#like prints and stickers i always wanted to have a lil online store

[cupiare]

i’m sick at the thought of being back on twt but i neeeed to revive my art acc 😭😭😭

[meirimerens]

I already wanted to try linocutting but seeing yours make me want to try even more now fjfjfh, do you have perhaps advice on materials or anything like that ? 👀 also the ones you did are so cool !

LINOCUTTING IS SOOO FUN honestly i wike it a lot. it's a good alternative To Me to wood engraving bc i can't really do that since leaving uni bc the materials for woodcutting are more expensive. lemme see what i can tell you!

i've bought all my supplies at the local art store for cheap, you can very likely find better quality (but also would end up more expensive...) stuff online.

carving tools:

mine look like this:

it says woodcut but it works for linocut just fine. some other carving tools will be sold with a singular handle and multiple tips, but i prefer to have a number of full tools i can go back and forth when i carve. you will also see rounded-handle tools, there tend to be more expensive but i have worked with them at uni and they were really comfortable.

my main rotation of tools has:

small v-shaped tip for most of the work

wide v-shaped tip for deeper cuts

small u-shaped tip for looser work

wide u-shaped tip for when you just gotta take everything out

sharp knife-like tip to cut out in corners and lift the material up like you would be peeling off sticker paper

linoleum:

again, i get what i find LOL. mine is grey, kinda hard, with a rope-woven backing. works for what i do, but i know some linoleums are softer, in just one block.. honestly go out there and see what your stores have

ink:

i use a water-based linoleum black ink bc water-based inks (and paints in general) are easier to clean in case of stains, and also it allows me to wash my blocks when i'm done with them with a LIL BIT of water, dishsoap, and a toothbrush (warning: this will make your dry blocks ""kinda ugly"" because the ink stains settle in the grooves, but that also means the ink does not build up on the surface and eventually destroys details of your work)

else:

you need a roller to spread your ink on! they're the hard kind specifically for engraving. like that:

you need a flat surface to spread thinly your ink on. most people use glass or clear plastic, i didn't have that so i'm using the flat back of some appliance we don't use no more LOL!!!

i personally use a press: i've gotten it from this etsy shop [honestly i recommend], they're genuinely not too pricey compared to the other stuff i've seen but also. well it's a few hundreds yknow. mine is the A3 format.

if you don't use a press, i KNOW some people just use their weights/the back of their hands/whatever else but i've been there done that and it was hell to me. save yourself the trouble and get yourself a baren, they're like these little thangs you use in circles on your paper to push it into the ink

you can make your own, i know some people use the backs of wooden spoons instead of those... try it out.

tips & tricks/misc:

as mentioned: in order to prevent ink build-ups between inking sessions if you print the same matrix over and over, please clean your linocut block once you're done. if using water-based ink, water, dishsoap and a toothbrush do the job; oil-based ink will dissolve with like vegetal oils. depending on your linocut it might curve under water so MAKE SURE it stays as flat as you can, by adding weights on them, i personally make em dry wrapped in paper towels and stack books on top. or i close the press on them LOL

ALWAYS CUT AWAY FROM YOU. my professors told me to use the tools with the index finger on top to "guide", because otherwise the blade can like. ZWIPPP fly off the block. i had read a post where the author said to always have band-aids on-hand when linocutting and. imma be honest i just think they kept nipping themselves bc they didn't have the Guiding Index and held their tool more like an excavator. but just in case, yknow. NEVER PUT YOUR FREE HAND IN FRONT OF THE CUTTING TOOL TIP again, if your blade goes ZWIPPP, you can stab yourself in your free hand.

always remember that the print you carve in your block will appear mirrored on the paper. since we do tend to draw asymmetrically, not notice things are asymmetrical when only seeing it one way and we can't really "flip the canvas" IRL to check, what i do is 1) draw my little drawing on thin paper 2) flip it 3) retrace it on the back of the paper 4) tape it like that to my block 5) go over these flipped lines VERY AGGRESSIVELY with a ballpoint pen until the ink bleeds through and appears on the block. NOT IDEAL BC IT STRAINS YOUR WRIST PRETTY BAD but i haven't experimented with other ways to do it LOL

use thicker paper for your prints. you will find by trial and error if your ink + printing method lends itself more to textured paper, smooth paper, lot of ink on the block, a lil ink on the block... etc

roll your ink thinly, but i've found personally not too thinly, you want it to make like. little... not bubbles? but like ✧-shaped patterns within the ink.

