Game On Expo 2023: An Artist Alley Recap

Hiya, lovelies! Apologies I didn't get to post a blog last Friday before Game On Expo, I was really crunching the last few days to be able to complete my set up, and organize my products and supplies. I did try to find time during the weekend to post a belated blog update, but alas, I spent most of my downtime during the con updating my inventory and stock. Luckily, with those two huge hurdles of my table display and inventory management out of the way, I can move on to catching up on my regular tasks again. I even found time this week to add some new dress designs to my shop here and on my Etsy. All of which I'll talk more on later in the blog!

To recap Game On Expo, this was my first full weekend event in the Phoenix area where I was running my own table in artist alley, which was exciting! I've done a few single-day pop up events, run my cosplay table, and even helped other vendors at various Phoenix area events, but this was a little different, so I'm excited to mark that milestone. ^_^ I am super proud of how my table design ended up coming out. I worked so hard on that, that I honestly didn't have as much time for new art or cosplays like I had intended. But I think it was well worth the investment of time and effort, as I now have a 100% unique looking table that I feel wholly represents my style and brand.

I also came up with some rather creative organization and storage solutions, so I hope to be able to post a vlog in the coming week about what new techniques I tried out! I'm still pretty new at artist alley, and thus don't have as wide of a selection or as much experience as others who have been at this for a while. So while I didn't exactly knock it out of the park at GOE, I hit most of my minimum expectations for myself, which is just swell! A lot of my various artist friends did well, a few others also did so-so. It was a little less busy on foot traffic than I was expecting, but I really had no comparison, as this was my first time being at Game On Expo. Still, I am very glad to have done the show, and hopefully I can join artist alley there again next year, which is now in March, on 15-17! And by then, I hope to have a lot more product.

Speaking of new product, I've launched several new dress designs on my online shop and my Etsy shop! One of which is a Lucky Star-inspired cheer dress. I wanted to make this for myself to have a super comfy and low maintenance "sort-of cosplay" to wear while I vend. Some other designs I have added include variations of my Starry Painted dress, originally done in sapphire with gold stars. It is now available in spinel (deep pink), amethyst (purple), and obsidian (black). I've ordered samples for myself to wear to Saboten in two weeks. I got the Lucky Cheer dress, and the Starry Painted dress in the amethyst and spinel colorways.

More colors are on their way as well! I'm also considering adding some seasonal variations, such as winter holiday-inspired colorways and designs. They would be available only for a limited time, but it would be nice to finally have some holiday items in my shop, since (ironically), December is my slowest month on Etsy. It's usually everyone else's busiest haha! My busiest season is October though- Halloween, really, so that makes sense. I'll probably have a preview of those seasonal ones up soon, along with more year-round colors, so look forward to that!

And that's about all I have for right now. I'm still working on getting a lot of stuff ready for Saboten, so I'll have a blog post for that coming out next week, as Sabo is only two weeks away now! I'm working on getting some last-minute designs ready for that, so that I can have some fresh product for the folks that just saw me at Game On Expo last weekend, haha. I can't wait to show you what I have in store. Until then, have a fabulous week, lovelies!

~Momo Kariño