maria_sputnik

Aww, sold out already!

:(

no, i just don't know how to work etsy -- there are plenty of copies, i just needed to increase the number from "1." it's up again, now.

Goodness, that was a process!

Did you have to sign up? Maybe I should try a different method of internet capitalism, like just having people paypal me directly :P

Yeah, etsy requires people to sign up for accounts, I guess. I had been avoiding etsy for fear that I would let them have all of my money in one late-night spree.

also, i didn't really intend for my friends to pay, especially (ahem) those who have sent me their own free minicomics

Oh, pish posh, the last one was a fair trade. Plus, you are charging a pittance.

will you teach me how to draw?

have you ever tried the book "drawing from the right side of the brain"?

1. YOU LOVE COMICS and comics loves you

2. i'm adding the pony story to my files for the next time i have to have a discussion about sobriety with an animal-rights straightedge person.

that pony story would just confuse things. it confuses me!

i'm going to start selling dog portraits on etsy, and i was thinking maybe you should sell cat portraits there! that is, if you are still into doing that. i swear, a little promotion and you could be rolling in a stack of cat-portrait dollar bills

i am convinced that after seeing your portraits, any potential "clients" would refuse to settle for anything less adorable. but i was just thinking about drawing cats yesterday, and lamenting that that had fallen through. how much are you selling your dog-wares for? when are you in san francisco? we can have a TAX-DEDUCTIBLE LUNCH ABOUT IT

i was thinking about selling them for twenty-five dollars. i think you should charge fifty or sixty, though. PET OWNERS WILL PAY. my friend who i got the cat portrait for is still talking about it and thinking of sending other cat owners your way and etc.

i am in sf from early evening friday (halloween) through late evening sunday. is APE the kind of thing you can break out from to have a tax-deductible lunch?

also, about going to comics festivals, what are people supposed to do there? besides roaming around and buy comics. at MOCCA i went around trying to befriend people and trade comics with them but it didn't feel right at all -- MOCCA is no portland zine symposium!

what's going on in sf for halloween? i feel ill-prepared for this holiday.

i would totally draw cats for $50 a pop but do not have the brains to actually tell this to people with both cats and money.

you can totally bail on ape! i find that i can only stand these cons for like three hours and then need to flee. there's not really anything to do in the immediate vicinity but there's like buses and shit.

there's also dinner! breakfast is right out though.

i think roaming around and buying comics is pretty much it. also stalking famous people, and having awkward claustrophobic conversations with fellow cartoonists, and the agony of trading your comic with people you like. ape is a little less crazy than mocca. it's just one big room and it's made out of calming wood. on the west coast.

jesse made us feel like we were supposed to go to comics conventions and make friends with people, like that was the key to a successful and happy life, so @ mocca i felt like i was supposed to be Socializing and Getting to Know Someone. and i did meet dylan, but mostly it was just a nervewrackathon and maybe i am better suited to courting happiness and success via mail-order

you wanna have lunch or dinner saturday?

w/regards to your upcoming cat portrait empire, you don't have to tell anyone much of anything, it's easy to set up an etsy acct., there are already people on there doing dog portraits but they are not half as good as your cat portraits. seriously man. do you want me to set it up for you?

mostly it was just a nervewrackathon

it's always like that though. for almost everyone. that's why we all drink so much at these things. i guess that's no help for you though, nerd!

you wanna have lunch or dinner saturday?

yes. i'll be in contact via cellular phone technology, if we don't just see each other there (which sounds impossible, but it seems to happen a lot)

etsy: i thought that was just for crafts and stuff! i am phobic of it still. does it work? do people buy stuff from you? do you send your stuff somewhere or is it just like your po box + facebook?

etsy is just a way for people to find you. you still have to send your stuff directly to the person buying...it's like ebay, i think. but without the "auction" part. and everything is handmade. or has a weeping deer applique. or witch juice.

they take a bite of your proceeds (takes 20 cents to list, and they take 3.5 of your eventual profit). the advantage is that all the crafty people can find you easily.

as for its functionality, i dunno. i just signed up 24 hours ago. i've already sold sixteen comics (!) but i don't think that has much to do with etsy.