you. will. trial. and. error. it's by trial and error that i decided to ditch my previous printing method and get a press because By God you save much time, energy, PAPER, ink, when a machine allows for smooth inking, but also like. i be selling them. if you are comfortable with a hand-printing method with a baren, with just Pushing That In, power and bliss to you i envy you.

ending note: honestly you can buy cheap materials and yet still have a blast, and then slowly work on your artistic #grind month by month, year by year. linocut is insanely meditation, can be a lil frustrating, but when you pick out that clean crisp print.... ooooooh baby

have fun!!!!

[climbdraws]

How does an artist whose never really posted art online go about making a successful online store the same way you have? I'm not sure how to even start, do you open a store and pray? Get an endorsement from another artist? Am I gonna need a twitter? I guess im just looking for any tips, if you're willing to share. (BTW I got a a few of the holo skull stickers, ADORE them!)

hi! glad you like the holo stickers - hopefully gonna add more real soon!

(long answer so under cut)

I think the first thing you need to ask yourself is - how much effort do I want/have time to put into this? ((*For reference, my store would be categorized under upper-medium/high effort as I am doing art full-time))

Low Effort - POD service (print-on-demand) such as RedBubble, Society6, Teepublic (you upload your work, they handle everything else.)

PROS: They handle everything from site listings, product photos, product creation, packaging, shipping & handling, and customer support. They have brand reputation so people trust the site & your products. Offer a lot of custom printing (shirts, pillows, blankets, mugs etc) that would be pretty expensive trying to do yourself starting out. Very little involvement besides uploading your work & sharing it to your followers. 

CONS: Artists only receive a very small percentage per sale and it might take quite a while to earn anything substantial. Product quality varies (RedBubble sticker quality is hot garbage imo) as they are usually cheaply produced. A lot of stolen artwork/designs are sold on these sites and nothing is done to regulate it. 

--

Medium Effort: Online marketplaces such as Storenvy, Etsy, Shopify etc. A PLATFORM for you to sell your goods - you are responsible for creating, packaging, shipping & marketing your products. 

PROS: Convenient marketplace shopping allows people to easily browse your store alongside other vendors/artists. Allows you to brand your own store & products so that they are uniquely yours. A true “small business” as you are handling essentially everything except for the online store-hosting platform. Allows you to include personal notes/touches or freebies in your orders as you are packaging & shipping them yourself. 

CONS: Usually have to pay a fee for every sale/listing. Website/Storefront design are limited to what the platform has to offer (some don’t have custom HTML options). Requires YOU to create your own merch - whether it’s original art, prints, stickers, enamel pins etc - which means a lot of time spent talking to manufacturers, figuring out shipping rates etc. Can involve a lot of $$ investment upfront. 

--

High Effort / Full-Time: Creating your own website/storefront OR Patreon Clubs. Handling everything yourself & releasing new content quite frequently - good for artists with a following/brand reputation/full-time. 

Basically everything from the ‘Medium Effort’ tier but requiring quite a bit of time/effort (usually) daily. Monthly Patreon clubs are becoming pretty common - backers pledge every month for a ‘tier’ level and receive merch at the end of the month (which requires you to factor in manufacturing time, shipping time to you, packaging & then shipping to the customer which can be difficult for people who suck at meeting deadlines ((sometimes me but I'm working on it))

--

Honestly there is no “correct way” to go about creating a shop for yourself. I know a lot of artists who run their own stores & also have merch on RedBubble/Society6 as it’s just another revenue stream that’s quite low-key and the more visibility you have as a ‘brand’ the better. Some artists have shop openings with their store only being open for a week or two and then closed for a couple months and then re-open again (youtuber BayleeJae does this & is quite successful at it) 

There’s honestly so many factors that go into a store - what kind of merch/art you want to create, what your fanbase is, who you’re marketing to, how much funds you want to invest etc etc. It can be quite overwhelming which is why I really recommend those just starting out to start slow/small and test the waters with just a few items first before rushing in and spending a bunch of $$$$ on products that might not end up selling as well as you hoped.

