“The time has come,” the Walrus said,
“To talk of many things….”
Or rather, the time has come for me to follow through with an idea that I have had for many years: to create a design studio.
I was led unawares into the world of card crafting and collage by my voice teacher back in 2008. At first, I constructed fairly standard greeting cards with flowers, butterflies, ribbons and rubber stamped text over colorful cardstock. Greetings were the usual “Thinking of You”, “Birthday Greetings”, and so on. But the 2010 Tim Burton Alice in Wonderland changed all that: Madison’s appearance in my life, my obsession with the Hatter, Lewis Carroll and all things Alice stem from my first, fateful viewing of that film. From that day, my creative expression in all areas took on a decidedly Wonderland-ish turn. My handcrafted cards began to sprout tea cups, pocket watches, top hats and tea trays in the sky. Quotes from the Alice books began to replace the standard greeting card sentiments.
Well, so many whimsical things created, but then what to do? I could create a postcard or a greeting card and send it to someone, but parting with the original work was sweet sorrow indeed, plus only one other person got to see it. When Madison and I took our the sonnet writing on the road, I created “subway journals” filled with top hats, twinkling bats, pocket watches and Alice quotes. Writing in them gave me great pleasure, and others admired them, too. I created a few as “perks” for our 2015 Madisonnets chapbook Indiegogo campaign, but to handcraft one for everyone who would like one would require a significant investment of time. If I were to price them accordingly, only a select few would be willing and able to acquire them. Again, what to do?
Oh, and then there’s the matter of all these Madisonnets. Madison and I have well over 200 of them, and 52 have made their way into print (in two chapbooks, Madison Hatta’s Book of Unreasonable Rhymes and Madison Hatta’s Book of Unrelenting Rhymes). But at this rate, it would take a series of ten chapbooks to make a serious dent in our backlog. Plus, I want people to experience Madison in a more fun and interactive way than by simply reading the rhymes. Let’s face it, hearing Madison is half the fun!
Therefore earlier this year, Madison and I began recording the Madisonnets having to do with Time. We put them up in SoundCloud (under the playlist, “April plus Madison’s (A)Musings”), and linked it to the Podcast page on our website. Those who listened were pleased, and we have several new Followers. But still, how else to interact? How else to combine handcrafting and word smithing? Why, by creating a calendar, of course!
And so starting tomorrow, if all goes according to plan, you will have the opportunity to obtain a “Madisonnet Time!” calendar that combines scanned and retooled original artwork with original rhymes about Time. Each month brings you an opportunity to contemplate a new sonnet visually on the calendar and aurally as you listen to each one at our Podcast page on your mobile or desktop device. Voilà! Interactivi-Tea!
Where might you acquire this unique, fun and functional artistic work? Why through April plus Madison’s Whimsicali-Tea Shop on Zazzle! It will be the first product in our design studio. Just in time for end-of-year Winter Seasonal Holiday Shopping and available for a limited time, you will want to purchase early and often.
Feel free to tell your friends about this, the latest direction in our journey to Wits’ End and beyond. Joy shared is joy doubled, so the proverb goes. May our works continue to bring Tea-light into your lives and into the world!