CEO/co-founder @dualwieldstudio 🗡inactive account maintained by @ZaraVarin
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Watching someone start up with "can you really safely ship X/Y in Hades, aren't they cousins" followed by "several people are typing."
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Not everyone can afford to pay someone to do merchandise for their IP, whatever it may be, but some general basics when doing merch:
⭐️ Hard enamel rather than soft
⭐️ Shirt ordering should be a bell curve where M/L are your highest qtys
⭐️ Triblend unless 3-4XL+
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Let's talk about art and IP theft, from the perspective of small creators: when your ideas, IP, artwork are taken and used by a large company not just without your permission, but expressly against your written disapproval.
Specifically, Party City and "Spies in Space."
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In case you're like me and literally CANNOT SEE ANYTHING BUT BUTTS ON SOIL, they're HANDS.
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The gist of this article is that plastic sorting and recycling is and has basically always been bullshit. Only a tiny bit gets recycled; it was all to sell more plastic and make money.
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Shout out to the mid 60s dude chastising his son(?) for being an asshole about someone’s gender. ‘I’m 63 and I can do this shit, Scott, you don’t have an excuse to be an asswipe.’
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destiny nerds mad about the fact that Things Cost Money so:
-$80 bucks is actually extremely reasonable given it looks like there's custom molding/tweaking on the actual toaster itself
- artists and designers cost money to employ
Get that bread, Guardian.
The Destiny Toaster is now available for pre-order on the Bungie Store.
🍞bung.ie/2S7JCTi
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I'm starting to go through emails for folks reaching out about Among Us and I just wanted to outline some tips for fanartists/creators who reach out to companies large and small asking about licensing and rights for your favorite IP!
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“Your shorts don’t go past your fingertips so you have to change.”
“I can see your bra strap if you lean while wearing that shirt you have to change.”
I dunno man I feel like y’all are enforcing what girls can wear every day, this isn’t rocket science.
BACK TO SCHOOL PHOTOS: The superintendent defended the district's decision not to require masks. “Wearing a mask is a personal choice and there is no practical way to enforce a mandate to wear them.”
news4jax.com/news/politics/2…
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This is something I can't stop thinking about. Do you know how hard it is to make money selling physical products when you are ethical about it? Creating items ethically, and paying your employees a living wage when you are starting a business destroys your margins.
Why does everyone believe you CANT be a billionaire ethically? I always see people say it like it’s a known fact
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I feel like it’s very clearly obvious that current administration is using Covid to justify making it easier to remove people they do not want, and prevent others from entering. It’s not policy failure— it’s working as intended.
This is bad. ICE just told students here on student visas that if their school is going online-only this fall, the students must depart the United States and cannot remain through the fall semester. ice.gov/news/releases/sevp-m…
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This is an artist contest that was clearly set up by someone who was so careful and thoughtful of the artists. This really rules.
We're teaming up with @squarespace to bring you the CLG Anime Artist Trials. Think you have what it takes to work with CLG as our next anime artist? $5000 in prizes and commission could be yours.
Enter: clg.gg/artisttrials
NoPurchNec18+➡️ clg.gg/artist-trial-rules
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anyway the moral of this story is ship whatever the fuck you want and i am in WAY too many discords so we're fixing that problem
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I work in merchandising and this is very disappointing!
Hey artists, it's worthwhile to know that merchandising is EXTREMELY LUCRATIVE. It’s really disappointing the payouts are so low, and you’re soliciting free work from small creators.
Artists: you deserve more.
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I had SUCH a blast working with the @killercurvesco team the last few weeks for launch TODAY and it was SO FUN, please look at some of my favorite items on this storefront!!
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Dragon Age is being discussed in 3 different discords and in each one the universal name for the Qunari woman is "big wife" and I think that's neat.
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Gaming (and other industries but I've experienced this the most with gaming) is notorious for this. I don't know if people outside of it really understand the mental calculations that I and other women do every single time we have a meeting or interaction.
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posted on behalf of Rowan by @ZaraVarin
ALT With profound grief, I’m so sorry to share that Rowan Rowden has died by suicide. She left detailed notes and entrustments that are being honored with ongoing arrangements. I ( Zara Varin ) am acting according to Rowan’s wishes as outlined in her notes, will, and legal estate plan, wherein Rowan appointed me as the primary contact for all matters. In the interim as further arrangements are being made, please know her cats - Gabe and Mjolnir - are being cared for and are both okay. The greatest help I can ask of you is to support yourself, and to reach out and accept help if you need it. Please. I will share any updates on arrangements or other news in this space. - Zara Varin
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⭐️ White shirts sell the worst out of LITERALLY any other color.