Since you said you don’t really post online - I would suggest starting with a LOW EFFORT store like RedBubble, Society6, TeePublic etc and really focus on building your social media following & presence. Make sure your social accounts all have same/similar handles (mine vary a lil but it’s always ‘Climb’). Posting frequently can be hard but it’s really important to start getting people to notice you & gain interest in your work. 

[nsre]

nsre activity ideas 🍼

♡ play dress up! ♡

wear your cutest outfit and take cute pics or dress your stuffies too! (optional: do this with friends or cgs!!)

make it cute or funny!!! wear something you love or make a crazy clothes combination!!

♡ decorate something! ♡

fun fact: kiddos love to make things cute and pretty! so why don’t you use those stickers you’ve been thinking about using? put them on your phone case, your journal, a piece of paper and make a scene with them, your paci, your bottle, your backpack, heck even put them on your face and decorate yourself!!

♡ organize a stuffie meeting! ♡

okay stuffies. it’s time to talk! gather all your stuffed animals, and set them up in a big group with you in the center. take cute pictures of your stuffies, or play a pretend game where you have a party, a tea party, or an official stuffie business meeting. you can take notes on a piece of paper, make everyone name tags, or set up an even bigger space where the stuffies can be doing things! for example, using a little chair and desk you can pretend your stuffies are at school!

or for lots of fun, gather all your stuffies on a bed or soft surface, and JUMP IN THEM!!! it’s really fun and stuffies are cuddly! just be careful!

♡ tiny friend play date! ♡

meet up with another tiny friend like you and go somewhere fun where you can be small together! or invite them for a sleepover and make it a classic kiddo sleepover: prepare lots of snacks in advance, get the disney movies ready, break out the sleeping bags, get stuffies and toys ready for fun sleepover pretend games!

don’t have a tiny friend irl? no problem!! because tiny play dates can be organized online!! the best place for this is discord! make a server for your play date and invite as many friends as you want! to go on an adventure together, share pictures and stories of your favorite places and talk all about them. or go somewhere on your own and bring your tiny friends along by taking pictures of your surroundings and telling them all about the experience!! wanna have a sleepover too?? perfect!! plan to stay up tonight with your tiny friends on your sever and organize some fun things! share pictures of stuffies, spooky stories, play music, watch movies on rabb.it, and you can even roleplay a game as your toys and stuffies!!

♡ play online games! ♡

there’s so many fun games to play online that can make you feel small!! sometimes it’s enough to sit down with a laptop, ipad, or phone, cuddled with your stuffies and favorite blankie and play an exciting or relaxing game!!

♡ if you have a cg, plan a special tiny day! ♡

it’s common knowledge that having a special tiny day with your cg is lots of fun!!! you may not be able to go somewhere fancy, but you can even make the most of your time with your cg at home!! set up a play area for you to have lots of fun together with all your toys and tiny things!! have a movie night!! play games together!!

if you can’t see your cg irl, you can still plan a special tiny day!! actively talk to your cg and maybe voice call! play pretend together and watch movies together on rabb.it!! make a comfy space for yourself on your bed or floor while you watch movies and/or talk to your cg for a cozy and happy tiny day!!

♡ draw and color! ♡

should i even explain it?! drawing and coloring are the best things ever!! it’s a good way to express your creativity and use some crayons!!!! crayons are awesome!!!

draw something for someone you love and admire!

color something to hang up in your room or on your fridge!

color something to share on tumblr and show all your tiny friends!!

♡ prepare an awesome meal! ♡

it may not sound like something for lil ones to do, but if supervised, cooking while small can be lots of fun!! helping a cg, friend or family member cook when you’re tiny can make you feel like you’re learning so much and being helpful!

making desserts is probably the most fun for this!!

making a really yummy meal to put on little dishes is really cute too!!

