Labor Day weekend tends to host a number of conventions across the country from large and iconic ones like Dragon Con, to smaller and more local ones. Last year I wrote about the joy of smaller conventions after attending Tucson Comic-Con. We just attended our third Tucson Comic-Con and one of my favorite things to do after attending these events is to highlight some of the cool artists and makers that populate Vendor Halls with their small businesses and Artist Alley tables.
This year we had a combination of new and old people we brought home treasures from. One thing I will say, is I know a number of places are doing scan my QR Code to get my business links but the challenge I have with that is once your social media feed hits a certain level it’s too easy to lose track of which cool artists are hitting your local con versus someone you discovered online. I love to know which artists are likely to reappear at local events so I save those business cards in a way that marks them as local. We also encourage our kids to walk the floor once before making purchasing choices, so those cards help me remember what booths had something that was on our possible purchase list. QR codes make that way harder for me. With that note from a consumer out of the way, here’s some of who we saw or brought stuff home from.
Note: No products were provided to us in exchange for being featured in this article.
TitanCraft
We always like to stop and say hi to the TitanCraft folks. TitanCraft is one of the companies where you can design your own custom mini. One of the things I love about them is you don’t have to just pay per mini. Whenever you buy as asset piece you can create as many custom minis as you like using that asset with their software. Next, you just download the STL files and print them up (they also offer printing services). Themed asset packs also offer additional savings. We have bought every asset pack since they started and it’s been amazing for creating the miniatures that you can’t quite find elsewhere. They’ve also been really good about creating a variety of genres too. The TitanCraft folks are the nicest people and we love getting hints at what projects might be coming next or talking about what features might be getting added. We even made their social media page this year (we’re the last group):
Robyriker Designs
One of the accidental results of doing martial arts is my gaining a collection of fun and quirky headbands (our instruction is good with fun headband designs). This is my third year picking up headbands from Robyriker Designs, and I often have to take a picture of which ones I have so that I can keep track of which ones I don’t have. I’ve grabbed everything from designs around books, or fun animals, to geeky icons like gaming dice. It’s a must stop booth for me.
Turtle’s Soup
This vinyl sticker booth was a new one for us, but it absolutely got my attention because there was just so many stickers that I had to be careful not to miss anything. I really loved their book reader and cryptid options, but I also could not resist the sticker sheets either since I journal. My journal is going to have some really amazing months thanks to them. They also sell wholesale so a number of retailers across the United States have their stuff in person. I’m so going to their booth again next year.
Growing Geeks
Growing Geeks offers some fun clothing options for sizes 2T to 5X so lots of people are included. I came home with a pair of the OS D&D based leggings. They are absolutely comfy, not see through, and have pockets wide enough for a smart phone. I would have come home with a second pair if the Ewok Tea Party had not sold out in my size. Once again, another booth I will absolutely be looking for next year because I love comfy leggings.
Suzi’s Artworks
There was some stunning watercolor style vinyl stickers from this booth and I came away with a sheet of sea explorer based stickers that I’ve already used in a layout for my bullet journal. I’m pretty sure I’m walking away with more stuff from her booth next year especially some of the D&D class stickers and more sticker sheets. Also, her stickers ship for free with a code from her site, so do check her stuff out.
