IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT [ENGLISH]

 

Dear friends,

The time has come to post an update about Goblin Tales future. This post is the full version of the abridged announcement made on Instagram, for those who want to read an extended explanation.

THE CURRENT SITUATION

You may have noticed that the number of posts in Goblin Tales social networks has been very low for some time, to the point that the number of followers has been more or less stuck for years. This has an explanation. Very briefly, I must confess that I’ve been struggling with my health for more than 15 years. I suffer from chronical pain and exhaustion due to a self-immune disease, and, in order to keep my engine moving and be a functional person like everyone else, I need to be in a constant state of self-induced anxiety. Which, ultimately, evolved into mental issues too, and conditioned several things, like my student life (from a very good student to not being able to memorize anymore, and struggle a lot to learn new data and skills) and my working life (absolute lack of energy and physical strength while doing very physical Jobs, that dealt to injuries because I tried very hard to overcompensate).
Even in this job, that I love to do, I regularly need breaks and pauses of my activity to recover from mental and physical burnout. Most of the days, even the smallest effort is hard for me to make. And, of course, creating content with the mínimum quality I want, in order to keep the social networks regularly updated to feed the algorythm, and thus keep being relevant, is one of that things which I cannot deal with consistently. That is the reason why the Instagram account stopped growing long time ago (my fault, entirely. I cannot blame anyone but myself for the absolute lack of growth).

In addition to this problem, making dolls has become even more expensive and stressful than it was, due to the current world situation. Constant problems with supplies, very extended production times, shipping costs, providers and the high taxes, make this process hard and non untenable for very small artists like me, who rely on very few sales each year, specially if the manufacturing times are extended to more than a half year for each batch of dolls: In my case, one preorder helps to fund the next one, and accidents can happen (it hasn’t happened yet, but if a batch of dolls were lost in the mail, or destroyed, I would have to refund that money to the participants of the preorder; which means that I need to wait until the dolls arrive to spend that money, which consequently means that the money isn’t really mine to spend until the dolls are sent to their owners. Therefore, I cannot arrange several preorders simultaneously, but to arrange one at a time, and wait until all the dolls are sent to the owners before arranging the next one).

That long production time, therefore, limits a lot the amount of preorders that small artists can arrange, and, certaintly, it’s not enough to pay taxes (and let’s not forget that, for artists, this is not just a hobby. It is our job, and it’s absolutely necessary that it allows us to fund our supplies, but also our food and taxes, just like any other job).

DISCLAIMER: I am not saying that this circumstances are the same for all of the small artists you know: these are only my own ones. Yes, my job as a doll sculptress could be sustainable, if all of these circumstances didn’t happen all together. To keep working in Goblin Tales, I would need to be very active, both in my workshop and on my social networks, to be able to reach more customers and make bigger preorders each time, and I could do multiple collaborations (and don’t get me wrong, I would LOVE to do collaborations with certain artists who, very kindly, offered it to me), but, as I previously said, my health situation doesn’t allow me to maintain that rythm consistently… Trust me when I say, I have been meditating about this decision for months, and I wouldn’t do it if it weren’t absolutely necessary at this moment. Goblin Tales is my baby, and I want to see it grow. But I have to be responsible, and this leads me to the obvious conclusion: I cannot afford to continue making dolls in my actual state, because I cannot be fast enough to do it in a profitable way to make this demandimg activity untenable... At least, for now.

SO NOW, WHAT?

Well, several things:

1) As hard and painful as this decision is for me, I am forced to stop sculpting dolls for some time, until things (at least, my health) get better and I can go back to doing the job I love the most. The current dolls that I have in stock will be available at Dolly Day (Barcelona) this year, and after the event, all my remaining dolls will be put for sale online via Instagram, as always, until end of stock. I will not be attending any other doll events as an exhibitor, for now. There will not be any new preorders soon, and I don't know when there will be another one, so, if you are interested in purchasing any of the Goblin Tales dolls, don't miss the chance to get these last units in stock. And, of course, I will keep answering messages and doubts, both in the comments and in the private messages and e-mail, as always. I am not totally leaving ^^

2) I want to see this pause in sculpting as an opportunity, and I refuse to lose the amazing community we’ve created here along these years. What I cherish the most is the wonderful people I’ve met thanks to this job, even if I am not able to be very present at the moment. I have several ideas for some doll-related products that, I think, could interest you too, and I am studying how to develop them in a sustainable way, avoiding my constant burnouts. So, stay tuned in Goblin Tales account to see what I am talking about! I will update that account whenever I have something that is worth sharing with you.

Thank you everybody for the love and support you have been giving to Goblin Tales dolls along this 7 years. I hope I could give you in return a fraction of the happiness that I feel each time I see pictures of these dolls customized by their creative owners ^^ Watching Erin, Willow, Cassie and all the other critters embodying your own characters is, and always will be, the most heartwarming and rewarding feeling in the world.

Thank you again, and see you soon!

Ana