For Papercon, one of the products that I thought would sell would be my postcards. Since, well, they’re paper. So I made a bigger postcard selection for this. I’m forever thankful that I’m beside our office library so I could take product shots.
My postcards and other products are now available in our online store. Please have a look!
The “dark background” series.
English Rose, Quince, Sakura.
Peonies!
Lotus!
Magnolias.
Sunflower Lanterns and an old Hydrangea painting.
Papercon was a blast! I got to meet more floral artists that day. Below is my humble haul from the event:
Hydrangea sticker from Chichi (@chichilittle) | Sombra sticker from Pixel Hero PH (@pixelheroph) | Roses and Sunflowers from Kara Leonida (@renka002)
Skyscapes sticker by Shine (@tingeofshine) Kitty postcard from our booth neighbor (@meow_project)
Postcards and a bookmark from THE Cynthia Arre! ♥
Art prints from Arlene Sy. ♥
Postcards from Alyanna Nebreja (@alfajone) ♥
And that’s it! Yayy. ♥
This con was held last October 3, 2019 at Elements Centris – Prosperity Hall. At first, we had no idea where Prosperity Hall was. We were used to just Elements Centris during Komiket. When we asked the organizers, it was just half of Elements Centris HAHAHA.
Prior to the event, I had to review the guidelines numerous times so I could explain and brief to the team. One of the things that I noticed is that they gave us an ample booth size – 2 meters by 2 meters! But they only provided a 4 feet by 2 feet table. Different units of measurement, but just convert one to the other. When I made the 3D mockup, we still had around 0.6 meters on the side for more visual merchandising space. I had this approved to the organizer before bringing in our JanMakers table. And that’s my tip for conventions, I guess? Read the guidelines thoroughly!
Anyway, Hannah and I went earlier than usual since we have the extra table. When we arrived at the venue, there was already a long line outside even though its just 8am!
Left side of the table. Featuring Clair’s and my works. ♥
Cork board for her stickers. Acrylic stand for my post cards. ♥ I bought the stand from Shopee!
It was a good decision to print a lot of my postcards! They were my best sellers for the day. ♥ Some customers even went to Papercon so they could specifically buy my postcards. Some even asked for my autograph! Our friends from IG, officemates, and loved ones also went to the event in support of us. Sobrang nakaka-kilig and nakakataba ng puso. ♥ These are the reasons why I kept participating in cons.
The mesh wire featuring our stickers. ♥
Various baskets for the sticker sets and individual stickers for our budget-conscious customers.
This was also Shine’s first convention! She’s one of my earliest IG friends (lol) and we used to do art tambays together with the rest of the JanMakers team back in Makati. She’s always supportive and always attends our events. This time, we asked her to join our team. Look at her cute stickers!
Momo the Hedgehog stickers by Shine! ♥
I LOVEEE the Skyscapes set! ♥
Right side of the table
Jeckrie and Sha also went to the event. They’re officially our Ops Manager and Marketing Consultant HAHAHA. Thank you so much for supporting us! ♥ I also met a LOT of flower artists that day. I was so happy that I finally met them in person. ♥ I’ll feature them in the next blog post!
How was our first Papercon experience? It was wonderful! (The income was nice too HAHA). The merchant application will open on April 4, 2020. I hope the rent price will be okay! We’ll apply again.
So sorry this blog post took a while! I wanted to be in the right mindset to write this post. I wanted to focus so I could remember all of the wonderful stories that day. ♥
https://www.instagram.com/p/B3RJISsH3IE/
Last year, after StickerconMNL2019 and Baguio Craft Fair our January Makers PH team had no events lined up for the rest of the year. When Papercon was announced, we were hesitant in applying at first due to the rent price. But after a few weeks of discussion, we eventually applied. Gambling on a first time con is a big risk, but I believed that it would be a successful one. And so by August to September, it was back to the con prep once more.
New watercolor pad favorite: Canson Watercolor XL pad!
As per every con, I wanted to sell new products. I think its good marketing that invites people to get first dibs on your new product. (If you have fans, I guess?). For me, well, I wanted to paint my new pencil case which was a tilapia lol. Then it reminded me of the Filipino meme that an ice cream in the fridge is usually 50% real icecream or 50% fish/meat/or any ulam. So I went with that concept “Trust Issues” HAHAHA.
I tried my best with lettering ok.
The final product. ♥
Printing time usually looks like this.
My office desk.
During that time, I also made postcards so my supervisor can give these to our designer counterparts in the US during her US business trip. I printed more in preparation for Papercon. I ran out of postcards because my officemates bought them. I had to print some more! It was a good thing that Hannah and Shine were also going to the print shop that weekend.
After printing, we found a korean cafe lol. We had our own cubicle!
Yasss foods.
Cutting a huge batch of stickers is tedious, but I’m so glad I have a support system! Thank you to my officemates once again for cutting my stickers while de-stressing in the office. ♥
When you thought January’s finally over with all the craziness of 2020, the Covid19 finally reached our country.
There’s more personal posts recently here. Here’s my summary of January to Feb:
March is okay, I guess? We’ll get through this. Our office computers were shipped to our respective homes and they announced a mandatory 100% work from home for us days before the quarantine. Which is a good thing, right?
I just..don’t have the drive to blog. I know I have tons of pending posts. I know I still have responsibilities… just, let me rest some more.
Small, easy steps for now. Since I bought my own scanner days before Stickercon, I now have a reason to scan new works and upload them to my POD websites. At least they’re doing well.
After 2 months of preparation, our events in Komiket Megamall and StickerconMNL 2020 are done! Its finally time to rest, I hope? So sorry for not updating as often as I should. I can still see my pending blog post list on the first page. I will do them this March, hopefully! ♥