Making things for Makers

When someone commissions a hand-painted charm , it’s not just about the end product. It’s about the creative inspiration, specifically, what a person sends me to paint that starts the process. 

Recently, a customer asked me to turn a book cover into a miniature charm. A quick search told me the book was a buzzy new novel called Play Nice, by a bestselling author known for dark humor and haunted houses. After reaching out to confirm the order details, I learned the charm was a gift for the author. A thank-you, a celebration, a wearable nod to the world she wrote.

So I sat down at my desk, pulled up the audiobook, and started painting with the tiny brushes. It felt right to reciprocate the appreciation of another maker's work by listening. I wasn’t thinking about making content or how it would photograph. I was just trying to get it right and make something worthy of the person who dreamed up the haunted house in the first place.

There’s a kind of electricity in that. One maker honoring another’s work. It cuts through the noise and brings it back to the core impulse: make something honest, for someone who’ll get it.

That’s what I needed. Custom orders have been quiet. The algorithm doesn’t care about hand-painted anything. But this job reminded me that the work matters. Especially when it’s part of a creative loop.

So if you’re building something weird, writing something personal, putting anything out into the world — we see each other. And if I can make a charm about it, all the better to commemorate the dang thing!