Supermeow!

The clock is ticking and I am in a mad dash to complete the stuff that I’d like to sell at my table in the Anime Boston 2011 Artists’ Alley. I realized that I’ve been talking about this Artists’ Alley but haven’t really explained what it is. For the benefit of those who may not be familiar with such terms as “Artists’ Alley,” this is a room set aside at Anime Boston for artists to sell their wares. They might have comics, prints, small plush stuffed pals, hair accessories, whatever. It’s sort of like a craft fair, actually, but split pretty evenly between people selling 2D and 3D artworks. Me, I’m more 2D: I do most of my drawing in Adobe Illustrator and print things out at home on various substrates (substrate is not a word that I have reason to use often enough and really like the sound of, so I’m using it now).  I did have buttons made/packaged for me (as previously mentioned). Right now, I’m approaching the finish line: I’ve got most of my stuff made/printed/packaged, I’ve got buttons, I’ve got a cash box, I’ve just sewn the first thing that I’ve sewn in about five years (a tablecloth with surprisingly straight seams and very few other mistakes, this is a first for me), and I have stuff to use for displaying my wares. What I don’t have are not-specifically-identified-as-Sailor-Moon paper dolls, both paper and on magnetic sheets.

The last thing to really hold me up in making stuff to sell at the convention is the prospect of wasting five sheets of magnetic inkjet paper that I bought for the purpose of making paper dolls. Why terrified? Because I’ve not gotten the hang of my Silhouette SD digital cutting machine just yet, or I’ve not gotten the hang of it when using the optional plugin for Illustrator. You’re supposed to be able to print something with registration marks, load it into the Silhouette, have the Silhouette read the registration marks, and then output a piece of paper with perfectly cut-out shapes. Sometimes, the machine reads my registration marks, and sometimes it doesn’t and spits the paper back at me, citing a “port read error.” If it does cut, then the cuts aren’t lined up properly to the printed-out images. I’ve not yet figured it out, even after reading a bit about this plugin online (but I do know that other people have the same issue, at least). Despite that, the Silhouette is just a neat, neat toy. You can cut out all sorts of fun stuff, even fabric! Man, if I was into quilts, I’d go bananas  with this. Even just being into fun paper, I’m sort of paralyzed by the infinite options available to me. So far, I’ve used it to cut out letters for my AA table banner (hint: it says “Supermeow!”on it and involves a lot of orange glittered paper). Other things we’re thinking about: vinyl wall decals, stencils, t-shirts, more fun-cut paper, who knows, really. Like I said, the infinite possibilities are so many and so vast that it kind of paralyzes you. I’m just sort of caught up in this paper doll conundrum right now. 🙁

To be continued later this week…