I actually pulled off a cosplay of my own, though nothing as sophisticated as some of the ones I got to take photos of! I was Katara from Avatar: The Last Airbender on Friday and Saturday, and wore a lolita inspired outfit on Sunday.

We had a bit of a group going, although by that time we were running out of light and it was difficult to take many decent photos!

I have so much to learn about sewing and pattern making – this is the first time I drafted my own patterns, and although I’m pretty happy with the results it took a LONG time altogether. I really don’t know how people manage to put together those hardcore outfits!

The ChiGarden table

In terms of sales… well I had a better idea of what to expect after SMASH. An anime convention is definitely not the ideal place to sell (relatively) expensive, original, handmade items. A reasonable amount of my stuff sold, if at a significantly lowered price, and in the end I made enough profit to pay for my trip over to Melbourne. I think I’ll be sticking to handmade markets from now on, but I’d say it was definitely a worthwhile experience. If nothing else, at least Sam and I managed to hand out the rest of my 250 pack of business cards!

What really had selling at Manifest fun was hanging with Sam, Lisa and Cathy at our table and our fabulous table neighbours! On one side we had the fabulous Adre-es (I’m sorry I’ve managed to forget your real name!) and her friend Clea.

Lolita table neighbours!

And on the other side we had the very talented Ms Rósek and her posse.

We are so high fashion.

Meeting new and interesting people and catching up with old friends is why people really go to events like this, and I feel like I really lucked out in that respect!

I’ve only ever had the chance to take a few hurried photos of friends in cosplay before, and I like to think my photography skills have improved a little since then. This time we had four photographers and something like ten cosplayers for about 4 hours in a pretty cool location, and despite my lack of confidence I think we all worked off each other really well and came away with some pretty cool shots!

The cosplayers were absolutely fantastic – from my own dabbling with sewing and cosplay I have some idea of how much work goes into a costume, and these ones are pretty damn detailed with some really impressive craftsmanship. Everyone was also really patient with explaining their characters to me, as I’m not familiar with the series, and coming up with cool poses.

I think I’m getting better at overcoming my shyness and just chatting with people I’ve only just met. Not like we have nothing in common, we’re all geeks! It really helped to talk to the other photographers and draw from their ideas and experiences – I would probably have been a bit lost if I was working on my own.

I did make the mistake of not getting everyone’s contact details though, so I’m not really sure how I’m going to share these photos with them! I think some have my card, so maybe they’ll stumble across this site…

A massive thanks to everyone involved, I had so much fun and learned so much! If anyone is interested, the rest of the photos can be viewed on Flickr and Facebook. If any cosplayers want higher res or non-watermarked versions of the photos, please get in touch, I’d be happy to supply them.

First up, the main reason I went to Sydney for SMASH – to sell my crafty items at a table with Sam!

Myself and Sam, looking very tired after a day of selling

I have to admit, I was severely under prepared for this event. Some important bits and pieces I realised I needed at the last minute were ordered too late; I didn’t have time to make any prints or illustration based work; I left some important things (like little envelopes for people to take their purchases away in!) back in Canberra; Sam and I were madly sorting things out at 2am the night before.

With all that, I think that I actually got a pretty good response considering the terrible disorganisation! The anime convention crowd is very different to the handmade market crowd, which is something I should probably have anticipated and been less disappointed when I had to halve most of my prices in order for them to sell. In the end I sold most of my stuff but just barely broke even with travel expenses, which was a little disheartening but definitely a worthwhile experience.

I think one area that I let myself down was presentation, which was hurriedly put together and didn’t end up giving a very professional appearance to my work. It’s definitely something that I’ll be working on in time for my table at Manifest in just over a week.

I wish I’d had time to check out the rest of the convention as there were some excellent international guest artists and interesting sounding panels, but even when I went to walk around I felt too burnt out from the late night before to really do too much. I spent a lot of time sitting at our table eating jellybeans and chatting with our table buddies.

Table buddies George and Patrick

Definitely a lot of food for thought from this convention, and I’m hoping to iron out some of the issues before the next one!

Of course it wouldn’t be a convention if there wasn’t a mad rush to get things completed in time for it, right down to the last second. I’ve given up on the idea of sewing a costume in time, but since I’ve ended up making more things to sell instead I’m just as busy! Here’s what I’ve been working on this weekend:

Clay macarons!

Shrooms in many colours

More shrooms

Something to display them in

More bits in progress coming soon!

Just finished designing button badges! The top row are some of the original batch I did a couple of years ago, and the rest are new. My favourite is the red teapot – definitely going to be keeping one of those for myself. I’m hoping to get these in time to sell at Manifest, but unfortunately I’ve taken longer than anticipated with these designs so I’m not sure they’ll be ready. They will be available to order online through this blog though, so look forward to them coming soon!

Big Tart

Today I spent working on more bits and pieces to sell at a few upcoming events – here’s a quick peek at one of the items, also strawberry tart!

Little Tart

This little dude was made with polymer clay and is roughly a centimeter in diameter. Interestingly I ended up ‘blind baking’ the bases and adding the strawberries after, similar to doing an actual tart.

To give you an idea of how I do these and how long and fiddly they can be, here’s how I make them:

• mix yellow, brown and white polymer clay until it’s the colour of golden brown pastry
• form them into balls then flatten into discs
• use a round tool to push an indent into the middle, mark the edges
• lightly tap the clay with a toothbrush to create a subtle texture
• use pliers to twist wire into a loop, push into tart base (without squishing it)
• bake for a short amount of time
• form tiny strawberries from red clay by pinching the edges of little balls
• use a pin to lightly indent ‘seeds’ on the tiny strawberries
• take base out of the oven and arrange strawberries artfully
• bake for a bit longer to set strawberries
• [yet to do] brush with matte/satin varnish on the base, glossy on the strawberries to look like glaze
• add jump ring and put onto necklace/earrings/phone charm etc.

So as you can see you have to be somewhat mad to make them in the first place, let alone make then in large quantities in order to sell for a paltry sum that barely covers the cost of materials. Lucky for you I am just that mad, so come along and buy one!

At SMASH in Sydney I’ll have a small table with the incredibly talented and fellow creative everythinger Sam. Check out our stuff on Saturday 7th August at Sydney Town Hall!

At Manifest in Melbourne I’ll be sharing a table with Sam and fabulous Perth artist Risachantag – these guys are crazy talented, so even if my stuff isn’t your cup of tea please come take a look at their artwork and you’ll definitely be blown away. We’ll be there on Friday 20th – Sunday 22nd August at the Melbourne Showgrounds, so come say hello!

Yet to be confirmed, but I’ve put in an application to sell solo at the Canberra Handmade Market in December 2010, so I’m going to be busily making things like crazy for the next few months.

I’ll be making a lot of the stuff I’ve made previously with a few new bits a pieces – here’s a few things I’ve made before to get you excited:

I’ll be posting up some pics of my progress in making things to sell, as well as the costume(s) that I’ll (hopefully!) finish in time for these conventions. Stay tuned!