The Best of 2011

Here is our list of the top ten shows we did this year, in order of net profit.

1.       Folk-fest St. Pete

St Petersburg, FL

2.       Inman Park

Atlanta, GA

3.       A-kon

Dallas, TX

4.       Crafty Feast

Columbia, SC

5.       NYAF

New York, NY

6.       2^nd Most Awesome

Louisville, KY

7.       Chatty Crafty-December

Chattanooga, TN

8.       Handmade Market

Raleigh, NC

9.       Nashicon

Columbia, SC

10.   Indie Craft Parade

Greenville, SC

Not surprisingly, several local and nearby shows made it, because we didn't have that much expense in it.  If I did this list by gross profit, it would look different.  Also surprising is that 4 out of 5 of our furthest traveling shows (8 hours or more) still made the top ten.  Which proves our theory that traveling around the country to do shows is WORTH IT!  We hope to return to all ten of these shows in 2012. 

Show Report- December

We only had one show in December:  Chatty Crafty

This is the 3rd time we've done this show, and this time it ended up being one of the better shows of the year.  Back in June, we didn't have much luck here, and weren't sure why.  This time we ended up finding a collector, which really helped turn the whole show around.  I was immensely surprised that we didn't sell any dolls, and only sold a few of our Christmas ornaments, but I'm very glad that we finished out the year on a positive note.

Show Report- November

Chomp and Stomp
A chili cookoff/bluegrass festival in Atlanta.   Joe got to try a good bit of the chili, but by the time I tried to get around, most of it is gone.  It goes FAST!  And the festival is packed with people.  Most were there for the food and music, so we didn't make a ton here, but it would be a great festival to come to.  I have to say, the organizers were sticklers for details, and ran a tight ship of loading in and setting up.

The same weekend as Chomp and Stomp, we went to the opening reception of the Day of the Dead Show at Young Blood Gallery.  Joe had two coffins in the show.  We have never seen such a large reception.  The entire place was packed so we could hardly move around.  And they had a band outside, so the entire parking lot was packed as well.  It was amazing to see so many art supporters out, and it made us wish Columbia galleries could draw the same crowds. 
















Pleasant Hill Elementary craft show

This one is unusual for us, as we don't do school shows.  We generally don't fit in to the atmosphere, some of Joe's stuff is decidedly not for kids, and I really take issue with having to compete with Avon and Pampered Chef.  That being said, this is where our niece goes to school, so she enjoys having us there.  We did this show last year and did better than we thought, and we did about the same this year.  Plus we had picked up a few fans, which always makes us feel special! 










Indie Craft Experience
At this point in the year, this is our 6th show in Atlanta and I feel like we might as well just move here.  This was our first time at ICE, and we enjoyed it.  I didn't know the area well, but some said the building was in a bad part of town.  There seemed to be a crowd pretty much nonstop in the building, however.  This was another show where they gave shoppers tote bags, which is an awesome idea!
We saw a ton of our friends here and did pretty well too.

Show Report- October

October was a good month for us.  We filled every weekend with shows.

Folk-Fest St. Pete

Held in St. Petersbug, FL, this has been our best show for the last two years.  We love this show!  The atmosphere is great, the music is awesome, the other artists are fun and laid back.  This year, we were one of the three featured artists at the show. 
We met Matt Deterior, another amazing artist there, and did an art trade.  Check out his work!
 St. Petersburg really has a wonderful art community with excellent local support.

New York Comic Con/Anime Fest
Again this year we were on the Anime Fest side of the convention.  Next year we are definitely making the switch to the Comic side.  We did well and beat our 2010 sales, but it was nothing like the ComicCon side.  Several people made comments to us that we would have fit in better over there, and we have to agree.








Little 5 Points Halloween Fest
This was a one day show in Atlanta, which was fun and somewhat profitable.  We had a few drunk annoying people in our tent toward the end of the night, but that happens.


Trillum Arts Festival
We went to this little show on the recommendation of an artist we had met at a different show.  Held in Traveler's Rest, SC, we figured it was near enough to be a day trip and wasn't very expensive.  Well, it didn't much pay off.  Traveler's Rest seems to have an older, conservative population, which doesn't usually work our well for our stuff.  Good music and nice people, though.

