Now that Twitter has descended into the embodiment of a meme featuring a cartoon dog and lots of fire, no better time to get back to personal blogging, right?
I know, a year-end wrap-up in November seems a touch early, right? Bear with me.
Lots of big changes in 2022. While it was a very tight year financially, largely due to the downturn of the global economy (turns out some people think puppets are a luxury), O:P as an online entity continues to have modest growth and a healthy, if small, community. I’m thrilled with that. I never wanted O:P to just be “the Kevin show”. I want to bring in as many like-minded folks as I can and provide a calm oasis of fun and silliness in an otherwise turbulent world. I think we’re doing well.
I’ve decided for various reasons to close custom commissions for the remainder of 2022. There will still be some builds on the shop(s), but I’d like to get back to basics with some Greeblees and Smols. O:P Classics, if you will.
As well owing to slow sales I’ve moved some puppets back to the Etsy shop where they’ll have a better chance at getting seen by new folks. Remember if you see something you’d like on the Etsy shop, don’t hesitate to message me and I’ll be happy to de-list it and put it up for you on the direct shop.
I also expect streaming to be pretty sporadic for the remaining few weeks of the year and I plan to take some time off in December for planning and R&R but…
The plans for 2023 are pretty ambitious. Thanks to community feedback I’ve decided it would be most helpful to at least attempt to have a more regular streaming schedule. Frankie Plays will still be “when we feel like it” but I’m going to schedule Wednesdays as in-shop Build Streams.
The whole goal for 2023 is to grow the community. To that end we will also be branching out into a new medium: Podcasting. Well, not new for me (the lads and I ran a podcast for years) but new for O:P. It’ll be called Pixels & Puppets and be about video games, movies, tech news, and… puppets. Why? Uh… I’ll get back to you on that.
Thank you all for being with us as we navigate the surreal waters of these last few years. I have no idea what the future holds for the world at large but if there’s any possibility of fun and humour in it, I can promise you we’ll find it.
Kev