Artists: What sells best?

[fruitsnacks]

Hey everyone, a few friends and I were thinking of starting a business to sell crafts like jewelry and pieces of clothing, accessories, stuff like that.  We're thinking mostly to sell these things at events like historical type fairs and anime, comic, and art conventions, and in some stores.  That's going to take a while.  In the end we just have too many ideas, and we're going to have to really focus on a few things. 

I was just wondering, for people who make anything like this and sell it in the dealer's room or artist's alley, what type of things sell best?  I know there are a ton of different styles, but I'm interested in all of it.  Cute sweet type jewelry, accessories, or steampunk clothing and accessories, or more everyday items... I'm just wondering what seems to be most profitable (like time spent making it, markup, and what sells a ton vs. expensive stuff that people will still buy).  I don't know if people will want to give away this information in case it creates more competition, but I just thought I should try asking.  It is the easiest way to get information :)  Thanks guys!

[c2chaos]

T-shirts? I don't recall seeing artists selling their own original printed tees, (I probably didn't look hard enough :P). I see a lot of artworks that looks like they would be cooler to have as a t shirt rather than a poster. If you are clever enough you could write something on the shirt that could start it's own meme.

[Hachimitsu]

Since your do jewelry and clothing or accesories thingies...I recommended this following list::::
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item: Custom pin
tools:::
-Shrinky dinks (its those plastic things where you bake and it shrinks!)
-something to cut them into shapes
-thumbtacks
-Something to pin in the back

I noticed some people bought buttons and put them in their kneck straps, in fact, that is close to what I saw at disneyland with the pins....
example::

If you wanna try something cheap but its worth to sell something I was thinking doing one in shrinky dinks, you draw them then back them then add a thumb tack and..something like a pen holder -_o?  its an idea I was thinking of doing for my works!...
rule: if its cheap quality, may want to settle to a cheap price..
if its expensive quality, might want to calculate and see how much you put work on it...
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Phonstraps:
for jewelry, some people buy some kinda of custom phone keychains with anime characters on them, a small bead followed by a phone strap which i was surprise ichi ban kan sells them O_O!....you can try that...
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Clothing wise hmm...
it is labor intensive, but I'm guessing patches, i recall one guy was asking for a custom Patch logo from Airgear!, and another one was searching for Custom patch involving with Jetgrind radio...
you can try that but I can promise you it is intense to work with it...

I have more ideas in my head but then again i might need them for my own artist alley works!.. sorry I could'nt help much further but I DID noticed people are putting buttons on their Straps!...but that was last year, not sure if it will happen again for this year!

ONE more thing, T shirts are somewhat of a risk!.. reason for is because there might bee some people having some mix thoughts. if you manage to do silkscreen and grab some discounted/bundled shirts, then you can probably get away with selling it, but if its those iron transfer sheets, i kinda want to avoid that since I know alot of people will wash it alot of times! Bought a shirt once with the iron transfer sheet and the image came out completely...

[fruitsnacks]

Ahhh Hachi that is a really good idea!  I never thought of pins.  You're right of course that conventions will always require the standard badge, a great place to put pins... I always thought of it as just a Disneyland thing. 

Yeah thinking about it more I wouldn't really buy the clothing, my friend really wanted to make stuff like coats, but really I don't know how many people would be willing to buy a coat, and it would have to fit, and there are just so many factors.  I am starting to have second thoughts about going in with them.  I just know that people who can draw are the real draw at Artist's Alley, but I personally love jewelry and hats and things like that people can make... Plus they want to go around to all different sorts of craft festivals and fairs... I just don't know if the stuff we would make would even apply to half those places.  Things like this are difficult :)

[Hachimitsu]

I really do recommend to try...
there are still some (5-7) beginner artists who started on the artist alley.
I recall there are some people who will draw for food, or trade, but then again I kinda felt sad for them.

I still recommend to try... if your still discourage or maybe affraid, maybe you can share a table spot with someone and him/her can make business with you together!...


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