From Chaos Comes ...

Dear Reader,

It's been chaos here at Squirrel King HQ!

As you can see we've been working through the day and into the night ...

Acorns have been stuffed, and the much talked-about hangtags have been attached!

All in a bid to create a final product that looks ...

... well we're super excited!!

Home straight of our Kickstarter campaign, here we come!! With a little luck packages will be in the mail before the end of the day :)

Chin chin
Ruthless Whims

PS. If I can find time later today, we'll do a little walk-through of the chaos :)

Loving Labor for Limbs

Dear Reader,

Less than a week ago my father was in town. Here to celebrate the launch party he was an indispensable asset that deserves acknowledging :)

Beyond his help prepping the party he also lovingly labored over enveloping the limbs and eyes for the rest of our Kickstarter squirrels. Big thanks dad!!

And for those of you awaiting your Kickstarter rewards, I'm excited to announce that our hang tags are scheduled for pick-up later today!! Kits should be in the mail tomorrow :)

Chin chin
Ruthless Whims

PS. And for everyone else, that means we're ready to supply stores any day now! Stay tuned for squirrels near you :)

PPS. It was also wonderful to see him have a lovely time with the Aliens :)

From a Tree Trunk ...

Dear Reader,

Sometimes it's important to take a moment and simply appreciate the dedication that someone else has devoted to a single project. Zheng Chunhui spent four years turning this tree into one magnificent sweeping landscape.

So whatever it is you're working on, stay inspired and keep at it. Your own special project can be realized :)

Chin chin
Ruthless Whims

PS. To see some details of Zheng's work check this site.

My New Work Station

Dear Reader,

Those few hundred painted lids we finished up a week or so back have been in need of some nuts to go with them.

So, with our wonderful branding iron heated up, I decided to rejoice in our mild winter and set up a work station on the balcony.

With that - and my mask donned - I set to work.

A branding iron, it turns out, is a very satisfying tool to wield :)

Chin chin
Ruthless Whims

PS. Who thinks I look like an outlaw?

For the Birds

Dear Reader,

A fundamental tenant of The Squirrel King is to mix media. What a joy it was then to see Alien One completely embracing life this way :)

Chin chin
Ruthless Whims

PS it's always good to wear a helmet when you're flying :)

Squirrel Kits Launch Party!

Dear Reader,

Wow!!!

What a party!!!

Thank you to everyone! To those who helped get us to this point and those who helped celebrate :)

With squirrels set to roll out into the world the time to party was upon us, and boy what a party we had!

Our good friend Kylie supplied the most amazing works of art for dessert ...

And of course in true Squirrel King form we had an interactive component to end the meal. Yes, that's right, those much touted squirrel shaped s'mores were a big hit :) Thanks again, everyone!!

Chin chin
Ruthless Whims

Ready to Party!

Dear Reader,

Tomorrow is the launch party for our kits! And though the hang tags are still in train, I'm pleased to report we're ready for the party!

Well we've got the important parts ready ...

And by important, I of course mean home-made marshmallows and squirrel-shaped graham crackers.

Gypsies live on roasted squirrels after all so why shouldn't we :)

For those lucky enough to be attending the launch rest assured there will be plenty of other food! Along with face-painting and crafts and a bouncy house for the kids and for the big kids, drinkies!

Thank you to everyone who has gotten us to this point! It's been an amazing journey so far and we hope it's still just the beginning of the joy we can bring to this world :)

Chin chin
Ruthless Whims

Black and White

Dear Reader,

It is with great excitement that I announce to you: we have a bar code!

I feel so grown up :)

Chin chin
Ruthless Whims

PS For those who prefer only the lighter side of commerce, here's an image of the home-made marshmallows for the squirrel shaped s'mores at this weekend's Squirrel Kits launch party! For those select attendees this is going to be awesome :)

Hang Tags!

Dear Reader,

Last Friday, on a distant bank of grass, behind a delightful mid-morning soccer match an important photoshoot was taking place - yes, that white spec just to the right of the bottom of the right light pole was us.
That white bounce, just to the left of camera in the left still here is what you were seeing in the panorama above. And huddled between the bounce and Justus (as he makes an on-set inspection of our work) is the star of the shoot ...

Once again, it is a matter of perspective when judging the importance of what is happening :)

Stay tuned for the tags themselves - the last piece in the puzzle that is our squirrel craft kit!

Chin chin
Ruthless Whims

The Marvels of Perspective

Dear Reader,

This morning while eating breakfast, Alien Two reminded me of the power of a different perspective. What at first looked to me like a sticky syrupy combination of banana and pancake, destined for the floor or her nighty actually turned out to be a banana pancake rainbow :)

It reminded me of this little video which I promptly shared with her:


About halfway through she asked, "hey, how did he do that?" and was then delighted to see the trick. So important to keep open to different perspectives :)

Chin chin
Ruthless Whims

Dipped Lids!

Dear Reader,

Often in life people will tell you something can't be done, or that it can't be done the way you wanted to do it ... and much of the time they will be right. The thing is that every once in a while they are not, and in those instances it is important to follow your instincts.

Yesterday, with attentive help from Alien Two, Justus' commitment to dip-painting was vindicated (our spray-version required too much touch up).

Contrary to popular opinion, dipping didn't dissolve our lids!

Gradually we continue to refine the process :)

Chin chin
Ruthless Whims

Pom Pom Sheep!

Dear Reader,

Welcome to the new week, and for those like me, a return from vacation. To get us all going, here's a fun little clip full of inspiration from England.


I absolutely love the sheer volume of these pom pom sheep! Would love to do something similar with squirrels one day :)

Chin chin
Ruthless Whims

Creativity Sparked!

Dear Reader,

I'm super excited to share with you a couple of the amazing creations that early recipients of Squirrel Kits have been inspired to make!

We love these little critters!! And we're particularly excited by the lateral directions that were taken - love the pink batman squirrel and the dog(?) with button ears :)

Can't wait to see what other people create and the adornments that might follow.

Keep crafting!

Chin chin
Ruthless Whims

A New Year's Resolution!

Dear Reader,

With the beginning of the new year The Squirrel King has decided to articulate its commitment to the world around us. The Oath has been carefully crafted to include all manner of civic commitment we want to make, simply put this is it:

To help give context to these words we have dedicated a new tab to further expanding what this means to us. As time passes we hope to quantify The Oath more precisely, but for now we wanted to get it out there :)

Feel free to take The Oath yourself!

Chin chin
Ruthless Whims