Petrichor

Shoulder season, newsletter expectations & shop update early access code.

This is going to be one LONG newsletter. Hang in there and please read when you have time so you can know what to expect moving forward this year with this publication.

The other day someone asked me: “would you ever consider making earrings inspired by winter?” I was confused at first, as i looked back at my most recent posts that had statements like “inspired by winter in the desert”. i realized maybe they meant earrings with more blues and whites, or more typical colors that represent the cold. my interpretation of winter is maybe not what most people experience. my recent work has been inspired by winter in the desert. or at least this winter, in this desert. i think there’s been only one day that there has been snow on the ground down here in the valley on the red rock. this winter has been mostly dry, until these past two weeks or so when we’ve gotten a few days of rain.

winter in this desert to me is:

wet sand. wet rock. the earthy scent of petrichor while walking through the juniper and sagebrush. the dogs weaving between the shrubs, leaving their little paw prints behind in the damp dirt. ice covering the creeks in a mosaic of fractals and lace, muddy water trickling beneath heading down, down, down to, eventually, the colorado river. winter here is the dark sienna of wet sandstone, the dusty sage greens of sagebrush and mormon tea, dark olive of the evergreen junipers and pinyon pines, and bone tan of dead grasses. a simple and soothing color palette that will never cease to inspire me.

at least those are my favorite winter days. or whatever this limbo shoulder season is between winter and spring we’re in now. we’re occasionally getting sunny days in the upper 60s but all our nights are below freezing. most of nature is still asleep. while us humans are trying to tackle our new year’s resolutions, doing taxes, working hard to prepare our lives for the busy tourist season approaching. it’s the calm but steady grind before the storm. saving money, staying put, grounding down, establishing routine so there’s hopefully something to hold on to when it all starts to spin out of control.

Living in a seasonal tourist town can be like that. when we run into each other in town this time of year, we ask each other the kinds of small talk questions that only make sense in a place like this: what kind of water year will it be? will it be a busy tourist season? will it boom early or late? will we get floods again? wildfires? a collective anxiety and anticipation, in hopes of preparing ourselves for what’s to come. i see and hear the crows doing the same up in the locust tree in our yard.

this time of year always it always puts my trust in myself and my dedication to my craft to the test. can i make it past this hump to enter my next year as a full-time artist? self-doubt inevitably rears its ugly head and threatens to keep me from my studio desk. but day in and day out i sit down at that desk and make something. hoping that just maybe, it will be the little bit of beauty that someone needs to get through this hard season too.

morning pages in the backyard

first order sent out to Biome Slow Craft Collective in Bozeman, MT last week!

last week’s restock at Moab Made

z working hard to get our old truck ready for rough desert road camping.

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DUSTY REVERIES as an intersect of my business and my self

I know some of you have found me through substack and most likely followed along for reasons other than my jewelry business.

Whereas some of you originally subscribed to my newsletter through my website as a customer. last year i was using squarespace to send out my barely once a month newsletter. I honestly felt uninspired to send those newsletters because making them through that platform felt too heavy on the marketing.

Last month i migrated my email list over to here and i’m really glad i did.

Those of you who were here originally just for business related things, you might see more of my writing — my thoughts, experiences, inspiration, doodles, photos, favorite music, travels, etc. Those of you who are here for mostly those things, you’ll be seeing the occasional market-type information about coyote crafted: shop update previews, inspiration behind certain works, upcoming markets, etc.

I’m thinking of this newsletter publication “dusty reveries” as the intersect between my business: coyote crafted, and me: molly quinn.

I used to share a lot more of my personal thoughts and experiences on instagram. i think as much as maybe some folks took the time to read, it is just not the platform for longer-form sharing. i’m now thinking of my instagram as more of a live gallery of my work. i refuse to stay up to date on the trends on what will get views. I don’t have the time or mental capacity to worry about that kind of thing - so i know my posts there will only go so far.

Through this newsletter, i aim to integrate my own voice and experiences with my work. I hope there’s always at least one little thing that sparks joy, inspiration or a sense of community in what i choose to share here.

I will always put my more business-heavy information at the bottom of any post, more personal story-telling info towards the top. If you are only here for the business side of things, i’ll have that info summarized at the bottom of every post so you can always just skip to the bottom if you don’t feel like hearing me blabber on.

