Funnily enough, I never really started out on the web.0. I was perhaps a little too young for it when the web was gaining popularity, and a little too old for it by the time I actually started becoming a frequent web user myself. Facebook had just become popular, and MySpace was starting its decline (RIP Tom). I remember my older cousins decorating their homepages, I remember weird blogs, I remember... Disney Channel games... a lot. But I never really contributed to it myself. My nostalgia for the web.0 era is disjointed through the lens of the earliest zillenial rose colored goggles.
I learned to code independently as a young adult when I was in college, mostly just for fun. I was dating a coding major at the time and I wanted to show off and impress him... I don't think I succeeded ultimately. But that meant I had some base knowledge of HTML & CSS, so by the time I dropped out of college I managed to have just enough marketable skills between that and my graphic design background that I wound up working at a ragtag small town marketing firm.
Essentially, we just built/hosted websites and did a bit of print design to boot, for other small businesses in the area. The office was straight out of the 1980's despite it being 2018, it was just me, my boss, and one other guy, plus a steady rotation of coders over the four years I was there. It wasn't a particularly successful business, in fact more than once my checks bounced and my boss pulled a $20.00 bill out of his pocket to cover the bounce fee and sheepishly asked that I wait until Tuesday... but it was more money than I'd ever made, and I felt at home and like my input was valued. And as an early 20-something just making it in the job market that was pretty darn valuable to me.
I say this all to tell you, that place no longer exists, for better or worse... but the feeling of creativity still lives within me even after having moved on to bigger and better things. And admittedly, more boring things. I've managed to stumble upwards into a cushy job where I get left alone most of the time, and I manage other people's money for them. Very little room for creative freedom there. About 8 years ago, I started working with polymer clay at home. If you're not familiar with the medium, polymer is a much more forgiving variety of sculpture than ceramics, and somewhat less messy. It's easy to work on at a desk and doesn't require a kiln for baking. I made my very first dragon sculpture around that time, just for me. I still have her, though she's required several "surgeries" over the years as insecurely attached limbs and spikes have popped off.
Anyway, back to boring - when I dropped out of school, it was partly because of money, but also largely because going to school for design triggered a severe loss of passion for it. Working in web design after, while still enjoyable, gave me the same ick, and for a long time it was really difficult to find the desire to pick up a pencil to create. Clay gave me a new kind of creative freedom to explore, it was tactile and new, colorful and lively. Something formed from nothing - it was exciting!. So over the years I honed my sculpting skills, and in my free time I still make the little guys, and occasionally I get to sell my art too. Though that aspect is less for the money, and more to get rid of my overstock of bits and bobs I got bored and made, I like to share my art with others.
Recently I learned about the indie web revitalization movement, and having been desiring a journaling outlet for some time, and needing a website for my art that's not combed through by AI all the darn time, I thought making this blog might be the perfect marriage of those needs. So, welcome to my creative home, thank you for reading, and I truly hope you stay awhile. Have a lovely day!
~ Mikki
For now, my art is here until I flow it into this site
