So, here's the truth, the complete truth, and it's a long read!
A year ago something catastrophic happened to me. It was so painful that it's taken me this long to want to come back to blogging properly and really resume business as usual. What the heck happened?! I'll tell you...
I was sitting at my computer one day and all of a sudden the folder I was saving some work in looked empty. I was like "hey, where did my files just go?" I clicked out of that folder and explored the rest of that hard-drive where I kept all my work, and found that none of the folders opened.... panic started to rise from the tips of my toes throughout my whole body, and I waited nervously for my computer-wiz friend to come over and help me check out what was happening. He couldn't even get the hard-drive to open and see any info. Now, this hard-drive contained absolutely all of my work - my entire portfolio of miniatures for both Hummingbird Miniatures and Pixie Dust Miniatures, and also all family photos, and all photos in general in my life. But most of all it was my portfolio going back 5 years - when I started creating and photographing my miniature work. I felt an enormous sense of panic because I knew I hadn't backed up for 6 months. I was terrified to the pit of my stomach that I could potentially lose 6 months work (for me that represented thousands of images, my book 'The Art of Pixie Dust Miniatures' I had been writing and was almost complete, tutorials I'd created and so forth. Nooooooooooooo, please don't let that work be lost, I kept saying to him! We took it to the best place for data recovery in LA (and don't forget, most of the best computer developments come out of California so I knew I was putting it into very safe hands).
Things couldn't get much worse... or could they...?
I went over to another hard-drive where everything (except the past 6 months) was backed up. Just wanted to browse it and feel a bit better.
... Nothing was there.
My housemate had at some point moved it / wiped it / who knows. He didn't know where it went. Basically it was gone. The only place my entire miniature portfolio existed was on the hard-drive that stopped working. And that was in the hands of these data recovery guys. I waited for their verdict with my heart in my stomach and sheer dread.
They got back to me weeks later. "It's dead" they said. "No chance of recovery". I was devastated, but wouldn't accept it. I searched out the best recovery places in the world (which also are in the US - although I'd have sent it anywhere). I paid a few thousand and sent it to them. Surely if this was crucial FBI material, something seriously important they'd be able to recover it, was what I kept telling myself. I told them I'd pay any amount, I just HAD to have all my work back (hundreds of thousands of files). I waited weeks... maybe a month. The response was negative. I tried one final place, another few thousand dollars. Nope. They could retrieve absolutely nothing at all either.
And in this time my father died suddenly without warning at the age of 61 as well.
So I gave up on my work for about 5 months. Then I managed to climb back on the horse by applying myself in a new direction. Barely creating anything for Hummingbird Miniatures or Pixie Dust Miniatures, I decided to dedicate my time to the short film I have been planning for a while. I started really creating for it in March of this year. I designed and sculpted the characters for the film, which is called 'Good Witches Bad Witches' and started blogging about them here and showing them on the Facebook page for it. It helped. :)
Eventually I also started getting back to creating miniature food again and slowly and steadily rebuilding my Hummingbird Miniatures portfolio with things such as black forest cakes new mini food jewelry and a massive detailed range of Mexican food - which was soon after published in Dolls House & Miniature Scene Magazine.
Recently I finally started creating for Pixie Dust Miniatures again as well. I created some Jack o Lanterns and listed them at my shop here.
So! I rarely (or never) talk about my private life here, but I thought I owed everyone an explanation as to where I have been and why I haven't been responsive or active on this blog, or the Hummingbird Miniatures Facebook page, aside from Instagram feeds that occasionally show up there.
But I'm back now! I will resume updating this blog and listing new items at the Hummingbird Miniatures Etsy shop. So thanks for hanging in there!
Lovely to be back. Love to all! Caroline x X x