We’ll upload pics of the renovations and current Miss Winnie soon (Juwels already has the images loaded in an dormant blog, just waiting for one of us to click the “post” button, but she wants to add some captions first …so we’ll just have to post a few production shots below. enjoy!)

love,

p&j     
















14 comments:

  1. You guys are neat! :) When I saw how many orders you got in the first day after the front page article, I was thinking of that old commercial where a brand new company gets their first order and they all cheer...and then watch the computer in horror as the orders go through the roof! :) I'll be ordering from you soon, I figured to wait til after the rush.
    Nice to meet you :) Erin from RI (Purple Blossom Studio on Etsy)

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  2. Your candles are so beautiful. I am very excited to be receiving one in the mail soon!

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  3. congrats on the success! and from what little i can see of your place...it's adorable

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  4. Great entry. Usually i scroll through long posts, but this was too fun to read! Congrats on your success!!!

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  5. Your photos are great! It lets us know that, if crafting is in your blood, you can always make room for it! Thanks for the update.

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  6. Loving the improvisations to the inner winnie my dearies!!! LOL!!! The warmth of these pics delightfully swindles me into thinking I can smell the beeswax! Keep up the great work!!!!

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  7. Congratulations. I can't imagine being featured much less filling orders in a winne! What a wonderful experience for the both of you.

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  8. Ooh love the photos! Can't wait to read more about your shop and adventures...you're doing what many of us keep dreaming about but just...don't. How long have you two been living in there?

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  9. Thanks for sharing your interesting life. I'm looking forward to receiving the candles I ordered. Congrats again on being featured.

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  10. So awesome!!!!! I haven't ordered any yet but i look at them at least twice a week. I am obsessing from afar until i finally just hit the check out button... i just need to go for it right?!!?? I wanna get some for a friends wedding and I want to fill my house with them. I need to be okay with spending a hundred bucks on candles!!! eeeeaaaak! I love em and I want to support you two! The day will come and I will finally do it... until then I will enjoy this blog! yay bees!

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  11. I am totally in love with your candles and with your Winnie and your lives, what a great commitment to reducing your footprint on Mama Earth. I applaud you and look forward to the blog about the innards of your rolling home. Your love for life and art and each other really comes through in your writing and I only wish I knew you both in real life. I am buying a little owl candle today! Namaste, Corinne

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  12. Thank you all for your comments !! We went to our fresh water spring the other day and bottled something like 25 gallons of water, carried it down on our backs. Didn't realize how out of shape we were from sitting in front of the computer/ wax pot. Ha! We shot some pics of the trail up the hill to the spring and bottling at the source. We'll post a quick blog about it soon ... oh, and we shot a pic or two of the hot springs where we soaked after bottling(this isn't easy ... cause there are so many nudists lounging around, and a camera flash doesn't go unnoticed ... he he he )

    Okay - keep an eye out. Good things to come !!

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  13. Love reading your blog! Very inspiring, making me realize it's never too late! I also ordered one of your candles, Love It, it burns so perfectly!

    Debbie

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