One of my deepest sins while in the artist alley was forging a relationship with Artscow and getting lots of random product made with various designs. While the ideas were cute and I loved everything I made, the sad truth was back in the late 2000s I could not sell most of my stock xD.
Since then I’ve tried to avoid situations whereby I get stuck with leftover stock. As I started shifting to ff14 fan goods, I have tried to keep to low risk runs of 10 charms here or there. I’ve also kept to print on demand as a mainstay (since I don’t pay until the item is ordered).
That said, I am an avid avid collector and patron of artists in the community . Still, haven’t seen a lot of pins out there for specific characters. I decided that my collection needed rounding out, so decided to venture out and make a few designs that I knew I wanted for myself.
These designs reflect different facets of the villain/antihero that I felt I wanted to portray. Given the positive response from various friends and fan communities, I decided to take a risk and work with a middleman who had good standing in the alley community and order a limited amount of both. Committing to that minimum number though was SCARY. That’s a lot of capital to put into an unknown situation xD.
It’s been nervewracking waiting to see the results — there’s a handmade aspect to how they’re put together and it can result in some less than perfect results. Thankfully, this batch turned out well. While I may be phasing out of charms and stickers, I’ll be looking to do more pins in the future. Keep an eye on my Twitter!
The Swann Lodge 