⭐️ Screenprint/use water-based ink on shirts unless it has 4+ colors.
⭐️ Socks don't sell great.
⭐️ Most manufacturers will require a minimum order qty of 100-300. If it's lower, be wary.
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Guess you should pay your employees more.
Coronavirus unemployment relief shouldn't include $600 weekly bonus payment, writes Rachel Greszler.
Many workers are making more from unemployment than their regular paychecks. That's discouraging work and making it harder for businesses to hire.
nbcnews.com/think/opinion/co…
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supergiantgames.com/blog/pol… That Supergiant Games fanart policy, you really do love to SEE IT.
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We're launching the officially licensed @AmongUsGame plush today! Let’s talk about our process of creating this plush, supporting small creators, and why you should buy this plush from the official Innersloth store!
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Just because you delete the original post I called you out on doesn't mean that it's not still insanely problematic and shitty that you are soliciting free work from small creators when you have the ability to pay for it.
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Unfortunately, I've had a few cancellations of preorders on the D20 dice bangles. They were already paid for/produced, however, so uh, let's do a (US only sorry)✨giveaway✨? Rules in 3rd photo.
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every complaint i've read about venom has really been an endorsement and further reason for me to watch lmao
Critics are piling on the carnage and love in equal parts atop Tom Hardy's #Venom sequel, calling it a "porn tentacle fest," while others celebrated its bonkers aesthetic. ew.com/movies/venom-let-ther…
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nothing has disappointed me more in the last 6 months than finding out that pig head dude from demon slayer has a human head underneath
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Muting this thread just in case antis/fandom police decide to come in here because I don't have time for that, but it was nice to laugh about something dumb and harmless for once during this 2020 hellscape.
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YEAHHHH, SEATTLE independent contractors/self-employed people etc!!! We get to apply for unemployment Saturday!!
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⭐️ Please Stop Making The One Piece Of Merchandise With A Woman Pink. I'm begging you.
⭐️ Generally, the only people wanting to wear a free tshirt that says a company's name/logo on it are your employees and even then that's debatable.
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⭐️ Your/your studio's/your coworker's favorite character will Probably Not Be fandom's favorite character. Have merch before/on launch, but also don't count on your fav being fandom's fav.
⭐️ When placing designs on shirts, consider what happens if the wearer's chest isn't flat.
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If the owner of a design doesn't have the item in stock, it is not an excuse or acceptable for you to STEAL A DESIGN and produce it on your own, holy shit.
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Hey, are you an artist/creator? Do you have (original) items that are "dead/overstock" you would sell at a discounted rate (or give away?) I'm working on a project with a class to help get them items to sell so they can run a fundraiser & I would love to chat.
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#VA11HALLA fans literally broke our shopify reports by placing orders too quickly for it to process, you guys are amazing.
It’s a holiday miracle! 🎄
A small trove of #VA11HALLA Jill plushies were discovered by our partners at @dualwieldstudio and are available on their website right now!
Get her before she’s gone from their store here: dualwieldstudio.com/products…
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Every time I see someone mad that X small business doesn't have something in their size, I want to just link them to the latest quotation I got where adding 4,5,6,7XL would be an additional $3900 but would probably only sell $450.
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Birthday looks 🎂 featuring Gabe who is starving and wants none of my love, and these absurd halo sunglasses my mom got me that I am never removing.
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The simplest marketing thing you can do as an artist alley person making/selling your own enamel pins is to spend the additional .10-.20 cents per pin on a custom back that is your store name or whatever name you use for people to find you.
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⭐️ Every piece of merchandise created should have your branding on it.
"But Rowan, what about-"
EVERY. PIECE.
⭐️ Buttons, basic apparel, (some) paper goods & other small items can be made domestic. Almost everything else is done overseas.
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⭐️ Don't do glassware unless it's POD service. The one time I will heartily advocate for POD. Glassware sucks. Please don't do this to yourself. You're good and deserve good things.
⭐️ Metal, plastic, enamel, whatever - anything but rubber keychains. Please.
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Boom Studios wildly underpays for so much of their work, and when they do pay they can't be bothered to pay it on time half the time. I get KS is GREAT for marketing and visibility but they treat their artists like garbage and it sucks Keanu Reeves is working with them.
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Are you fucking kidding me it’s been this easy this whole time? I’m 30 years old ARE YOU KIDDING ME.
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TenCent just replaced all of China Literature’s founding members with their own in an attempt to make more profit off creator owned IP, probably after seeing The Untamed (and others) success. This is REALLY CONCERNING when you realize how much TenCent owns of our entertainment.
