#WIPWednesday - March 13th, 2024

 Hey there, everyone.

I've been kicking myself for not spending much time in the workshop this past month, and thinking I don't have anything to share for Work-in-progress Wednesday. Well, that's because I've been working on a bunch of other stuff, so I do have some stuff to talk about this week. There won't be much of a photo album, but here's an info dump!

3D Printing Expo

This past weekend was the 3D Printing Expo at the Carmel Clay Public Library in Carmel, where I was one of fifteen people talking about 3D printing. Of course, I was there to talk about using 3D printing for pops and costuming, and showing off some of my work. Now, with this being a library presentation I do attempt to keep the replicas of props based on real-world firearms at a minimum. This meant a lot of the Star Wars stuff I had was off the list, but I was able to bring my batch of Star Trek TNG-era phasers, a few lightsabers, and the Optimus Prime helmet, along with my Bambu P1P. The event was a good time, and I did enough talking that the thermos of Throat Coat tea I had was pretty useless, especially since I hated taking my mask off. I'm already thinking about what I might make if I go back next year, and I'm thinking something about backpack size. I'll let you ponder what that might be.

Email List

A week or so ago, I met with one of the people behind Beacons.AI, the "Link in Bio" tool I've been using for the past year. They've been steadily growing, offering more than just the link in bio stuff, and one of the things they have been working on is Email Marketing. So I figured, why not?

I now have an email list. Once I hit ten subscribers (huge goal, I know!), I'm planning on sending out a weekly wrap-up email on Fridays, talking about new items in the shop, new blog posts, events that might be coming up, and maybe a meme or media recommendation. If something like this would interest you, feel free to visit this link to sign up, and as a bonus, the follow-up email will have a 10% off code for Troxell's Trading Post!

Also, a shameless affiliate plug is incoming! Suppose you are looking for a way to start putting your stuff out there as a creator. In that case, Beacons offers up a link in bio tool, a media kit tool, email marketing, and a digital online store with more stuff on the way like Shopify integration and a website builder. If something like this interests you, please check them out, and if you do, please use my Affiliate Link. Doing so will get you some money off if you sign up for a paid level, and will also get me some money to help cover costs that product sales aren't covering. Remember, I don't do affiliate stuff unless I really like the thing I'm recommending, and I really do like Beacons, as well as the team putting it together.

Troxell's Trading Post and Comic Carnival

If you've been watching my social media, you might have seen that I kind of went out of my comfort zone and spoke to Comic Carnival, one of the Midwest's oldest comic shops and a place I've been shopping for almost forty years, to see if they would like to carry some of the 3D prints I'm licensed to sell. After some discussion, I ended up bringing a selection of dice towers and boxes from Fate's End, as well as some articulated critters by MatMire Makes. They ended up wanting to sell everything, so I now have a bunch of stuff on consignment at one of my favorite comic shops (of which, I admit, I have a few scattered across the state and country). I've already dropped some signage off, and found out in just a week they have sold a small amount of stuff, so I need to bring more stock in. I'll be restocking at least once a month, so if you're in Indianapolis, please give them a visit, check out my stuff, and grab some of the Star Trek comics by IDW because they have been fantastic!

Props for Cosplay/May the Fourth

So, with all that behind me, I now have about seven weeks before I present "Props for Cosplay" or something along those lines at the Anderson Public Library. This means I need to find a balance between Troxell's Trading Post stuff, Troxell Builds posting, and putting together my updated presentation, as well as getting some items molded and cast and other items finished and painted. My goal is to have enough to talk about different ways to make props for your costume. I'm planning on touching on the use of household items (lots of Star Wars props did this, and Star Trek had the salt and pepper shakers for McCoy's medical instruments), modifying toys (HasLab Proton Pack and some of the Playmates and Art Asylum Star Trek stuff), and even a bit on molding and casting. I know I have more to cover, I just need to find my notes and outline I put together before I had to cancel due to COVID last fall.

That should cover everything for the past couple of weeks. As always, make sure you visit the photo album for this week's post at this link. I'll be back next Wednesday, provided I don't get called up for jury duty on Monday, and I'll show off some of the items I'm printing this week to help refill the case. In the meantime, please remember that the world REALLY sucks out there. Try not to make it suck even more, in fact, if you can? Try to make it suck a little less. 

Be excellent to yourselves, and each other.
Tony