Last night, I FINALLY got our industrial embroidery machine working. Keep in mind, I’m the third owner, so I knew there would be some frustrating moments but the price point was too good to pass up. It’s extremely important to me to bring as much as possible in-house, even as it pertains to physical products. Generally speaking, embroidery is a painful endeavor. That’s a learning curve, things break, there’s downtime, and you’re stuck searching the internet for tutorial videos from others who have run into similar problems.

That said, I’ve found that anything that’s difficult is typically worth doing.

You see, I originally bought an entry-level, single-needle machine, as a mindful activity. I believe there is a ton of merit in art therapy and creating simply to create, which is at the foundation of Duck & Wave. Creating something out of nothing is pure. My daughter is a little over two years old now so I see the unfiltered freedom in her soul when she’s fingerpainting or making masterpieces with her crayons. There’s something to be said about seeing something through from start to finish, even when it drives you batshit insane.

In my case, I pull my hair out over threads breaking, tension issue, the needle not catching the bobbin or the timing being off, what needle to use on what fabrics, or which stabilizers are best but I feel a sense of accomplishment when I figure it out. In my daughter’s case, she gets upset when she can’t quite color inside the lines or draw the smiley face she was envisioning. Guess what? She’s resilient and typically figures it out OR ends up creating something more badass than she had in mind, even if it strays from her initial plan. That’s the beauty of creating.

There are no rules.

No matter how old you are, there’s beauty in the struggle. Shoutout to J. Cole.

Onward.