♡ create a journal! ♡

make a lil time journal! draw, color and decorate in it to your tiny heart’s content!! make sections to write about all your favorite things! stick photos on the inside of your stuffies, or of your friends, or of your cg!!! use it to express yourself and have lots of fun with it!!

come up with daily or weekly topics to write about! make fun categories! make a section where you draw pictures of your dream room!!

♡ do activity worksheets! ♡

you can find these everywhere! just look up school worksheets online, or go to your local dollar store and pick up a kid’s school activity book!

you can print the worksheets out from online or you can use an editing app on your phone like phonto or picsart to do them!

these are beneficial for staying small and still learning and testing your baby knowledge!! you’re super smart so i’m sure it’ll be lots of fun!

♡ take a bubble bath! ♡

it sounds simple but yet... bubble baths are so much more than getting clean!! bring your favorite bath toys, put in lots of bubble soap, bring a bath fizzy! or color changing bath tablets! or bathtub wall paint or crayons!!

turn bathtime into the ultimate tiny playplace!! make yourself a hat out of bubbles, or blow them everywhere and see how they fall like snow!!

play with your bath toys and make them hide in the bubbles!! they live in a bubble castle!!!

if you turned the water red or purple, pretend it’s a scary murky lake and the toys have to get across it safely using a bottle of shampoo as a raft!!!! will they get across?!?

♡ anything you love to do! ♡

this is incredibly vague for a reason! because you know exactly what you love to do! so go do it!!!

make that painting you’ve been wanting to paint, write that story or poem, try that new food, plan that adorable lil photo shoot, reach out and make lil friends, be yourself, get those stuffies you’ve always wanted, make that cozy tiny corner in your room, dance around in your socks (but be careful)! just do whatever you love to do and be yourself while doing it!!

don’t hold yourself back, and don’t limit yourself! try new things and do what makes you happiest!

[whx-m]

I'm curious about online shops. Got any general information / details that might go missed?

i am a dumb dumb that has inhaled too much information the past couple weeks trying to learn so take what i say w/ several grains of your preferred salts

this all goes for etsy/shopify/whatever you use for e-commerce. the levels of serious you take it and get into it i think depends on how far you want to take your online shop... or how much you make. google the hell out of your states sales tax laws and apply for a sales tax permit in your state before you sell a damn thing. ill go over the stuff i think really needs to be highlighted for anybody mulling over starting a legit shop, esp artists who want to make a living selling their stuff.

edit: HEY HIT “J” ON YOUR KEYBOARD IF YOU DONT GIVE A SHIT BC THIS IS REALLY LONG AND IM NOT SORRY BC I THINK I LEARNED EVEN MORE WRITING THIS SO THANK YOU AND GOODNIGHT...

this will be how you feel when youre 2 hours into logo trademarking research

1. hm..

if you make, or plan to make, over $400 in sales, then most states consider this going beyond a hobby and being self-employed. so accept the fact you gotta pay a self-employment tax on your income.

also... gotta pay federal and state income taxes on your sales. even if your online shop is technically considered a hobby, not licensed as a business and you dont make over $400, still gotta report/pay income taxes on it. i know a lot of ppl dont take that seriously but it might bite you in the ass if you let it go on too long. 

2. register sole proprietorship so i know its real

registering in your home state as a legit business entity is likely a solid route to go if you really plan on fleshing your shop out and building it up for the future. most artists starting an art shop or craft shop file a SOLE PROPRIETORSHIP type of business- meaning the business isnt a place or a group of owners, its just lil ole you. you file under your own name or a “Trade Name”/DBA (Doing Biz As) with your state. but beware, this trade name isnt trademarked or federally protected. and since you ARE your business, any tax trouble means the IRS is auditing you personally and holding you personally liable.

its relatively affordable to file, but take your bookkeeping seriously... be careful because the IRS eyeballs sole proprietorships’ reported taxes and expense deductions hardcore, since the lines between business and personal expenses get really blurry and sketchy. the more you need to save, the more you need to log as a deduction, and the more you deduct the more likely they’ll try to audit you and catch a mistake. so keep your books right and tight. [ 50 state guides for applying for sole proprietorship ]

that being said, IMMEDIATELY OPEN A BUSINESS ACCOUNT AT BANK/CREDIT UNION AND KEEP ALL BUSINESS RELATED PURCHASES/SALES ON THAT ACCOUNT and not your personal one!!!

