Tomorrow after work I'm driving 4 hours up to Manchester for BUCK! It's the third BUCK and my third time selling there, so I'm pretty excited to be back! For those who don't know what BUCK is, it's a Brony convention in the UK. For those of you who don't know what a Brony is, and you've somehow missed that phenomenon, it's basically an adult fan of the new My Little Pony cartoon, 'Friendship is Magic'.  'Friendship is Magic' kinda took off in a huge way when it came out a few years back, which for an old-school MLP collector like myself, was pretty weird! I mean, I spent my childhood being teased for liking My Little Ponies, and now they're the cool thing to like? Bizarre!

Anyway, suffice to say, the emphasis at BUCK is on My Little Pony merchandise and goodies, so I'm taking along a bunch of rainbow horse art. I'm also going to throw in some of my video game / pop culture merchandise too, just in case! I figure, if you're a fan of cartoons, you're probably into video games and sci fi, too, right?

I spent pretty much all today finishing up merchandise for my stall this Sunday at DevCon! I've made a real effort just sorting everything out this year. I've never sold necklaces before, and I usually just put pins and badges on loose on my table with a price tag nearby. Not anymore!

These are my necklaces, all bagged up and ready to go! I simply cut some slits in my business cards to thread the chains through, which work perfectly for a visual and obviously all my details are printed on the back! I'll be hanging a few necklaces loose on a stand and then pin the rest in their baggies to a cork board above them.

Here are my newly packaged badge packs! They'll be hanging on the cork board too, all individually priced.

Some specially cut and laminated pony bookmarks, complete with sparkly tassels!

I literally spent all day doing these things! And tomorrow I need to sit down and print actual artwork to sell, package it all up and get everything packed. I have to work all day tomorrow and Friday morning so I won't get much more time now to work on convention supplies. Eep! I'm exhausted and DevCon isn't even a huge convention.

I always joke, if it weren't for the eleventh hour, I'd get nothing done.

Days like today, though, I think the joke's on me!

I've been thinking of new things to sell at cons and via Etsy that are a little more tangible than just plain prints and artwork. I've already started making nerdy jewellery, something I've wanted to get into for ages, and I thought another fun way to go would be keyrings! So, the other day, this arrived at my door:

50 keyrings, ready to assemble once I put some pretty art inside! But, the trouble with selling actual stuff at conventions (as opposed to prints) is that you actually have to make it. In this case, make art, crop it, resize it perfectly, cut it exactly, put it in the keyring and put the back on, before putting it back in its little baggie. Ugh!

But...

...it's so worth it, because they look so cool!

So, after a lot of trial and error and air-bubble battles, I've finally created a good batch of nerdy necklaces! I'm so pleased with these and I can't wait to make more!

I've currently got this little mixed up batch available for sale over on Etsy, but by convention season (May 4th is my next convention), I plan on having whole sets of Bioshock vigors, My Little Pony cutie marks and Portal 2 Personality Cores for sale! It's been a lot of work and a lot of cussing along the way, but I'm so pleased to finally have a craft I can add to my table! I've always wanted to offer something a little more tangible than just prints, but honestly had no idea where to start until I finally bit the bullet and went for it!

You can find these over on my at http://reaperfox.etsy.com while they're available :)

I love selling art at conventions, but I'm constantly jealous of all the wonderful crafters out there who can make nerdy jewellery and clothing for others to enjoy. I've wanted to start creating charms and jewellery for ages, but honestly, I'm really not all that crafty at all! I can't sew to save my life, so even the few cosplays I've created tend to just be very basic adaptations of regular clothing or store bought outfits. I've dabbled in Fimo and Sculpey, but never stuck with it all that much, despite making a cute little Poro recently for Valentines Day.

Still, I found some clear cabachons in a local craft store and thought I'd finally give it a go! I ordered a ton of findings, chains and glue after researching a whole day on what best to use and how. Today, the postman came to the door with a sack full of goodies for me, so I finally set to work! This was the result!

Ta-da!

I used my own designs for the Personality Cores from Portal 2, and my first attempt was Wheatley. It's certainly a case of trial and error! Wheatley looks pretty good in this picture, but I think I applied too much glue, because there are little trapped air bubbles beneath the cabachon that sadly I couldn't remove for all the squeezing in the world.

Next up was the Space Core, and I'm pretty happy with how he came out. There's one tiny air bubble in the middle but it's only noticable at a certain angle. Last up was Rainbow Dash's cutie mark, where I only applied the tiniest amount of glue. I was actually worried it wasn't going to work because the glue didn't seem to spread around enough, but I gave it a huge squish and stuck it under a book and voila - this one came out perfect! So I think maybe I've conquered the air bubble monster!

If all goes well, I can finally expand my convention stall to including a few more things like this! It'll be nice having a little more variety on the table.

Speaking of conventions, my next con is DevCon in Plymouth on May 4th. What a great way to spend Star Wars Day! ;)

Every year, I try to buy Moose something extra special for special occasions. Sadly, he's not very easy to buy for at all, because his biggest interest is gaming and he generally buys anything he really wants himself before I get a chance. He's also not a huge fan of 'stuff', so whenever he actually wants something, it's usually very cool or unusual, which is why I bought him a Diggle plushie last Christmas.

Our game at the moment is League of Legends, and merchandise is still pretty thin on the ground, despite it being the biggest online game in the world right now. For a start, Riot hasn't cashed in on the huge phenomenon that is the Poro. Poros are fluffy little balls with huge tongues that bounce around the Howling Abyss map. They're adorable and silly and why Riot haven't made official merchandise of them yet is anybody's question.

I've had my heart set on making him a Poro for ages. Ideally I wanted to make a life-sized cuddly one, but while sewing skills continue to allude me, I figured I'd go back to basics and buy some Sculpey. I haven't messed around with modelling in years. As a kid, I used to make clay dragons and unicorns all the time (thanks to my family's collection of Enchantica) but it's not something I've really thought much about recently.

I'm really happy with my little Poro! I sadly accidentally spoiled the surprise for Moose by flipping through my phone's gallery and showing him a photo before I'd given it to him, though. :( But now he sits pride of place on the PC tower, waiting patiently for a Poro Snax.

I'm so happy with how this first figure came out, I'm considering making some to sell online and at conventions. I'm not sure how well figures sell (as opposed to jewellery/charms) but it can't hurt to try! I might also try making some of Lulu's cupcakes, too...