I started blogging while I was in graduate school. It began as a way for me to communicate with my graduate committee over the summer. I could easily upload photos of my project process, write a bit, and send them a link. From that experience, I discovered that I really enjoyed blogging. It made me think of my studio work from a different perspective than my sketchbook did. I liked the balance and challenge.
After I graduated and started teaching, I started a new blog and continued to write. I did not expect it would become a way for me to connect with other stitchers and artists. I loved that! Then, I shifted my sharing to social media, as so many of us did—Facebook and Instagram. I enjoyed these platforms for a long time, but recently, something seemed amiss. It frustrates me how the algorithms work and how they cause many of my posts (and the posts of people I follow) to go unseen. It also seems like a constant battle with ads and a continual push for new content, to the detriment of actual interesting and worthwhile content. Do not get me wrong, I love a good boxer puppy video. I just do not want only those videos, missing out on interesting people’s work that I love to see.
All this to say, I miss connecting with y’all and it has prompted me to try to figure out a way to share things I am working on and hopefully reconnect with so many lovely people that I used to see in class or converse with online. So, I going to try going back to the original blogging format but with a bit of a twist here on Substack.
Right now, I have a lot on my plate with a big project. I’ve needed to cut down on teaching, which I honestly miss! So, I thought I would share on Substack via a regular newsletter. Once my time frees up a bit, I also plan to add a subscription aspect where I can share unique subscriber content, like videos, from my studio desk to you. This is one of the main reasons for moving to Substack, as I have hesitated to start yet another place. But there are ways I will be able to share content on Substack that I have not been able to do in other places and with a bit more protection for me as the creator. More on that later, but I hope you’ll join me here for now.
If you are interested in the old blogs:
Kat Diuguid’s old blog: www.katherinediuguid.blogspot.com
Kat Diuguid’s Graduate Thesis project blog: “Consuelo: The Glitter of a Dollar Duchess”