3. bite the hand that takes your income away!!!

sole proprietorship means your business income = your income, aka “pass thru entity” where profit in your business passes thru and adds to your personal taxable income. it used to be that your business income was just taxed at the same rate as your personal income bracket and thats it. BUT LISTEN UP! NEW 2018 TAX LAWS  ADDED A STANDARD 20% DEDUCTION TO TAXABLE INCOME FOR PASS-THRUS WITH LESS THAN $157,500 REPORTED INCOME. that's auto-subtracted along with your business expense deductions etc, before it’s taxed. what does that mean? it can knock your taxable income down: if you’re single and make $38,700 you get taxed $3.7k instead of $4.6k. If you make $82,500, you get taxed $14.5k instead of $18.1k. And thats not even accounting for other deductions before being taxed.

applying sooner than later for sole propriety/”pass through entity” can really help because of BUSINESS EXPENSE DEDUCTIONS. if you keep careful itemized records and your books clean, you can report tons of business related expenses and get your taxable income at the end of the year lowered. that new tablet, paints, software you bought on the business-only card? the gas you put in your car to get to your anime con, the hotel you stayed at? take it even further: shipping costs, wholesale costs, promo merch for advertising (stickers & swag) and even fees from hiring an accountant can usually be claimed. there’s a LOT that can be claimed.

dont skimp on the research because just logging and reporting expenses can make or break your shop. [heres another link] applying to be a business entity early means more of your start-up costs are logged and claimed as expenses.

and you know what happens at the end of the year when you report your income and claimed expenses? the expenses are subtracted from your total reported income, and youre taxed on whats left. so if you make $50,000 by the end of the year, but you spent $10,000 in approved business expenses, you’re only taxed for $40,000- but wait! 20% deduction= $8k, which drops your taxable income to $32,000. you just dropped from a 22% tax rate bracket to a 12% and you end up only paying $3,840 in taxes. that is only 7.6% tax on your 50k income!! and you could probably pay even less with all the other tax breaks you can score. 

make sure you read up on the IRS website on this stuff too. look up youtube videos and stuff to make sense of anything that confuses you. and dont forget to crawl your state’s own websites and see if they have any tax breaks or incentives for start-ups, artists, etc!!and now the worst part. im so sorry. 

4. the ugly seven-headed demon of sales tax and online shops....... stay with me plsthis is the biggest thing and becoming a super hot topic these days with states wanting to cash in on online sales to their residents

first things first: NEXUS. think of your sales tax nexus as the physical irl presence of your business, in a state-by-state basis. customers in states you hold nexus in? gotta charge them sales tax. customers from states you DO NOT hold nexus in? no sales tax for them! (for now... ill explain later)  

you have nexus in your home state, obviously since you are your biz and you live there, so you’ll need to charge sales tax on anybody buying from you in your home state. BUT.... if you contract someone in another state to do design work for you, unfortunately that means you also have nexus or “presence” in their state, too. if you have a warehouse storing inventory in another state, yep, another nexus and another state wanting to cash in on sales tax. getting enamel pins made in yet another state and they drop-ship your orders for you on your business’s behalf? yeah, likely another state to report sales tax to. 

collecting sales tax isnt a big problem- nearly every ecommerce site like etsy, shopify, bigcommerce and the like automatically configure sales tax in U.S. states you set up as a nexus for your shop. the problem comes around when you’ve got to apply for a sales tax permit in every nexus state, and then keep track of all the filing deadlines. every state is different. just four nexus states to report to means there are four permits to apply for, four reporting/filing schedules/deadlines to keep track of... and each state has different schedules, you could have two states requiring you to report annually and two states quarterly. it can be really hairy and a lot to keep track of if you’re not careful.try to keep your sales tax nexus in ONLY your home state, if at all possible. use manufacturers in your state to print/drop-ship orders.if theyre out of state, have them send the finished product back to you before you mail it off to customers, so you can avoid creating a new taxable nexus.

