Finding Joy in the Margins

It takes months to prepare for a market like this.

Painting, sanding, varnishing, sealing, labeling —every piece touched and retouched by hand.

It’s a labor of love, yes…but it’s also just that: labor.

There’s a well-worn path for artists: gallery shows, craft fairs, online shops.

I’m not a trained artist but I quickly learned that it is how success is measured in our circles. And for a while, I walked that road.

I was self-taught, had built a following on Instagram and my Etsy store had started doing well, so when friends encouraged me, I felt confident hosting a preschool fundraiser in 2018–my first “show.” It was a sellout!

Introductions were made and invitations to local markets followed where I hauled over months of work in the form of pendants, trivets, scarves, cards: whatever was “trendy and sellable.”

The 2023 spring market — my last — was a success like none before. Friends came to show their support, strangers admired my work, I sold more than I expected.

And yet, I had this feeling of emptiness throughout the four hours I sat there schlepping my art.

As I unpacked the unsold pieces at home, I cried. I was doing so well…this was an invitation-only market, a full-circle moment … then why wasn’t this making me feel alive?

Almost two years to the day, I decided I wouldn’t be selling at craft markets anymore. What lights me up isn’t the selling. It’s not even the finished product.

It’s the messy middle — the immersion, the curiosity, the quiet joy of making.

It’s the giving — offering small handmade tokens, not as transactions, but as moments of human connection.

Sometimes we have to walk the expected path to realize it’s not ours.

Sometimes it’s what leads us to creating a space that honors this joy that lives on the margins, in the fringes, in what others might dismiss as footnotes.

The Ripple Room is that space for me.

A space that doesn’t focus on polished outcomes, but on the spark of creativity itself. Where you don’t have to call yourself an artist to feel alive with possibility.

Because in the end, the Ripple Room isn’t about making art — it’s about making space for yourself.

And that brings me a whole lot of joy … and maybe it’ll bring you some, too. Here is your invitation to explore this space.