15/09/2021
WARNING: LONG post
Before I start this post, I would like to inform You that we are almost finished with all backlog orders! Thank you for the patience and support!
In this long overdue post, we’ll try to give a sense of what is and was happening in the last year or so with GSW, less of an answer to all the questions and more of a story of life.
To grasp the whole specter of feelings, we need to go to the beginning. It was a dream to do the things we love, and live by our own right, and by our own hands. And for most part of the 14 years, we managed to pull through all the difficult times that were set in front of us, always adapting, always striving for more perfection, and figuring that pursuing a dream is priority. And of course, with every step, trying to improve on all of the shared skills and working harder through rough patches. Of course, everyone makes mistakes, whether they admit or not, and we did our share of them. Also, learned a lot from them, even more than from some successes, and repeated a few just to make sure. But it was worth it.
During these years we’ve made such a vast amount of different things, from armours, swords, knives and other weapons, through wooden mugs, props, accessories, to movie and theater props, and other mundane or strange things, that we can’t even remember . We’ve worked with other craftsmen, larpers, reenactors, fighters, actors, theaters, other workshops, and mostly (and definitely not least) regular folk, who just wanted some piece of beautiful or practical value, or both, to be created by us. And it was a blast. Surely, we cannot to begin to describe the gratitude and joy that all that brought to us. There were, again, hiccups, but few and far apart to even mention.
To say the least that last year of pandemic (not over yet at this time) was difficult would be a gigantic understatement. But, so was for everyone, us included. Mixed with personal challenges, both good and bad, it has again place the decision on priorities, and eventually, adaption to circumstances.
So we did our best to finish the backlog of overdue orders, and plan, research, learn and put in motion a plan to overcome this difficulties. Our most loving part of what we do, the handmade manufacturing, is not scalable enough, in terms of finding replacements for us. So the decision was made to apply our knowledge of many trades and crafts, and access to needed tools to develop a few new self-sufficient businesses that are scalable, so we can do what we want and love – design and create beautiful pieces of art, and share them with the world.
This requires an enormous amount of time and money, but most of all, energy and will, again, to set the dream on a backburner, just so we can return to it, when the right time comes. For quite some time, we thought that we can achieve all those things simultaneously. But common sense is that it is only possible if we put a pause on this. If we continue to accept custom orders, we will never be able to fully put other businesses in motion.
So, in practical sense, this all means that we WONT be taking any new orders starting the end of October. There's a possibility (well, more our wish) that we will occasionally open small windows for orders as we progress with milestones of other projects. It would only be swords, mostly stock with some small customization. Custom designs are completely stopped.
As for our other endeavors, we will also share them through all our channels, and if you find something you like, or just want to support us, we’re eager to hear from you.
In the mean time, let’s see some of those pieces we finished recently, and enjoy a bit more.
With all our heart,
GSW Team
