I need to be psychic.

[bladespark]

I wish I could predict what I'm going to sell at Conduit, so I'd know what to make more of. I mean... if it were a furry con, I can go hunt down a few species surveys I've seen, and I know that rule #1 is "lots and lots of red foxes," but that's with furries. What a furry wants to buy depends on what species he views himself as, and it's quite easy to track. But what is the buying behavior of the Trekkie in regards to fuzzy gear? I know that your average Trekkie may or may not be interested at all, but if he gets over that first hurdle to want a fuzzy thing, what kind will he want? What about gamers? The larpers seem to lean towards feline around here, but it's hard to be sure... There will be anime fans there, so I can predict selling a fair number of catgirl tails, but even there I'm baffled. What kind of cats? I'm going to do mostly black, but I have so many other color selctions available. What about tawny? What about weird colors? (I hate that weird colors seldom sell, because I love to buy weird colored fur... so sad.) And then there's this whole drag queen thing that's throwing what little I knew completely out of kilter. Are they going to actually come through the dealer's room? Will there be many of them? Will they be glittery, or trying to really pass, or stubbly guys in dresses? Some of all of the above I guess...

I just wish I knew! I know that there will be something that I sell out of and then have people asking after, something that I could sell twenty of if only I'd made that many, but what will it be? I have no idea! And if I had time I'd be tempted to compensate for this by making twenty of everything, but turning out two or three each is going to be hard enough.

Four days! With just four days, what do I make?

Comments

[gizmo-freak.livejournal.com]

Good luck. :)

[Also you've been added to the birthday list. :)]

[scribe-of-stars.livejournal.com]

I just had this vision of you bursting into the store and demanding weird-colored fur from the clerk:

"Holy crap I just remembered Kilty Macfoxington is coming to the con and you've got to give me all the plaid fur you've got and you've got to give it to me RIGHT NOW DON'T HOLD OUT ON ME YOU FUR-HOARDING HOOLIGAN!"

"...Please don't hurt me."

[bladespark.livejournal.com]

Well... that's not /quite/ accurate, but.... let's just say that if I ever see plaid fur, I'm buying it. *grins*

[jtbeckett.livejournal.com]

i've seen it before... it was nasty ugly, though.

why not pack a sewing machine, and some chuncks of fur and whatever you use inside? cat tails don't take long to make, you could take ordsers and have them to them in a couple of hours.

[bladespark.livejournal.com]

That is a good suggestion, and I'm tempted. Ooooooooooooh am I tempted. But up until now I was planning on actually having some fun once the dealer's room closes, and sacrificing my party evenings for the sake of additional profit... eh. I'm not sure about that. I'll have to think on it some more.

[jtbeckett.livejournal.com]

you could save two nights... once you know what's selling, you can have a friend help you assemble stuff... you sew, they stuff. Or plan to only spend two hours a night restocking.

[wtftastic.livejournal.com]

Something thats cute, sells well, and is easy to make.

Do ears fall under that catagory? Because I'd imagine that they wouild sell well.

[malakim2099.livejournal.com]

My own personal thought would be ears, really. Especially fantasy ones like the unicorns and such. Just something to accent whatever outfits they have already...

[2dlife.livejournal.com]

Can you make non-furry things? For the drag queens, I'd imagine leopard print leggings or arm-things or a big hat or something normally wearable may sell well. For other people (and I'm projecting here), I'd think they want things that went well with their body-shape and that stands out, so I'd guess long tails in various appropriate animal prints (neon colors are just too hard to explain). Also how hard would it be to find what people really want the first day and make more in the hotel room that evening?

All this advice, however, comes from someone who's never been to a proper con, who isn't a furry, a trekkie, a larper, a gamer or a drag queen. I'm just projecting what I would get if I were there. (i.e. My thoughts: I'd like to get some kind of costume that's really simple and doesn't impact my ability to do stuff. If I'm getting a costume part, it might as well look flattering and I might as well show it off (hence long), but I don't want to spend the con explaining to everyone what I am.)

[moltare.livejournal.com]

Suggestion: Cut tail or ear patterns from a variety of coloured furs, lay them out like swatches, take next-day orders! Stash of whatever necessary pre-prepared filler material back at your hotel room, etc etc

Then you'd only do as much actual sewing as demand demands.

Having never done anything of this sort, I've got no idea if that idea has any merit at all. ¬¬

[web-dragon.livejournal.com]

hmm, something furry for the Trekkie's perhaps?
Tribble hand puppets.

[jordanis.livejournal.com]

If paramount ever got wind of it, they'd sue her for every last penny.

[malakim2099.livejournal.com]

Pity. Borg Tribbles would be fun. (But yes, you are quite correct.) *grins*