Show Report- September

In September, we only had one craft show and one gallery show. 


Indie Craft Parade is a indie show in Greenville, SC.  We were really thrilled to be accepted this year since they are very selective.  The show is run excellently, with music, food, wine, gourmet coffee, and amazing talent.  The organizers were all very nice and helpful, and we enjoyed the show a lot.  They had a VIP ticket holder night on Friday, which we thought was a great idea to draw interest.  The rest of the weekend it was pretty busy.  We had heard that this was a big money making show the last time they ran it, so I think we had our expectations high.  We did well there, but didn't hit our goal for the weekend.
The biggest thing that bothered us at this show was that we had to apply in two categories: one for art and one for the plushies.  We got judged in each category, and they only accepted the art work, so we had to leave half our inventory at home.  I think that hurt our sales a bit.  Regardless, we hope to be back next year with ALL our stuff!

On Sept. 17, we did a one night gallery showing at Cafe Chartier/The Watershed in Lexington, SC.  The Chartiers are a wonderful couple who let us come in and take over the space with all of our artwork.  Throughout the night, they provided awesome treats like sopapilla cheesecake danish and italian sodas.  It was a fun event with a pretty good turnout and we hope to do another one soon. 

Upcoming Gallery Shows

So, if you're a fan of us on facebook, you've already heard most of this.  But here's a little more information for you guys.

September 17 is Lower Than Lowbrow, a solo show at Cafe Chartier in Lexington, SC.  We'll have tons of paintings, prints, and plushies.  There's going to be live music, and we also will be doing some Q&A about our craft.  Extra bonus: the show is part of a charity function, so if you bring a pair of gently used shoes to donate, you could walk away with an original painting.













September 24, Joe is doing a group show at Art Bar here in Columbia called Art Bar Agora.  It is a really cool place and we're excited to be part of this show. There will be something like 20 local artists there as well as local bands.  Coming to the art show is free, and going inside to see the bands has a small cover fee.




October 6 is the opening reception for Cartoon Violence/Cartoon Love, a solo show that will hang for a month at S&S Art Supply on Main St.  It's part of First Thursdays on Main, a monthly gallery crawl in town.  There will be drinks and snacks.  We've also decided to hold our book release party in conjunction with the gallery opening, so it will be an extra fun night!





Nov. 5 is the opening reception of the Day of the Dead show at Young Blood gallery in Atlanta, GA.  Each artist gets one or two coffins to paint up for the show.  It looks totally awesome. 

Hope to see some of you guys out at these shows!

Show Reports- August

Only did two shows this month, so this will be a very brief post. 




SLAM!  Saturday local art market in Greenville, SC is a market they've started doing every Saturday this year.  It's still new, and therefore not extremely busy.  We decided to try SLAM a few weekends to fill in some gaps.  I think we will be going back once or twice more.  It was very small, but these things take time to get well known.  Regardless, we got to meet some nice people and see some friends while we were in town, so it was worth it.

Grant Park Summer Shade Festival

Oh boy.  This was supposed to be a BIG show, so it was a disappointment, even though we still did decent.  The issue I had with it was the organization.  They took so long getting back to us to tell us if we were in the show, and I had to hound them for a week before they would return my phone calls or emails.  They had a lot of rules about the color and type of tent you could use, which they then didn't enforce.  There was no vendor parking, so we had to fight with everyone else to get a spot in the morning.  They came around once the entire weekend to provide small bottles of water for the venders (the water wasn't even cold, so ew.)  I guess we've been spoiled by smaller shows where the organizers go to great lengths to make the vendors happy. 
     We knew several of the other vendors at the show, and after talking to everyone, the general consensus was that this was usually a top notch show and it was just a bad year for whatever reason.  We're not sure if we'll be back next year, as it was a rather expensive show to do. 

Kickstarter, Undefined magazine, and new shows

We have some great news!  Our kickstarter project was fully funded, so we are progressing forward with our book Tales of Wonk and Woe.  We couldn't be happier!  Kickstarter doesn't let us touch the money for 2 weeks, so after that and turnaround time on the printing, we expect the book to be out towards the end of September.  We are also planning to have a release party for the book at S&S Art Supply, but we are still ironing out details for that.  A HUGE thank you to everyone who donated or shared the link!

