Everfree Happened! (Patreon)

Wow! Wow wow wow.

The most preparation of the year always begins several months before Everfree Northwest, the now-largest pony convention in the world, located in Seattle, Washington. The trip begins with several thousand dollars worth of merchandise orders, a lot of late nights perfecting the new designs, and then several more sleepless nights packaging everything. And somehow, the actual suitcase packing never seems to happen until the day before.

This year, I already had quite a few brand new merchandise pieces in. Three game mat designs, various keycap sets, AND the Storybook keyboard set were all brand new items that had not been sold at a convention yet, and they had already arrived at the end of July/beginning of August. So I was several weeks ahead in terms of item planning. Should I keep drawing, and make yet another piece for EFNW? After all, Lauren Faust had been announced, and surely people would be raving for a piece with her.

I all but finished this piece, to be made into a large afghan blanket. But the design didn't end up tickling the right parts of my brain, so I ultimately gave up on the project. Maybe I'll play around with this for later.

Instead, it was time to focus on the other new items! And to come up with a display! As I was packaging my items, I decided not to include any stragglers in my inventory this time: no leftover acrylic or pillow keychains, no lens cloths, no postcards. Not even my big ol' stickerbook/display that I love so much. I was going to focus on my new sellers.

Haha, I didn't realize how blurry this photo came out. When I sketch my booth layout, I always take a photograph so I'll have a digital copy handy in case I lose the sketchbook. This was what I gave myself to work with for Everfree. One panel of gridwall, with only display filling up my second booth spot. Thank goodness I had a double booth this year, because this merch took up every inch of it!

For the first time in years, I forgot to get a normal photo of my booth! I don't have anything of the other side, but here's one a new friend was kind enough to take for me after the big Friday rush..so a lot of the items are already gone, and my facial muscles are so so tired.

The new pros/cons I'm facing with this stock is this:

Game mats seem very versatile. They're floppy and don't crinkle or warp. The designs are eye-catching and large, so they can effectively take the place of posters as a display of one's work. And they are a higher ticket item, filling that price gap in your booth. However, they take up a lot of width on display. Like posters, they need to be hung somewhere so people can take in the full design, and they can easily be missed. If they're displayed flat, as I came to realize, people will put things on them, lean up or rest on them, ignoring them as they take in the rest of the booth.

And most of all, they're heavy!! How can such a thin item be so heavy? In comparison to my keycap set, which is a bulkier but lightweight item, I easily reached 50 pounds in each suitcase with only a handful of each item. As a result, I packed way too few of both my game mats and keycap sets, and sold out of most everything by Saturday morning. It's a good problem to have! Is this what plushie artists feel like, seeing your booth empty out entirely? With how exhausted I was on Saturday, I was entertaining the idea of packing up early and going into hibernation for all of Sunday. Zzzz.

But yes, it was still a very successful vending experience! I love seeing people's reactions to my items and getting feedback. It's nice to be able to rotate items in and out on a whim, to learn bits and pieces about packaging, marketing, material types and so on, while being able to draw whatever I want (with hooves).

I need to come up with a vertical (or diagonal?) game mat display for the future.......

Anyway, I had a great time! I often invite my family to this event; it's a family-friendly convention with a healthy atmosphere (if you ignore the furry drug parties), and I like to hire my mother to help me with large events. She's a beast at this stuff! Many people know MomPremiere, and there are always frequent friends who come find us every year just to say hi to her :) Mom, I will one day learn your social skills...!

We had some great Horsin' Around server hangouts! The hotel has a few good donut spots nearby, so for our Breakfast Club this year, Swift Sketch and Tylor were kind enough to grab some donuts from Top Pot & Voodoo Donuts. And there were several lobbycons in the quiet nook by the fireplace :)

There was a fun BABSCon in memoriam celebration as well :D

And skateboarding! (I don't have any photos, darn) I had a quick lesson outside, at night, on a whim. That's a safe thing for an inflexible lady with post concussion syndrome, right? If anyone saw me limping the day after....no you didn't >w>;;;;

I love seeing everyone so much!! I wish I had enough energy to stay up all night and chat. It's always great catching up with people and living vicariously through your adventures, your discoveries, the ups and downs and ups again. I hope you all had safe travels home, and minimal con crud! I'm definitely still riding a train of inspiration.

Huzzah! See you in the next one!