[ Sales Tax & Nexus Guide ]

still with me? this is the ugly part sorry:

the other big problem with having multiple nexus to report is how much sales tax varies- not just state by state but by city, town, county, even jurisdiction ! 

one state can have HUNDREDS of different sales tax rates to report, and you have to clearly report each individual one you collect sales tax in. 

for instance, over a year you sell to multiple people in your nexus state-- in the same exact county, under the same sales tax ordinance. they live near a bunch of schools so their county has an added jurisdiction sales tax that goes toward education programs. the report you file has to clearly define how much tax $ you’ve collected from them so that state knows exactly how much is going back to that jurisdiction, so they can divvy it up for that sweet sweet education funding.

now imagine that multiplied across counties, cities, and then doubled with another entire state... and thats why keeping your nexus low is a huge deal for someone who’s running an online store solo.

thankfully, you probably wont have to input all that data yourself. 

MAKE SURE you find a good website to settle into- that, at the very least, compiles this information for you to make it less of a headache to file in the right format, with the right info. there are upgrade auto-file options built into most ecommerce websites, so you dont even have to worry about it or think about missing a deadline... but that monthly fee might be too expensive to manage at first. that would be one of the FIRST things i’d do once i could swing it, to eliminate any chance of late fees, getting audited or having my sales tax permit suspended for that nexus state. 

5. IMPORTANT!!: even if you make absolutely $0 dollars in sales from any nexus state, you STILL HAVE TO REPORT IT AND FILE BY THE DEADLINE. don’t get a $50 fee over literally nothing.

ANIME CON OR CRAFT CON ARTIST/VENDOR? BEWARE! 

always research the convention’s home state/city sales tax regulations before registering (or blowing money making merch) for a con. it varies great and wide and has been changing a lot so always recheck before cons. some states supply simple time-limited permits, some states dont require sales tax at all for 2/3 day vendors, and some states will qualify a single physical sale as creating a permanent nexus. dont overlook that stuff or you’ll regret it when you get home to do business as usual with your shop and you have to start charging/reporting sales tax for every customer from that state!! 

6. but wait ore.. you said something ominous about no sales tax for non-nexus states...... “for now”..?

yeeahhh... there’s a big national reform going on currently and it boils down to: Jeff Bezos ruined ecommerce for everybody. fuck you greedy bastard!!

a slew of states are jumping on a bandwagon to snipe up more sales taxes and create “Economic Nexus Laws”. this may not really apply to you at the start of your shop, but its something you need to be aware of for future ref. 

basically states are passing laws that say, “If you make more than $XXXX or do more than XXX transactions selling to people here, that creates a state nexus and you need to get a sales tax permit with us.” which, is not ideal. the good thing is, most sales thresholds in these states are between $10k - $500k, so its not a problem you’ll face right off the bat. transaction numbers might be the one to watch out for, though. once you hit a few hundred transactions in a state it might create a nexus and you’ll have to start charging sales tax.

the problem is this: 1) every participating state has different thresholds, rules, and sometimes tax deductible/exempt items. thats a lot of fine print to go thru and toggling options on your shop, and a LOT of sales tax bookkeeping, filing, reporting, managing. 2) some ecommerce sales tax plugins and clients havent caught up yet to be compliant and convenient for online sellers, its a big job to program and categorize all these variables. when choosing your website host, be sure to vet their built in sales tax clients and see that they’re updating and streamlining capabilities ASAP. it may not be a concern now, but you wouldnt want your shop to boom and have to shut down, lose money and switch hosts to be eco-nex sales tax compliant.3) for successful solo start-up shops, this almost makes it impossible to file your own sales taxes once you pass those thresholds. this is like 30 states! youd spend so much time doing paperwork, its just not feasible. there will be a rising cost of economic nexus management and auto-filing services that you just cant run your business online without.

