Love Letters from a Crow

Packing up an order a few weeks ago, I was ruminating with my adventure-mate on the joy it gives me, and the whole thought-web of why. 

I'm sure most of you have heard that if you find yourself lucky enough to befriend a crow, they may start to leave you all sorts of trinkets - buttons, nuts & bolts, cool sticks or other miscellaneous ephemera. Things to show that they see you, and in their crow ways appreciate you. (There is a very sweet article about a young girl in Seattle befriending her local murder of crows - check it out).

That is more or less a pretty good metaphor of me, my shop, and what happens when someone ends up purchasing something from my little studio. 

For one, collecting bits & bobs from nature and odd finds from out in the world just fills me with the most sparkling warmth. Next, creating things either with those bits and bobs or inspired by them extends that sparkling, warm, brain-tingling-joy even further.

Then, sometimes, the most delicious thing happens. Someone sees that sparkle-fueled thing in my shop and thinks "oh, that makes my brain sparkle, I must have that in my nest."  

What many may of think of as simply packing up an order, I have come to hold so dear. For one, I get to complete the cycle; sending that magical little bit of love that I made, this extension of me and my brain and my joy, out into the world. That's a biggie, and feels very precious. I take it VERY personally (in the best possible way, I promise).

But here's the other thing. When someone opens up a package from me, I want it to feel like they are opening up a magical, sweet and unexpected gift. I want them, even just for a moment, to feel like someone in this world cares about them and was thinking of them. 

I want them to be able to pause and step outside of the bustling day to feel the beauty that can exist in the smallest of acorns, the flourish of their name written in pen, the out-of-time magic of a wax seal. 

We all just want to be seen. For a moment, to feel connected to something, to the world, to each other. The world is so big and yet so small all at once, and it is hard to know how to make a difference or if we even are. 

For me - in my own little studio in my corner of the earth - this is the best way I know how. To care for others by trying to create, at least for a moment, an experience that reminds them that there is good, there is magic, and by gods there is love. 

Alright my babies, 'til next time - in the words of Abraham Lincoln, be excellent to each other. 

~Cory

You can visit my online storefront by heading here. You can find images and videos of my work here.