We just did an interview for Undefined magazine, South Carolina's arts mag.  The next issue comes out Sept. 1. The interview lasted about 2 hours and we also did a photoshoot.  It was a lot of fun and we can't wait to see the article.  I think the interviewer did a good job of splitting the focus between our dolls and Joe's artwork. We are really excited about this!

Our next show is SLAM!  in Greenville, SC.  SLAM! is something that happens in Greenville every Saturday through October, so we hope to be able to attend this show a few more times.
After that, we will be at Triple 7 Studios in Chattanooga, TN on August 26 for a group gallery show premiere, and the following two days staying in Atlanta for the Grant Park Summer Shade Festival.  I think that about wraps up our August schedule.




We also have just been asked to do a one night gallery showing on September 17 at Cafe Chartier in Lexington, SC.  Cafe Chartier is holding a shoe drive during the day, and everyone who brings a pair of shoes will have a chance to win an original painting!  More info on this as it gets closer. 

Show reports- July

Freedom Fest- July 4th show

This went better than last year, seemed a lot more people came out to it.  Too bad it ended in a horrible downpour.  We scrambled to pack up and had to miss the fireworks this year. 

The Big Crafty
We had done the holiday show before, but this is the big one!  It was so huge I didn't even begin to see it all!  There were a ton of awesome vendors there, many we knew, and many we're glad to have gotten the chance to see.  We unfortunately got stuck in a far corner of the show, so I think location played into how well the show went for us.  As always, free beer and great food!

Virginia Lake Festival
A one day craft show amidst a 3 day festival in Clarksville, VA (on the water) boasting 100,000 attendees!  With the sheer numbers we felt we couldn't go wrong.  The show ended up being much more traditional that what we usually do, so our stuff sort of stuck out from the rest.  Regardless, it was a good day, although we're not sure if we will go back to it. 

Otakon
One of the largest anime conventions in America.  We had done very well last year at this show and were really excited to come back and bring our paintings and prints with us.  Joe was also able to put several pieces into the art show.  We unfortunately had a lot of difficulty getting a table this year, and when we finally got one, we had missed a day and a half of sales, and also were placed in the very very back facing the back wall.  Nevertheless, we managed to about equal what we made last year, and Joe sold 6 original pieces!  We saw a lot of awesome friends and artists from other conventions and had a lot of people remember us from last year, which is always cool.  We plan to only come back to this show if we can get a table early, though. 

Tales of Wonk and Woe

Our book is mostly finished at this point, which is awesome! We have decided to title it Tales of Wonk and Woe: A Children's Book for Adults

However, the cost of printing is rather large, so we have decided to start a kickstarter project.
The way kickstarter works is you pledge money, and receive gifts in return.  If enough people pledge, we get the money and you get your goodies.  But if we don't raise $1k in a month, we get zilch.  So please, please, share this anywhere you can think of.

A donation entitles you to many gifts, including exclusive merchandise, first run signed copies of the book, and even original artwork from the book. 
The minimum pledge is only $1!  

Check out our project here: Tales of Wonk and Woe

We believe in our fan base, and we thank you so so much for supporting us.  We wouldn't even be doing this without you!

Show Reports- June

A-kon
Wow!  We were thrilled with how well A-kon went.  We definitely weren't as prepared as we should have been.  We spent every night in the hotel working on more dolls, so by the end of the con, we were zombies.  But it was worth it!  This was our best convention ever, and was about $20 away from being our best show of all time.












Chatty Crafty
A wonderfully organized show with a bevy of incredible vendors.  There were a ton of people we knew, so it was great to see familiar faces and meet new people.  The weather was iffy all weekend, which I think kept people away.  It wasn't as crowded as it should have been.  We also unfortunately had to break down early on Sunday due to a massive storm coming through.  Breaking down in a thunderstorm = no fun.  :(

New shows and exciting news!

We just added 5 new shows to our events page, so go check them out.  We're trying to fill up our fall/winter schedule.  Also waiting to hear back from a few more juried shows, so we will post those when we find out. 

Joe is scheduled to be in two upcoming gallery shows:  one is a group show at Triple 7 Studios in Chattanooga, TN in August.  The other will be his first solo show!  It will be held through the month of October at S&S Art Gallery here in Columbia, SC.  Both shows will feature new paintings.

