Thanks for reading my first blog on the new website! Woohoo! I’m going to try to keep this month’s recap short and sweet. One of the biggest accomplishments this month for Sakai Harts & Crafts was the summer makeover I gave to my website. I had the older version of Squarespace and decided that I might as well switch over to the new version that came out this year. I spent a good two full weeks redoing my website, which was not an easy task. Unfortunately, there was no way to transfer directly from my old site to the new one. I manually transferred every listing, created an entirely new layout, and uploaded new inventory to my shop for hours at a time. Even though the process was tedious and time consuming, and my laptop was constantly threatening to overheat, I did enjoy the creative aspect of my “relaunch”. I am super proud of the hard work that I put into my website and feel that my new brand feels more like me.

I’m finally back to throwing pottery!! I have recently joined a studio in Culver City called Member’s Only LA where I have an at home membership. This means I work on my projects at home and drop off my pieces to the studio, where they fire my work in the kiln for me. I am also able to go in a couple times a month to glaze. It was a bit of a process on my end to get set up. If you don’t know, pottery is messy! I needed some supplies in order to use my wheel at home but have been LOVING it so far. I set up my wheel outside in our walkway/garden and get to enjoy the sunshine while I work on my art. It’s super relaxing, until clean up time! I’ve been a bit rusty but am slowly getting back into the groove. I’m currently working on some custom orders but am hoping to have a small batch in the shop by the end of the month! 

What else… Oh! I started a gardening blog on Instagram with my good friend, Tim! Our blog is called Snug City Gardeners. We’ll be sharing all about our plant adventures, from our garden and house plant journeys to exploring local LA nurseries together. If you’re interested in learning more, you can follow along here! 

Last but not least, I got hired for some part time jobs! I’m working part-time at Paper Source and teaching pottery at Bitter Root Pottery Studio at Beverly Grove! I am so excited to get back to teaching. For now I will be teaching Sundays at 1 PM. I had shared previously that my only income, since the pandemic hit, was through my small business. I am not quite in a place to be able to do Sakai Harts & Crafts as my only source of income (hopefully someday!) but wanted to make sure I took a job, or in this case a few jobs, that allowed me the flexibility to continue to prioritize Sakai Harts & Crafts. As could be expected, finding a job was a slow process. I must have applied to at least 20 jobs over the course of two weeks before I even got any bites. If you’re out there searching, keep trying. It is definitely tough but once I allowed myself to be more open minded about what I applied to, the more call backs and opportunities I had. 

That’s all the updates I have for now! My mom has made some more face masks that I will be posting in the shop shortly. (Thanks, Mom!!) There will be a lot of fun hawaiian print styles to cap off the end of summer! Otherwise, keep an eye out for a shop update soon with some new journals, pottery, and Art for a Cause pieces. A huge thank you and shout out to everyone who has written a Google Review and/or Facebook review in response to the email I sent. I truly appreciate and am grateful for your support! As always, thanks for following along, stay safe, and wear a mask!

Love,

Michelle