Polaris 2024 Haul and some food for thought (Patreon)

Hey guys, just a quick personal post, I'm happy to say I actually managed to go to the Polaris convention this weekend after all :D Literally on the LAST DAY and with friends too! We managed to snatch some tickets for half the price and...then we very quickly used up the money we saved for all the merch that stole our hearts xD

Merch I bought was from reyhansartwork, Sandy Geist and Chowlie.art :D The Kirby-bee is from my friend Hanyuu, the other stickers I got randomy gifted.

I had such a great time!! The universe really granted me my wish of feeling fit and energized for exactly ONE day 😂 I was fully expecting to spend at max 2-3 hours at the con before I'd be completely DRAINED and would have to go back home, but instead I was there for the ENTIRE afternoon till the very end, even helped with friends to pack up our pal's booth and then we all went out for dinner!

NOW I'm completely done for but WHAT A DAY!!! I had SO much fun 😂 This was literally the first time I ever went to a Convention as a regular visitor and I fully soaked up the atmosphere and took a good look at everyone's booth, getting some inspiration for the variety of products one could offer. I can DEFINITELY write this off for tax purposes LMAO

TBH That actually was my intention going there, I DID want to get a picture of the place and if I could imagine signing up there next year. The fact that friends and mutuals were actually vendoring there at the same time was just a HUGE bonus :D

The only thing that's a bit sub-optimal is the lighting of the hall and that apparently you have to pay caution money to drive a vehicle onto the site to pack out your stuff?? WTF?? I hope they get rid of that next year, that's just mind-boggling...

Also something I realized while browsing through all the merch is that us artist produce a shitton of plastic waste...which is not great and not something I want to accidentally participate in with my merch 🥲

Like, I understand the appeal of having custom packaging, how PROFESSIONAL it makes you feel to have your merch additonally neatly wrapped in plastic with a nice sticker on it, presentable on your booth...but is it necessary? I definitely didn't need my Keychains or BOOKMARKS to be wrapped in plastic when they can just as much hang from a standee, besides of the fact that I will literally immediately put them OUT of the wrapping the moment I buy them...

Should I openly address this?
I feel like I need to address this.
I feel like us artists, as a community, are making a TERRIBLE mistake by blindly participating in the production of plastic waste when we can easily use paper packaging and paper bags instead. There's SO many easy solutions for making merch presentable WITHOUT using plastic.

And this actually goes for keychains and acrylic standees too if I'm being completely honest, there are environmental friendly alternatives, you CAN order a lot of these products made out of wood instead.
I mean, those products are all made out of HARD PLASTIC. That stuff is INCREDIBLY hard to recycle. IF it ever actually finds its way into recycling, which its chances are very slim. And I've heard of people very quickly LOSING their keychains yesterday. If nobody finds them, they end up in the trash.
And then it'll all just end up in the ocean if we're not being careful.

Maybe I'm sounding super dramatic right now, but NOBODY seems to be thinking about the impacts of the use of plastic for their business. I understand we all have to make a living and there's definitely plastic we CANNOT avoid using, but I, personally, would try to see where I am able to avoid it.
I keep making the mistake of thinking we're all actively thinking about the environment, because it is part of my work with the nature books I am writing...but reality is, most of us still DON'T think about it and to a degree I can also understand why.

A lot of people just don't think about it because they have their own worries, because they have their own individual business and think of themselves as an individual in a unique situation, like hey, I'm just ONE person making my little charms and putting them in neat little wrappers, I won't make much of a difference in the great picture

...

And then you have a hall of HUNDREDS of artists thinking the same.
With thousands of plastic products making their rounds into the world

I saw a custom GACHA machine at one booth. HUNDREDS OF LITTLE PLASTIC BALLS AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH

So yeah just some...some food for thought

I think we can do better than this