So, as some of you might know, we've been trying to pull together a storybook of our characters for quite some time.  Well, we finally buckled down, and the book is very close to being done.  It will feature 20 stories, all illustrated, as well as adding in some new characters!  We are so thrilled about this project and expect to have it ready to sell by the beginning of October.

Here's a sneak peek at an illustration of a new character:

Show reports- May

Here are the show reports for the shows we did in May

Art-B-Que
A smaller, funkier art festival in Avondale Estates, GA.  A lot of the same artists that did Inman Park were here.  Great vibe, good art and music, good barbeque, but not much profit.  Oh well.  We made some friends, but we're not sure if we'll be back next year. 

FinsterFest
Named for Rev. Howard Finster, the folk artist, and held on his estate in Summerville, GA.  Never heard of it?  Yeah, we're not surprised.  It's a very small town with not much in it.  Paradise Gardens (Finster's home) is incredible if you're into art.  He basically transformed everything he could into a work of art.
The show started really really slow.  The first day we were set up way in the back, with barely any traffic.  The second day, however, they let us move our tent over to the front side, which helped us out a lot.  It ended up being a decent show overall, but we probably won't return next year.
Best thing about the show:  Thee Inner Cirkus performed!  Check out a video I took here:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Q33rkXcV-8

Who-Fest
Was waaaaayyy too hot.  We were miserable throughout the show, and I think the heat kept people away, because there was very little traffic.  After having a good experience at this show last year, we were disappointed in it this year.

Abbreviated show reports- April

It's been hard for us to keep up these long show reports since we're constantly doing shows.  Not to mention I don't know if they're actually useful to anyone.  So I'm just going to start doing abbreviated show reports at the end of each month, and if anyone wants any more info on a show, just send us a message.

Here's the rest of our shows from April:

Crafty Feast at Indie Grits
Wow.  This was our best 1 day show to date.  Amazing considering that the weather was awful all day.  If it wasn't pouring down raining, the wind was blowing over our tent and merchandise.  But a huge crowd came out, and I think a lot of it had to do with the film festival.  I really hope Crafty Feast continues to be held alongside Indie Grits.



The Handmade Market
Has been a great show both times we've gone, and we hope to continue going back.  There is always a crowd, and always a great mix of artists.  It's indoors, so no weather worries.  A pretty good one day show.  I think the traffic is slightly higher for the holiday show, but we made about the same both times.  The Handmaidens are so helpful and always around if you need anything.
Best thing about this show:  they give out free tote bags to attendees and encourage them to fill them up!  This really promotes buying.
Worst thing: the tables are super cramped!  I think we are just used to having our big spacious tent.  Next time we are going to try to get a booth space instead of a table. 

Inman Park Festival

Holy crap, this show was awesome.  Our best show ever, profit wise.  Not neccesarily our favorite show (lots of resellers, street festival feel instead of indie arts and crafts) but we will certainly come back.  The festival is overwhelmingly huge, with a juried and non juried section.  Hint:  don't bother trying to get into the juried section unless you're very experienced.  (we got that hint before we went.  Thanks, Brooke!)
It's the same price, and I can't imagine that the juried section got much more traffic.

Show Report- The World's 2nd Most Awesome Art Show

The World's 2nd Most Awesome Art show is in Louisville, KY.  This was only their second year doing this show, but honestly, with a name like that, we took the risk of traveling all that way.  And it paid off!

Specs:

April 1-3
Cost of table: $75
Juried: yes
Tables/chairs provided: no
Indoor/outdoor: indoor
Attendance: 2000
Profit: high

Pros
-A great variety of artists.  painters, graffiti artists, digital artists, mixed media, jewelry, plush makers, clothing and accessories, sculptures, even a confectioner.  Pretty much a bit of everything

-Everyone there was a really high quality artist.  It was amazing how many great people were together in one space. Some might worry this would add to the level of competition, but we feel like when everyone is really good, it raises the caliber of the entire show.

-Another great thing about the artists there was that everyone had a cohesive style.  The jurying team did a really fantastic job, because no one looked out of place.  We all meshed really well together, which is something that a lot of shows can't seem to get right.  This also helped the "mood" of the show, because people knew that this was a hip show right when they walked in the door.