[ Everything You Need to Know Abt this Shit ] ( ^ full list of state regulations and updated with new developments so bookmark this page)

tl;dr: online shops are complicated, research literally every term you dont know and look up youtube videos on everything you suck at. if youre still motivated after being depleted of brain power, then go the fuck for it and all the Moon Crystal Power Make Up to you

[salavante]

Spent a couple days in the chaparral and it always screws my head on straight, I was south visiting family for the last week but managed to slip away for a lil bit. (Which you tumblr folk know. I wrote this with the intention of putting it on twitter, but looking at it, I think it needs to be abridged) I like laser guns and barbarian bullshit and lot of other odds & ends that I think are obvious in my art, but I also care very deeply for CA’s native flora and fauna. Specially in places that are less glamorous, like the chaparral. I’m most knowledgeable about it & it’s occupants but being there has moved me to learn more about the place where I live now, & one of my new year resolutions has become to get to know it better. I want to be healthier & be outside more.

My love of nature and botanicals will be kind of obvious in the Derstiny fancomic I’m going to be endeavoring, which sounds weird I know. But a big part of my intentions it is to make it about the ‘little stuff’. So, that’s another tick in the resolutions box: comic. And all the stuff that comes with it (type, interiors/exteriors, design consistency). I don’t intend to make it a long run project. It’s quick, dirty & character driven. I have two ‘books’ planned but I think I could comfortably end it after two. I’ll decide if I want to do a third or not based on its reception and if I’m feeling it could stretch to a third. I’ll post it here on tumblr on a separate blog that I’ll make, but will probably also post it somewhere less temperamental. 

I’m going to really commit to monetizing my work more, by making more stuff with the intent to make it prints, stickers, etc. Maybe open up an online store. I’ll also be doing a patreon. It will start fairly modestly to test the waters, and I think will grow as I do. I won’t be putting finished work behind a wall, but I will probably start putting my WIPs in there, as well as posting things there early. It kinda grinds my gears when my WIPs get more circulation than the finals anyway, lol. So WIPs, early access, commission raffles, polls to choose content, etc. I have some research to do before I start tinkering with it.

Onward to 2019 I suppose! 

[w1737087]

Personal identity - hoardering habits

This little book of mine contains things that illustrate my own identity. They include self perspective and habits through accumulated items.

1. Burnt photograph forever slipped into an old torn oyster case. It was a gta case nobody wanted in the house and somehow fell into my lap and never left. I carried it with no real purpose but it did a job and wore out. It tore right down the middle. One half lost in the filth of the world and the other stayed with all mighty strength in the top left breast pocket of my navy jacket. Things tended to fall out from there but his one thing never drew from my armour. It contained a photograph of me that I remember vividly burning on the rooftops of aspers casino. Lonesome days smoking out, in the cold after a late shift, seeking company at the same time afraid of anyone bothering me. I sat for about six cigarettes toying with it before leaving.

2. Display of clothing tags. I am a fashionistaaaa. My most popular: urban outfitters and weekday. I’m interested in the art of consumerism. So I show this through my receipt and clothing tag collection. These demonstrate my shopping addiction and where I like to shop. They’re ultimate go to’s and I wouldn’t leave a shopping mall without seeing them both. They have the best stuff. I’d say they also mean a bad habit. As I shop over and over and may wear once or ‘not yet’ as life goes on and I add more and more, stuffing my wardrobe. I just couldn’t ever stop. To make a simple purchase ignites easy satisfaction and I do it over again as I wear the same outfits I have always worn. Though this thrill could never be tamed.

3. My beloved sudoku puzzles. They are only thrilling when completed from newspapers. No sudoku book or game on a device could suffice. I would complete them on my journey to uni everyday like I was bewitched. I would be occupied the whole duration till meeting my destination some days. It was a challenge I accepted each and everyday and fussed if a day I sat without one. I had to finish it before reaching the end of my train ride or else I’d failed. It was the best thing that coated these cold and dull months also. I would record how many stations it took for me to finish, jot it down from when and where and leave it for the spirits.

