My first Substack post. A little bit newsletter, a little bit blog.
100 Day Project tips
Hello… Substack.
If you’re receiving this in your email inbox you’re on my mailing list. Perhaps you joined recently at a winter 2023 holiday fair, or waaaaaay back when I regularly blogged at shastablasta[dot]com (unfortunately I lost access to that web address though an archive is still available).
Let me reintroduce myself.
Studio Shastablasta is my creative space.
I’m Shasta, a designer and artist living and working in San Francisco. Always finding new ways to cultivating my play ethic has led to exploring various mediums over the years. These days I predominantly work with pen, ink, watercolor, and clay. I regularly use sketching and watercolor as tools to capture memories of my travels and local outings. Ceramics is the newest medium I’ve been exploring and has led to selling ceramic watercolor palettes.
Fall 2023 was a creatively full time period for me and I’d wished I had a space to share with a bit more narrative and context than can fit into a Instagram post or story (where I mostly share now). So here I am, creating this Substack! A little bit newsletter a little bit blog, it’s an evolving space and I don’t know yet if there will be a regular format or cadence to these creative shares.
What’s a Substack?
If you’re signed up you’ll receive my updates to your email inbox but you can also find the archives (in the future) on my Substack home page.
To learn more about the tech platform that powers this publication, visit Substack.com.
Shastablasta.shop is open through February 27th
Throughout 2023 I started selling ceramic watercolor palettes and opened a web shop for the holiday season. It’s back open for the valentines pre-spring season. I’m committed to shipping once a week on Fridays. The shopping window is through Feb. 27. The shop will be open again later in the spring.
There’s a variety of watercolor palette sizes to choose from for yourself or gifting.
Besides palettes I have a few special ceramic “toasts” available. Yes, I said ceramic toasts. They’re big enough to keep your tea/coffee warm or use as a spoon rest. On the back I’ve calligraphed in clay “A toast to you everyday”. They’re a multi functional cozy reminder to acknowledge something nice about yourself everyday or gift to someone else you’d like to toast. Bonus, they’re gluten free but please don’t eat them!
On the horizon: The 100 Day Project
What hasn’t changed since my last blog post in 2017 is my regular participation in The 100 Day project. February 18th 2024 is the beginning date for this year. This will be my 10th year of projects! I have some ideas about my project this year but my project is still formulating.
Tips
Tons of info can be found at the official The 100 Day Project website and Substack. If you’ve never done a project I recommend listening to a recent podcast episode that’s very comprehensive.
I have a few tips of my own if you’re thinking of doing a project for the first time.
The number one way I approach the project now is as a time box for creativity. I don’t stress about how much time each day I’m spending on the project so long as I feel like the project is alive within my creative sphere and I’m giving it regular attention.
And along those lines I focus on the 100 days and not about producing 100 things.
Start simple with something that can be done in 10-20 mins per day.
Sharing on instagram and finding others in the community during the project time period is a lot of fun but documenting and sharing every day also takes it’s own time. For this reason I tend not to share daily but have the goal of at least a weekly update.
100 days is a little less than a third of the year. At the end of the project I reflect on what has changed in my life or creative life during the 100 days. And if the act of the project had any impacts on me. I often find that, yes, it has.
Hope you find these tips helpful! And if you’re planning to do a project I’d love to know what it is. Drop a note in the comment section.
Follow my instagram to see my regular posts for this years project. And I’ll likely reflect on the project here in a future newsletter.
Until next time,
Shasta
p.s. If your interests have changed since I last regularly sent communications or you’re keeping your inbox tidy feel free to unsubscribe. Important updates will always be viewable in the archive.
p.s.p.s. If you’ve just found your way to my corner of the internet please do subscribe! Would love to have you here.