-The show was 3 days, and the first day coincided with "First Friday", a gallery hop in Louisville.  Apparently they have trolleys that take people from gallery to gallery.  It was great to get all the traffic from that.

-There was a lot of gallery owner support.  We must have had 5 different gallery owners talk to us about putting our stuff in a gallery, and we were actually able to put some pieces in Revelry Gallery while we were in town.  

-The staff was incredible.  They did so many nice things for the vendors, such as having coffee and donuts in the morning and letting everyone bring in a playlist of music to play during the show.  They even gathered us all together before Sunday started to have a little powwow about next year, and we got to toss ideas around.  We really could tell they wanted this show to be great for everyone.

-The location was great.  It was pretty much the first building when you got off the interstate.  Easy to find, and right in a central location.  The building also had other galleries and shops in it.

Cons
-The show hours weren't the greatest, but that was something that was discussed for next year.

-The space we were in had bad lighting.  If we had known, we would have brought some clip on lights for our display.  A lot of people had brought lights with them, and half of the room had glass windows, so it was really only bad for the people right around us.

-The spaces were really tight.  We were smushed right up to the people beside and behind us.  Again, this was only an issue for half the people there, as the other half were against walls.

Overall, a great show that we fully intend to go back to.  It seems that all of the cons we found were issues already being addressed by the staff for next year, so we expect it to only get better!

Show Report- Nashicon 2011

Nashicon is an anime convention here in Columbia, SC.  It's one I've been going to for a few years now, and every year it gets better.  This was our second time vending at this show.  It's put on by Club Nashi, the anime club at USC.  They've been having it on campus since it started, but I believe that next year they are planning to move it to a hotel or convention center since it's getting too big for the student center.

Specs:

March 19-20
Cost of table: $10
Juried: no
Tables/chairs provided: yes
Indoor/outdoor: indoor
Attendance: 1000
Profit: high

Pros
-This year, they reconfigured the artist alley so that it was on the first floor and right across from the dealer's room.  It took up three rooms, which they named Artist Ally, Artist Neutral, and Artist Axis.  (Hetalia!)  The positioning really helped our sales, and it helped not having to lug everything up the stairs.

-The attendance was up a few hundred from last year, and I feel that it will only continue to increase.  Lauren, the con chair, and all her staff do a great job.

-Speaking of the staff, throughout the show, they were completely accessible and helpful, even willing to watch tables if someone needed to step away.  And the con chair wasn't a ghost like at most shows; she was walking around and talking to people the whole time.

-The hours of the show were very good, and we were able to stay open as late as we wanted.  There was security, so we could leave our stuff overnight, too.

-There was a good variety of panels and activities at the convention.

-We had a lot of fan support!  It was really nice to see a lot of people from last year who met us or bought from us, and still wanted more.  That always makes us feel good.

Cons

-The artist alley had repetition:  a lot of fan art, and quite a few other plushie makers.  But without a juried show, there's no way to stop this, and it didn't really seem to affect our sales, so eh...

-The dealer's room was awful!  Barely any dealers, and the ones that were there all had the same stuff.  Not to mention about half of them packed up early.  I think that's the one thing that could seriously be worked on for this show.  What about Heroes and Dragons?  They have awesome stuff and are in town, and I see them vending at tons of shows.

-There wasn't a separate artist/dealer check in.  We were lucky and since we were carrying tons of crap, Lauren let us set up before getting our badges, but I don't think it would have been difficult to have badges on the tables, or at least a separate check in station. 

This is a con we enjoy a lot, and for us the profit has been pretty high because we have no travel costs, no hotel costs, no gas costs, and the table is so cheap.
As long as we're living in Columbia, we will keep going to this one.
I would only suggest vending if you live fairly close, as it's still a small con.  But it is a ton of fun to attend!

Show Report- Con Nooga 2011

Con-Nooga is a multi-genre convention in Chattanooga, TN.  It's held at the Chattanooga Choo Choo, an awesome hotel that actually has train cars for rooms.  We didn't actually get to stay there, though.  (Part of being a starving artist is cutting costs on hotels).

