Friday, January 12th, 2024
mood: calm music: Lana del Rey
Hello you beautiful, amazing computer inhabitants ε(´｡•᎑•`)っ 💕
hopefully you remember me. My name is Mal, and I’m the artist behind WO91.
Still a baby business, I started WO91 in March of 2022, with the website launching less than a year ago. I have had an overwhelming amount of support. I was thrilled everyone loved my work so much! I couldn’t believe so many people were into the same weird, old, vintage nonsense I was. After all, I fell into jewelry design backwards. I collected vintage charms and simply got to the point where I had too many. So what do you do? I decided to share! The fact that nothing new had to be created in order for me to make art settled my neurotic morals, and it was SO accessible. Pounds of “junk” jewelry at flea markets for $30. With a bit of hard work and creativity, I found my niche! So much so, I was able to quit bartending after ten years and focus on my business. The dream is to do what you love at home!
well, not so much for me.
a bit of a backstory; I’ve had a…turbulent life. I can tell you the number of states I had lived in before the age of ten was five, but I cannot tell you the number of houses, schools attended, etc. This was made even foggier by the not-so-great mental health care system of the early 2000s (1991 for a reason. My birth year.) which essentially consisted of shoving Xanax at the problem until it went away. Learning chemicals could alter my brain early on lead to substance abuse, combined with a transient life, parental death, and dropping out of high school, I was on my own at 17. I did about as well as you’d think.
luckily, I leveled out in many ways. I became sober, happy, healthy, expressive, surrounded by people I loved. I thought I was well prepared to be my own boss. Run my business. Start college for the first time at 33. Begin a new job as a high school art teacher with very little experience. Move into a house I needed to renovate. This was October of 2023.
I’m going to glaze over some of the more traumatic aspects, but a toxic relationship that ended in violence, complicated more deeply by family issues that I’m not comfortable getting into right now, had the police called to my residence.
i was hospitalized for a week. A concussion and severe break from reality made the next couple of weeks or so a blur. I came home to an empty house that had been ransacked. I lost my dream job. Had to drop out of school. Became in debt for the first time in my life. Not to mention the physical injuries.
i was lucky enough to be in a program where i now have a team of doctors helping me get back on my feet and it’s fantastic. I’ve been able to clean and organize my house, gain weight, socialize a little, and even started up at a new bar, back in my comfort zone.
unfortunately, through this, a lot fell by the wayside. Including my art and Winter of 1991. I cannot apologize enough for the delays. All I can say is that it was a one time, freak occurrence that will never happen again. I’m taking it easy, but doing much better.
all orders have been mailed and I do plan to make it up to the few people who had to wait longer than normal, just trying to think of the best way.
I will be coming out with new pieces soon, as well. I’m getting stronger everyday. I can’t wait to be back at full capacity.
thank you all so much for your kindness and patience and continued support. It keeps me motivated and that’s exactly what I need. I love you all
❤️❤️mal