Welcome! If you're new, I'm the owner and sole person dedicated to working on breadartjournal. I wear many hats with this brand, and have been growing and evolving as many times as I need to. I'm also working on getting back into reading, and am a big fan of vtubers, in case it wasn't obvious on my twitter lol.
I've missed out on updating for September, but I'm finding myself having a lot more to say this time around. Many things have happened since then, including but not limited to: Cosplay Mania and our launch of SavePoint rush printing service, getting into First Stage Production's latest debut vtuber group, Sontaris, more reading (that inevitably slowed down throughout the weeks,) and finally, my collaboration with Artists Alliance for Peasant Rights (AAPR) for printing their mail kits and their event at Rift Gallery last September.
I'm excited to talk about SavePoint, the on-site rush printing service me and two other artist run and owned printshops (Mel with a Print Shop and Shirakami Prints) decided to put together on little more than inside jokes that became not-jokes once we booked the AirBnB. It had happened, as with many things, spontaneously -- Mel and I having successfully conquered the two day on-site printing run we did at OshiCon last August under the banner of Shirakami & Friends (we were the "friends"). We joked for a while about doing the same thing/offering the same service for Cosplay Mania, eventually looking up the shelled booth costs, and deciding that maybe we should just set up shop in a nearby AirBnB instead. Artists would be able to pick up their goods from there or have it delivered to them at SMX when Shirakami Prints made their deliveries for their Snackies. We were supposed to lock in promotions a lot earlier on, but with Shirakami's emergency surgery and prep for the Snackies, Mel with the sheer amount of orders for Cosplay Mania, and myself having to deal with a broken printer, things ended up happening on a time crunch instead.
We advertised almost a week before Cosplay Mania, set up our price list and our email, and had our fingers crossed that we would at least breakeven. (Spoilers: We did, and then some!) There were a lot of growing pains we had to contend with, and had to make systems as we went along, but that dinky airbnb weekend with three printers and an assortment of manufacturing goods was one of the best spontaneous weekends of my printing career, to date. Mel, Det, Jeii, and I would like to extend our most heartfelt thanks to everyone who had ordered from us at SavePoint, and we hope to do something like that again soon!
On the topic of vtubers, I've been captivated by Varis Hemlock, of First Stage Production English's fourth wave, Sontaris. The entire wave is an interesting mix of characters, but it was Varis who ensnared me in his web, haha. I can't say much else, except that I've already called myself a Varling and bought the only merch I could find of him at Cosplay Mania. :')
It's been going on for a bit, but I've been helping out a bit with Artist's Alliance for Peasant Rights (AAPR). Just last September, they tapped me to help facilitate a creative journaling workshop alongside a talk and speaker who advocated against putting up the Pax Silica AI Data Center at their gallery show in Rift Gallery, EDSA! The gallery show has since concluded, but I had a great time getting to listen to the speaker who was an advocate for our indigenous people who would be directly affected by Pax Silica. I hope that I was able to help in bringing awareness to that, even just a little!
AAPR also has an ongoing mail kit -- and I've been helping them out with printing. Each month there's a different subject for advocacy. More than stickers and prints, the AAPR mail kit features a local artist and a letter from the featured community. This October, the focus is on Tarlac and our indigenous people who are standing against Pax Silica!
As events go, I've managed to get into two major ones coming up this November -- Paskomiket (14 to 15 November) and Planner Con (29 November)! I'm very excited to sell at these events again, and hopefully the ideas I have for merch make it past the proverbial drawing board and into customers' hands! The weekend after Planner Con (5 December), I've decided to have the Q4 Journal Jam, which should be my last journaling related event for the year. As per usual, this upcoming Journal Jam is co-organized with Belle, who will also be at the event. I'll be posting the poster and other details regarding the upcoming Journal Jam soon!
That's all for now.
Thanks for reading!
breadartjournal