Specs:

Feb. 18-20
Cost of table: $100
Juried: no
Tables/chairs provided: yes
Indoor/outdoor: indoor
Attendance: 2500
Profit: low

Pros
-There was a whole lot of things to do.  Most "multi-genre" conventions, we've found, tend to lean one way.  This one was leaning slightly toward a horror con, but it really did have constant programming for sci-fi, fantasy, gaming, and anime, too. 

-There was a decent variety of venders.  We saw other plush makers, gamer gear, a few comic artists, figures, filmmakers, henna artists, jewelry makers, etc. 

-As mentioned above, there were several independent filmmakers and artists, as well as some bands.  I thought it was great to see so much original work rather than the overabundance of licensed merch and fan art we see at most conventions. 

-The show hours were good; not too long or too short.

-The hotel was really really neat, as well as huge!

Cons
-The exhibitor hall had dealers, artists, and fan/group tables together, and all mixed up.  I wouldn't have minded being in the same room with dealers if they had put dealers in one section and artists in another. 

-I mentioned that the hotel was large, which is usually a good thing.  But this hotel was soooo spread out, you had to drive from one building to the others.  They didn't keep the con in just one building or even in one area, they spread it out all over the place.  This was difficult for us wanting to go to panels, etc.  because they were hard to find and we couldn't leave the booth for that long.  It was also bad because the exhibitor hall was in the very back of the hotel, so I'm afraid some attendees didn't even make it that far.

-The exhibitor hall was very large, but it had a lot of empty booths.  The two back rows only had 1 or two people on them. 

So we didn't make a ton of money here, but we love Chattanooga, and got to hang out with our friend Lynda (of Another Sassy! Product) while we were in town.  We're not planning to return to this con, but maybe in a few years it will pick up and properly fill up the hotel.  Anyway, if you're just looking for cons to attend rather than sell at, it would be a blast.  We did get to meet Thong Girl, so I mean, what more can you ask for?

Quick Update + May schedule

We had a super busy month in April, and May is shaping up to be the same!  With shows every weekend, it's hard to find time to write more than a quick twitter or facebook update, so those of you who like to keep up with our shenanigans should check us out here or here.

All of our recent shows have been phenomenal, so we want to thank all the people who have come out to see and support us.  You're really making our dream of doing this full time come true! 

Also, props to all of the great artists we have met and become friends with.  You guys totally rock, and now we have a house filled with awesome art and handmade goods. 

This past weekend we were in Atlanta, GA for the Inman Park Festival.  It was definitely the largest show we've ever done, and not so surprisingly turned out to also be the best show we've done so far.  There were too many booths to even get a chance to see it all, but it is definitely one to check out next year if you missed out. 

We got some amazing luck and were able to get into ART-B-QUE this next weekend, May 7-8.  It's in Avondale Estates, GA (close to ATL) so if you missed us last weekend (or even if you didn't) come by and see us this weekend!  It looks like it's going to be filled with super talented artists, many of whom were also at Inman Park with us. 

After that, we'll be at Finster Fest in Summerville, GA

And then we will be returning to Who-Fest in Chattanooga, TN at the end of May.

Can't wait to see everyone!

Updates for March

We've been busy gearing up for our shows this year, and we can't wait to jump in. 

*Next weekend, March 19-20, we'll be on USC campus for Nashicon, an anime convention.  Everyone there is great, and we always have a fun time, so if you're local, come visit us! 

*We have an official logo for the WonkyDolls! 

I love it, and it's going to be on all our new tags!  Yay!

*We're still trying to get up to 25 followers so we can hold our first giveaway!  Remember, the prize will be one of our dolls that was featured in STUFFED magazine.

*We will be attending A-Kon this year!  And we should know a lot more about upcoming shows in the next couple weeks, so stay tuned. 

Upcoming shows

Just a brief note to let everyone know we'll be at Con Nooga this weekend.  It's a multi-genre convention in Chattanooga, TN.  It promises to be a lot of fun. 

In other exciting news, we just got accepted into Crafty Feast, which will be held April 16 in conjunction with Indie Grits, an independent film festival here in our hometown of Columbia, SC. 

We're really psyched because we know this is always and awesome show, and a lot of our friends will be there too!

Also, after much debate, we've decided to do Finster Fest this year, which is a folk art festival.  We just sent out our application.  It's held May 14-15 in Summerville, GA

Keep checking our Events page for updates on shows, we plan to be booked pretty solid this year!