Artwork by Barbara Kruger:

4. Witness the tape down the middle. I also collect loads of tape. I love tape. Anything crafty and easy decor. Seen throughout my journal. This ones printed one of the best animes of all time: Avatar: the legend of aang. I re watched it in the past year all over since childhood. It belongs in this little book of mine because I’ve seen this show relentless amounts by now and it never ceases to entertain. I love it dearly. The storyline, and all aspects within and characters are just the greatest. I could have it on loop forever. It was a childhood memory that weaves into my adult life and if I’m honest I loved it more now than ever. It felt like watching it for the first in my life because I couldn’t forget it now and I understood it for what it was at this age. The images of the show follow me around in my house as it’s on numerously and also from the merch I see laying around me. It’s engraved boldly in my memories as it takes me back to days of being a child I couldn’t remember without it. Besides a cigarette packet. Smoking habits. You either smoke or you don’t. An effortless clarification. On the right there were just marks on the page and I connected them like join the dots as a child. At this very moment in time all I did was play with markers and hairspray for effect so that’s what that is.

5. The green pigment is random but I assigned a meaning as matches my lovely cool green sweaters I’ve been buying recently. I had been going on literal green sweater hunts for days and hours in store and online sites. It had to be this shade. Besides is a page regarding hoardering business. I collected stickers without intention and one day it became a thing. It started by sticking labels on my wardrobe off a bunch of clothes I purchased and they just never came off. The power of laze is undermined deeply.. really. So I gathered stickers of off merch and created a page to illustrate this. They show an understanding of my purchases at the time: washy tape x3, peri peri rice box I had delivered for a whole period, Apple MacBook purchase, price tag off “lady killers” novel, delivery packaging, item from China and clothing instruction label. Why should all this be deemed worthless and thrown away? Not in my book.

6. More tape and more tape. Raw paper. Smoked a lot of weed? Stopped that stuff too whilst fabricating my lil journals. It wasn’t for me anymore so I’m left with surplus paper. Chewing gum wrapper. My favourite and only flavour of gum I would ever carry. People despised it but it’s awesome. I remember years ago it used to be so strong at first and it’s just never like that anymore. My salivary glands know what’s coming. There is no war. It’s Mind over matter. They were also an accidental coil of collecting. I didn’t like to ever litter so rubbish would remain in my pockets and in all clothings i would just find them with a couple left or empty and it was just many before it became a lot and an item of collection. It was a good one because I could never change up, everything about this flavour pack was too cool.

7. You cannot say my name properly. It’s two syllables. Break it down, divide it, valve it then say it altogether. It sounds exactly as it reads. Starting Nandos I almost lost my mind because every person in the workplace couldn’t say it and I was dumbfounded. It’s anywhere I go actually. I often just say to people “it’s Naj”. I didn’t like babying anyone in teaching them how to say it fully. I was sick. Please don’t spell it wrong either. I think the letters arranged to spell my name is very fancy. It catches my eye when I see it slapped anywhere! It’s a millisecond thrill. It’s me!!! I’ve been called all sorts in my life now to think of it. My name is very unique too. I never counted so let’s.. I go by ninja, nij, bij/bidge, badger, naj, ninj, nijnaj, najin, nagini- the audacity someone called me this with sense. It belonged to Voldemort’s last horcrux, the snake. I was offended. Highly impressed I never forget a pronunciation however

8. I get overwhelmed many times a day. It’s all very sudden and as much as it happens I’m always taken by this feeling. I get this rush because I’m always so eager to do something I think of or jot a thought down really quick and I’m not, it gets cut loose and forgotten and everything is too much and disoriented. My time and mind is always averted toward my art and I don’t want to forget what I’m thinking so I rush to spill it. When I read a book I’m overwhelmed because there’s much to read and not enough time and I can’t seem to control the desires to feel every other thing I ever aspire to do with my life especially the current days in the same moment of writing or reading. When I write abkht one thing another thing comes forth and then another related to the latter and so on. By then I lose trail of all thought and I’m stuck with a bundle of heightened feelings about these critical ideas and and a static hand. Can’t keep a lid on it, I lose my shit as quick as I can gather it

9. I am both these pages. Just like no message is a message so are these plain/ destroyed pages. They induct two significant personas. Many more if I could write an essay on it