When the world shutdown happened in March of 2020, our lives were forever changed.
We all had to adapt in many ways to so many changes. My partner and I personally had to figure out how to carry the weight of our 2 small businesses and family home after I was laid off unexpectedly by both of my regular paying clients in a single day. We were both questioning the future as we wondered who will spend money on artwork or surfboards during a global pandemic.
Now the first week or two was when the real initial shock hit as we all just did our best to bide our time and stay calm as we committed first to stay home for “2 weeks to slow the spread”.
I'm sure I did much the same as anyone else may have done. I watched WAYYYY too much news and cleaned my home voraciously. We stocked up on basic necessities, hunkered down and did our best to stay positive while the world shut down around us.
Thankfully, as it became apparent the lockdown would not be ending anytime soon, one of my former clients asked me to resume managing their website I had built them remotely so they could continue running their business online despite their physical location still being closed. Who knew skills I learned in art school would actually be of use in pandemic era lockdown?
Even with that one small blessing, it still kept me at less than half my usual income so I had to figure something out quick. Luckily I had years of experience handling depression, stress and financial hardships so I wasn’t completely helpless.
I always thought my “fallback” career would be my experience in restaurant service, but as we all know that was one of the industries most hurt but the shutdown, so that option was off the board.
I didn’t turn to drugs or alcohol like so many sadly did. Instead, I turned to homeopathic treatments, new age philosophies, meditation, spirituality, religion, therapy, online education and of course, my first true love… Fine Art & CREATIVITY!
I spent a good amount of time in my art studio working on a painting but as the COVID shutdown continued on with the conversation of “essential” work, I began thinking about what I could do to help. By that point it was about mid April 2020 and the mask mandates began to roll out nationwide.
With years of experience working with foam and resin, I was no stranger to working in masks and respirators of all kinds. I didn’t know much about making masks, but I figured I could figure it out. So that is what I did. One thing I did know was earloops suck and disposable anything is always a bad idea idea so I did my research and designed my own variation of a functional yet comfortable reusable mask.
And that’s what I did for a while… I made masks. Specifically, I made bandana style fabric masks, with filters and adjustable straps. First I just made a handful for myself, my family and a few close friends. Then when I posted a few pictures online I was surprised to get requests from SO many friends across the nation. Suddenly I had created a whole new full time job making and shipping my handmade custom masks.
It was getting so busy I needed help from my family as I had to put the items online, first on my artist website and later on my etsy site. In fact I still have a few on clearance there… feel free to check them out HERE.
My first few masks were made out of tie-dye bandanas so I began getting requests for tie-dyes as well, so my house became a ridiculous arts and crafts factory as my whole family pitched in to help with making, packing and shipping orders of fabric masks and tie-dyes across the U.S.
Suddenly I was feeling SUPER essential and almost overworked by the amount of orders coming in.
I got busy enough to even hire a seamstress friend of a friend who had been laid off from the costume department at Disney, so I was even helping to support other artists who were on hard times.
Now beyond the stay-at home mask factory “craftiness” I also had years of experience as a business owner, gallery manager and website builder so it took all of my skills combined to actually turn it into a fruitful endeavor. In addition to selling these masks online, I also reached out to many friends and gifted masks to people who I knew were on hard times.
I sent dozens of masks out as gifts to my fellow artists, musicians and restaurant service professionals who I knew were struggling through the restrictions placed on their main forms of income. I couldn’t help in any major way with financial support, as I was struggling myself, but I knew I could spare a few masks here and there. Knowing if nothing else I could use them as a tool to reach out and say, “Hi, I’m thinking of you, and you are not alone, we truly are in this life together!”
I am hoping this mask mandate reality really is over now with a few exceptions, when it is required or appropriate, but I am also proud to know my creativity and business experience was able to help support myself and my people in such a strange time.
Then, as the pandemic had seemed to subside for a bit during the summer of 2020, I was even able to participate in a few local outdoor pop-up events. I was able to reconnect to my community of southern California surfers and beach people as Dave and I shared our handmade crafts with the public who was brave enough to venture out to Hippie Fest in Huntington Beach.
I also developed another side business I could manage from home, so I would never be in the same predicament again of losing all my income in a single day due to conditions that were out of my control.
I will explain more about that in my next blog.
Until then, please feel free to reach out directly to janessa@janessabookout.com if you ever have any creative projects you can use an extra hand (or brain) as I am still open to freelance gigs of all kinds.
P.S. did I mention my tie-dyes are available on my etsy shop too? CLICK HERE TO SHOP NOW