This is a personal (and long) entry.

Hello everyone. :)

Lately, I've been missing from my online sites (twitter, flickr, blog) and I don't think it's fair to just write off this disappearance with a simple "I'm busy."

For the last few months, my close friends and family would know that I've been an all sort of a emotional wreck. My passion for sculpting and miniatures had me jump in with both feet right after I graduated, and pursue the lofty dream of being a full-time miniaturist. However, reality soon turned around to bite me. I became trapped between rollercoaster emotions of being delirious that I'm living the dream, which would quickly spiral into a state of depression when faced with unpaid university loans and financial insecurity. Needless to say that I wasn't very happy these few months.

This made me think hard about what was lying down the road for me. I had to admit I was by no means, financially secured to head down the entrepreneurial road. There is a chinese metaphor, 'shou ting kou ting', which literally means when the hands stop, the feeding stops too. This is most apt to describe AiClay, and any other crafting business around. (hello etsy friends! :)) I'm not selling imported clothes, or jewelry supplies etc where I had a ready supplier to replenish stocks. I had to physically get down to planning, sculpting, baking everytime I wanted to add an additional item in my store. And of course, there comes the sometimes-long wait for the sale, and for the money to arrive.

The constant worrying for my future was eating away at my enthusiasm for AiClay as I forced myself to brainstorm for more designs, sculpt more, work harder at promoting the store. Which led me to a realisation. That if I wasn't happy working at AiClay, then all of this is basically pointless. If sculpting and miniatures were starting to feel like work instead of a release for me, then there is something wrong, somewhere.

(Yes, I know this is wayyy too long, but I'm getting to the point now.)

And so, I found a job. It would allow me to see the real world beyond my sculpting table and bedroom, and see and talk to some real humans. (Replying emails and Etsy forums aren't exactly enough.)

Most importantly, it would provide a daily income for me to repay my university loan.

Don't get me wrong, I am not giving up AiClay, and I still have great plans for it although they are currently shelved away. (till I have more money in the bank, to put it bluntly.) I would still be blogging, sculpting, sharing my favourites via Look! etc, just on a smaller scale.

So basically, what it really means for my dear readers, is that you would be seeing less (not none!) of me in the blog, on flickr/twitter/facebook etc. I would still try to write in here at least once a week though. With a 9-to-6 working schedule now, I can no longer sculpt as often. But, I am still accepting commissions, but do understand if the waiting period is longer. :)

Right, feels good to get this off my chest. :)

I shall end with two pictures I have forgotten to post, of my miniature cake stand and some miniature packaging.