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Aw hey! Licensing Global did a feature on me and you can read it here: licensinginternational.org/n…
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If you're an indie whatever (book, comic, game) and ever have questions about best practices with merch or just want to pick someone's mind with weird questions my DMs are always open.
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These are figures, produced by dragonsandbeasties.com. The original watermark is cropped out of this image. This is why artists ask you don’t repost their work; this creator lost out on income because of this.
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Sitting on this has been so hard OMGGGGG BUT LOOK 🙏🏻❤️
Bidet! We had the absolute honor of designing the adorable Trinket plush for @CriticalRole's record-smashing Kickstarter. More photos and info in their latest backer update!
🐻 Update: kickstarter.com/projects/cri…
🐻 Design by @sa_roux
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Oh wait here's the most important one: leave 3 months for merchandise making unless you're using a print on demand service (which really...you should only use in specific cases but that's a hill I'm willing to die on that others, understandably, are not.)
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The reason so many of these large companies ARE so large and DO grow is that they take advantage of their employees by offering low wages to do work.
I need people to understand just how long it takes to source goods from ethical manufacturers. How much MONEY it takes.
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I turn 32 this year and I’m still writing and posting fic, and managed to turn fandom creations into job for me and other fandom creators. It gets better as you get older in fandom, not worse.
As someone who doesn’t know what direction in life I want to take, seeing 30+ year olds still creating fandom content gives me hope to know I may still enjoy doing this well into my 30s and 40s..I’m so sick of others saying “once you hit thirty you shouldn’t be in fandom anymore”
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Have to catch myself sometimes when I go "Oh, my friend," because friend is sometimes "person I would trust with my life and have known for 5+ years" or "met at a bar at a con once or twice and we got hotdogs at 4 am which is a Bonding Experience and now we are friends"
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facebook sees fit to remind me of this incredibly cursed photo of me every year, and every year i laugh at it
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one of my most hated tropes.
you don't have to forgive your shitty parent(s) for shitty things they did to you. more media where the character just tells them to get bent and never talks to them again.
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I have other things I need to be doing but you know whaaaat, it's time for a thread about Epic Games' fanart policy, why companies trying to monetize or control fandom aren't doing it well, and what some better options are. epicgames.com/site/en-US/fan…
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"I know that merchandise like posters and pins and plushies that aren't official is a gray area so why am I being asked to stop"
buddy it's not a gray area, if you're making merchandise for an IP you don't have a contract for or an IP you don't own you broke the rules
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If you're at someone's house for Thanksgiving and they have a pet, you should absolutely respond to this and show me a picture of it, it's important, thanks.
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Hey? This sucks. Can we get military recruitment out of our fucking gaming spaces? It doesn't matter that it's positioned as ~ so cool, interacting with Discord. Jesus Christ this is honestly horrifying.
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A month and three days ago we signed a license contract with the @InnerslothDevs and it's been a whirlwind since then. I'm going to do a post about it later when I have a functioning brain, but first I want to call out why we were able to do this:
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we're dipping our toes into publishing and holy shit when adri and i started dws 4 years ago i never would have imagined we'd be a merch team AND PUBLISHER AHHHH.
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Can’t sleep combined with ✨anxiety ✨ night so here’s some pics of my cat & the heart on the bottom of his foot I only noticed this year (he’s like. 8.)
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Got a Dymo label printer finally because I’m shipping so many packages and these are the test prints it comes with when you open it up.
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Tiny girlscout: do you want to buy some cookies?
Me: oh I’m sorry I don’t have cash right now!
TINIER GS: it’s ok we accept Venmo!
Me:
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So much exciting news this week! First up, we've got our first piece of Beka Cooper apparel available, done in collaboration with @TamoraPierce!
dualwieldstudio.com/collecti…
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Unfortunately, I can't go to TJ's ever again because I got the same cashier as the last two times and she cheerfully looked at me and said, "Oh, pomegranate girl!" as I attempted to purchase 4 more.
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beers: drank
character: in
orgy: begun
i am forcibly expelled from the orgy
The recent news story that Batman is not allowed to go down on Catwoman has led me to discover this delightful story of Adam West (The 1960s Batman) and Frank Gorshin getting kicked out of a Hollywood orgy because they wouldn’t break character
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Sometimes Gabe just really wants attention and wants to be picked up and carried like this around the house while I do normal stuff.
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When you're setting up your contracts, add in a payment time/deadline. I put 50% up front to all of my artists to start work, with remaining pay when the project is completed to be delivered w/in a week. Don't trust companies to do this FOR you though; most won't.
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This isn’t particularly surprising by any means but it is terrifying. Read the whole article and then consider: how much plastic are you tossing out to “recycle” in a day?
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