i'm going to toot my own horn for a second.

[swingchickie]

i'm normally insanely uncomfortable when it comes to expressing any pride in something i do. i might show geeky "Whee!" excitement, but i rarely pat myself on the back for something. i'm patting my back right now.

a few weeks ago, a blogger from NY asked for circus-theme party ideas for an article she's writing in july, so i reached out and offered to send her a hoop. she agreed, and i made her one in classic circus colors of red, blue, and yellow. the moment her hoop arrived, her 4-year-old daughter grabbed it and started using it, and she can barely pry it out of the little girl's hands anymore to use it herself. she liked it so much she wrote a separate blog post about it . very nice.

so here's where i brag. i look a look at the photos she posted of her little one using the hoop... and dammit, the tape job is freaking awesome. so many other hoops i see made by other people are a total mess... even the ones posted on hoop sites for sale have visibly wonky uneven tape jobs (and that's supposed to be a representation of their best!). the photo of this one in action, a regular old hoop that we make, shows perfectly spaced colorful tape swirls all the way around. it's gorgeous.

it's times like this that i remember why i do this as a hobby business... because i get satisfaction from giving people beautiful things that are done carefully and lovingly, instead of taking their money and giving them crap in return.

back-patting complete. :)

Comments

[occhi-cinesi.livejournal.com]

Back-patting from New England.

Your work is gorgeous.

[dear-amaranth.livejournal.com]

You should be proud. Every now and then I see people selling hoops at craft fairs and such in my neighborhood, and I always look at them and rarely is the quality as good as yours, though the price is usually the same or a little higher.

Anyway, the solstice hoop I bought from you has its own space leaning against the wall of my living room. It's beautiful and I love looking at it. And being able to keep it right out in the open means I'm more likely to use it. ;)

back-patting from Western Mass

[katehaney.livejournal.com]

You rock.

I knew that. Glad you know that, if only reluctantly and occasionally.

Teddy's hoop is still as gorgeous as the day we got it, which is to say: very gorgeous.

[shellefly.livejournal.com]

Your hoops rock and so do you.
The circus one looks perfect, like robots made it. The cute kind of robots, not the HAL 9000 kind.
I have to get better at hooping so I can teach Fang.