It's Finally Happening - About Upcoming Craft Shows

When one first starts a business, one often dreams of they day that the business takes off. It's scary, thrilling & impressive all at once.

When I started Nerd Jerk, I started referring to myself as a founder of a small business right away. Well, it started out as "Master of Geekery" but, hey, fake it til you make it, right?

Well, today was the day when I got back to congratulatory letters of acceptance to two of the three artist shows I've applied to.

EEP!

In a lot of the small business owner or craft business owner books that I've read so far, they prepare you for craft fairs & shows. I must admit that I've read the "What Happens When They Don't Pick Me" part a little more thoroughly than most "Masters of Geekery" since I wasn't sure how much of a market there was for my products.

I mean... I've got a LOT of products that I'm working on. It's scary to think of how many irons I have in various fires, really. But, as it turns out, there is a market for my products & there is a demand for quality crafts from people who have a passion for producing them!

Yay, Nerd Jerk! :D

The first artist fair that I'll be participating at as Nerd Jerk is Market SF. They're a new weekly market place for local artists to find patrons in the Mission, truly embodying the whole "Support Local Artists" spirit. I was approached by Christina from FinchDesignsSF as a potential vendor for Market SF. The first show is June 19th & since I'm currently working on a custom order, I couldn't realistically have enough inventory ready in time to make that deadline. But I'm going to be selling at the second show on June 26th at the Blue Macaw bar located at 2565 Mission Street (between 21st & 22nd) in San Francisco! If you're local & can make it, the show will be from 12 noon until 6 PM. It's an intimate venue with a DJ & drinks, guys. San Francisco weather has always been unusually kind to the Mission (especially in the summer), so please come down!


Also just in, I got a full table at SF Zinefest for Nerd Jerk & friends, so I'm pretty stoked about that. Jesse Reklaw of "Slow Wave" fame (and also recently one of my new personal heroes) is going to be the big baller artist there, so I'm pretty excited. He remembered me at Indy Euphoria 2010 in Sacramento in January from when I'd met him back at APE 09, so that's was pretty awesome. I owe him & his partner, Andrice Arp, some gifts from Nerd Jerk, so I'd better get on that before the show on September 4-5! :) I missed my last two deadlines of Christmas 09 & Groundhog's Day 2010.

Meh.

Anyway, it's all pretty exciting & exhausting thinking about it, but I'm hoping that I get a chance to REALLY work on my products & my brand and show just how bitchin' I can be.

Right after I finish this Cuddly Pyro from TF2, though. :) (I'll update pictures on this soon)

Doodles

I've been carrying around a little notebook to sketch out ideas for a while now and the only time I ever put pen or pencil to paper is when I'm bored at a restaurant! My boyfriend has a phone with which to search the internets & I got stuck with a "Note To Self" booklet that I draw in.

Well, at least it helps me try and come up with new design ideas.


One of the reasons I haven't finished the Nerdity Notebooks is because I couldn't figure out how to decently draw a Rockabilly Raccoon! It all sounds swell & dandy until you have a pencil handy!
(...balls)


And Pirate Turtle sounds sooooo much more awesome when you're got trying to do them in Ninja Turtle Style... but, you know.. like a PIRATE! hehe The original idea was to think of something rad & do the opposite. When I actually had the chance to make something, I got overwhelmed with all the possible ways I could frak it up.


This was my initial submission idea for the June issue of PAPERLINKS.oRG but since I couldn't figure out whether or not it was going to look right... and the fact that Urbandictionary.com told me what "junebuggin'" really was, I just never finished it. Plus, later on, my boyfriend pointed out that this was more like jitterbuggin'...


I was attempting to work out how to draw a cute vampire drinking from a juicebox (filled with blood) when I just couldn't get his look down. Instead, I started drawing aliens. And since they would do their best to blend in, my guess was that aliens would wanna look like they just stepped out of Urban Outfitters. Luckily, the clothes would all fit.


Drew a few more attempts at the Nerdtastic Flamingo today and when I failed, I ended up doing the next one on the list: Hipster Owl. But when Roger pointed out that hipsters are vegans, he added that it would be nice to show his support of the lifestyle by walking a mouse.
I spent a lot of time on that plaid. ;)

Good times.