D.3. Can I Sell Stuff Besides Art and Prints?
Of course! Most artist alleys allow pretty much anything you make yourself. Do you knit? Hats, scarves, mittens, Pocky cozies, whatever you can think of. Do you sew? Costume pieces, hats with ears on them, stuffed animals, and things like that are good. Do you enjoy designing and building things? Manga and anime are full of characters with oversized swords and other weapons. I’ve seen some nifty stuff built of foam and rattan and duct tape sold at cons. Keychains made out of Shrinky Dinks, by laminating small prints, or by putting small prints into acrylic keychain blanks, are easy and popular, especially because they’re inexpensive. Stickers are also a possibility, as are jewelry, bookmarks, stationery, phone charms, note cards, and anything you can think up. Take a walk down the scrapbooking and jewelry aisles at a craft store and see if that sparks any ideas for you.
Self-published doujinshi, comics, and manga are also sold in artist alleys. And how to make and print those is a completely different tutorial, so I won’t go into that here. It’s more difficult to sell original material than fanstuff, but if you work hard at it, you can sell a decent amount.
I’ve never bought a print, honestly sell cute and odd stuff. At the last con I went to I bought A light switch plate! it was the cutest thing ever it had onigiri all over it and I just couldn’t resist, cute and odd sell amazingly! I even bought a pet rock with googly eyes! go for it! Sell anything the stranger the better! >w<