Oh, the presidents are sold out! (I love them, by the way, and have sent everyone I know a link to your post.) Do you think you'll have any more? Or perhaps you could point me to another place I could purchase it?

Also, I friended you on Etsy. I'm puppetempire, which is a year-old empty store that someday I will use to purvey my puppets. Someday.

That picture of the drunk pony is probably one of the best things I've seen in a while.

No, the presidents aren't sold out -- I am just not good @ operating etsy! There's a bunch of 'em up there if you want to point people to it. (Also, in PDX, there's gonna be a handful @ guapo and floating world.)

I want to see a picture of a puppet! Are there any puppets already in existence, or are they all currently residing in the mysterious kingdom inside yr head?

I bought one! I thought I bought four, but Etsy confuses me a little bit, and I only bought one, but I am very excited. I'll check out the local stores next time I'm in their general vicinity. How exciting! These seriously are so, so great.

As for puppet pictures, my icon is one. I had some for sale on consignment at a place in New York (except they still owe me money so I haven't sent them any more) and at a place here in Portland. Mostly they're animals and old, slightly creepy people. I don't have many on hand, & I don't actually have a camera either, which is an obstacle.

hmm...no camera makes internet capitalism more challenging.

i'm gonna be in pdx october 29 and 30 (i'm going to my friend vanessa's book reading on the 29th -- you're invited if you'd like). if you wanted to schedule a meeting between me and puppets i could take some 'o their pictures.

also, how's the bugzine coming along? i am atwitter with anticipation.

I would love to go to the book reading! As for puppet photos, I only have three or four assembled right now, and they're promised to people, but it would be awesome to have some documentation, if you have the time.

The thing about projects, is I'm a very easily distracted person. Mostly I've been drawing pictures and writing up outlines of how I wish to properly convey my insect affection, except I've been working on other projects & socializing which gets in the way. This weekend! This weekend I'm not going to do anything but make stuff, so I hope to make some headway.

okay, keep the evening of the 30th bookmarked then, i believe the reading is at the waypost, and there'll be spooky music, it should be fun.

it's good to be enthusiastic about multiple projects! but i am impatient to learn about bug love all the same.

Yay! Now we're etsy friends. Hooray to you for taking the capitalistic plunge. Your adoring fans want more.

hearted? <3

hey, so if i have like forty copies of the same zine, on etsy i have to pay twenty times forty to upload the whole possible inventory? that is sort of less than ideal. considering i'm only charging a dollar fifty to begin with. i think i need to work on my capitalism a bit more

yep 20 times 40. or you can hit re-list each time you sell one - that's what I do on my knitting patterns. That makes it show up like a new listing, too, so you get to be on top of the list again and your thing is on the home page for about three seconds.

Plus paypal takes like 40 cents off each 1.50 we pay you. So you wind up with 90 cents. Use it to buy more ink.

how's it going with the guatemalan knitting collectives, btw?

My ecuadorian squid samples came back wonky. Knitted really well, but they goofed on a couple parts of the pattern. So I'm doing another round of samples, and I hafta wait another 8 weeks to see how round 2 turns out. I guess it's not a get rich quick scheme either, but I should be able to do craft fairs by next summer with the whole menagerie.

i think outsourced collective-knit cephalopods are a quicker route to prosperity (or ruin) than selling xeroxed pamphlets on th' internet, BUT I COULD BE WRONG, IT'S HAPPENED BEFORE

Not sold out already!

No, that was a clerical error, there are heaps of them and now I've relisted it.

I sent one of the older comics to you just yesterday, Saw.

Dude, you are getting SO MUCH COMICS in your mail this week!

YOU RULE!

thanks!

YAY! I love Carlo, and your beautiful arts. Keep going! YAYS! Etc.

44 presidents is sold out! nooo
any chance of restocking? eh eh?

never mind :)