If you don’t necessarily care about handmade jewelry, you can know that my blabbering will always be put first and you can skip the rest if wanted. No hard feelings you guys! There may be occasional integration if i’m choosing to blabber about inspiration behind certain work. Hopefully there’s always a little something for everyone.

cloudburst drops inspired by intense desert storm clouds.

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EARLY ACCESS to shop updates

Moving forward this year, I will have an online shop update on the 14th of every month at 7pm mst. Rather than needing to constantly check my instagram posts/stories for when it will be, you can now plan ahead each month to expect it to always be on the 14th at the same time regardless of the day of the week that lands on.

On the 14th at 7pm mst of every month, a limited collection of ready-to-ship and made-to-order pieces will go live to the public at coyotecrafted.com/shop.

An hour before that, at 6pm mst, the shop will be locked with a password wall. Newsletter subscribers will have the option of shopping the update an hour before the public by using the specific passcode shared in that day (or the day before’s) newsletter. The code will be different every month, and ideally you keep the code to yourself. Just enter the code and it will take you to my shop.

This month’s early access code is: PETRICHOR

The password wall be taken down at 7pm mst and the shop will then be open to the public.

Ready-to-ship items can sell out quickly because i’m only able to make so many pieces each week with how long each item takes to make. Ready-to-ship will always ship within 3-5 business days.

My hope is that offering early access through my newsletter this year will decrease the amount of competition for r-t-s pieces. I am also expanding my pre-order options this year and will always have 3+ designs available as pre-orders. (which can take 5ish weeks to ship.)

I may eventually move to only sharing an early access code with paid subscribers. But for now I am not pushing paid subscriptions in an effort to just build this practice without any pressure. A paid subscription at this point is basically a tip to me and my work, and i’m forever grateful for it.

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THIS QUARTER’S NON-PROFIT:

every single piece of jewelry i create is inspired by the beautiful public lands of where i’m lucky enough to live. slow-crafted & desert-made. by now it should be obvious. i owe so much of who i am to this land.

when i started coyote crafted, i made a commitment to myself that i would always donate a percentage of sales to a rotation of regional non-profits committed to the conservation of environmental and cultural resources. to protect this land not only for its intrinsic value of wilderness, but also for the plants, animals and humans who have called it home throughout history.

over the last week, thousands of federal public land stewards have been fired. our public lands need us now more than ever. and the partner non-profits that have always been working so hard to keep protecting these lands need as much help as they can get.

this quarter, a percentage of sales will be donated to Grand Staircase Escalante Partners, who’s mission is to: “honor the past and safeguard the future of Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument and its connected landscapes and watersheds through science, conservation, and education.”

This past november, my husband and i took our truck camper and our pups and camped for over a week out in GSENP off the burr trail. Trail running, making jewelry, enjoying simple meals together watching the colors of the cliffs light up in the low winter sun. I will always cherish that time spent there exploring these incredible public lands, and want to give back what I can in thanks for the life-long memories and inspiration. And in hopes that these lands can stay in public hands for future generations to come.

thank you for supporting my work and helping protect these incredibly important lands. Click here to learn more: GSEPartners - Honor the land. Learn its lessons.

I try to alternate each quarter between directly local to Moab and then regional to the Colorado Plateau. Click here to see the past two quarter’s non-profits: coyotecrafted.com

i share this not at all to brag, or pat myself on the back. what i contribute is a drop in the bucket. but i believe every drop matters when it comes to fighting for the things we love. all we can do is try to fill the buckets of the people and organizations that have the resources and skills to more effectively fight. this is just one more way to vote with our dollar.

original photo from nov’s adventure in GSENM

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WHEW, if you made it this far…THANK YOU! My newsletters will not be this long in the future, this just required some big chunks of information to be shared.

Hope to see you tonight for the update, otherwise, i will be returning to my weeklyish newsletter posts next week. Hope you are all hanging in there. And please let me know in the comments if you have any non-profits that you would recommend for future donations.

xx

molly

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CURRENTLY…

reading: “Iron Flame” by Rebecca Yarros (i’m addicted)

song on repeat:

favorite podcast episode lately: