Weekly Check-in: August 8th
Hey all!
G and I just completed our first week in CA staying with my in-laws without Brycen. Its been a crazy week to say the least! We got re-adjusted to SoCal, and found an apartment down here that we don’t get to move into until September 10th ( cue laugh/crying). So for the next month I’ll be working out of my old studio space in my in-laws house and trying to keep the mess small….hence the decision to re-release the Hummingriffs (what could be smaller and take up less space than our only literal miniature artdoll??)
A lot of you already jumped at the chance to get a custom Hummingriff, which I am only offering to Creature Club Members. I’ll be opening 10 slots for the Ruby Throated Hummingriffs only to the general public tomorrow. If you missed my stories about the Hummingriff release and still want to get a custom colorway, please send me a message through the contact page here, or on instagram and we’ll get you set up!
In other news, Since so many fish dragons have not yet found homes (4 are still available!) I’ve decided to only release 3 more this month instead of 5 (the other two will become Whispers during this September’s Whisper Season Event). The last 3 fish Dragons will be cow-themed, with cow-print bodies. I have brown cow, blue cow, and purple/pink cow, so there will be one of each! Aiming to release them the last week of August.
I’m already prepping for Whisper Season, which kicks off September 1st! The first Whisper Creature Release will happen the weekend of September 4th/5th.
What is Whisper Season? For those of you who haven’t done our Halloween event before- welcome! Whisper Season is an event we’ve hosted for 3 years now. Every September the change in the weather causes a dormant fungi to begin growing and infecting magical creatures. This fungi started at the Menagerie, but has spread across the globe, and can pop up in any magical being during the months of September and October! The fungi takes over the creatures and turns them into a husk of themselves, now fully controlled by the fungi hive-mind. In a way, Whisper Creatures are kind of like zombies.
Whisper season lasts September 1st-October 31st, and is the only time of year we sell Whisper Creature designs. Whisper Creatures cannot be pre-ordered, and are only available on a first-come, first-serve basis. They are also a little more expensive than our regular creature designs due to the hand-sculpted, one-of-a-kind mushrooms on them.
We also hold a contest for a Whisper Creature Giveaway! Other artists are allowed to make their own ‘Whisper-versions’ of magical creatures in any medium they like and we randomly pick one participating artist to win a Menagerie Whisper Creature. This years giveaway Creature will be a Whisper Hummingriff.
My Plans for this Year’s Whisper Season:
I plan on doing a research series taking a deep dive into the Whisper Effect and exploring its three different strains this year: Amanita (the purple and red kind), Cordyceps (the orange and black kind), and BTF (the white and red kind).
We will have a small release of Whisper Creatures every weekend of September, and a every-other weekend of October. Creatures to be turned into Whispers this year include:
2 adult Jackalopes (one purple, one BTF)
3 newborn wyverns (one of each fungi type)
2 fish dragons
5-10 baby Jackalopes
1 adult Fairy Dragon
3 baby Fairy Dragons (and possibly some grubs?)
3-5 infected Gourd Ghouls
I do have one additional release at the end of October, time permitting. I want to release a deep sea version of the Fish Dragons based on an angler fish with lots of glowing/translucent parts. This will be a pre-made release of 10 limited dolls total, and only if I have the time. If I do get them done, I expect to be releasing them around October 20th at the same price as the translucent goldfish Dragon ($275ea).
The rest of the year is a bit up in the air, as we have a booth at Designercon carrying over from 2020. The Con says it is planning on happening in-person as of now, but I expect that may be changed by November with the Delta variant in CA getting so much coverage. Since we don’t know yet if we will be attending a convention in November, I’m unsure of release dates for the holidays. My hope is that we will have Gryphons for the Holiday Season, in-stock and pre-order. I’m going to do my best to have the Ferret-parrot and the Trash Gryphon ready for pre-order or layaway by mid-November. I’ll keep everyone updated on progress as I find out more info about the convention.
-Stefani