- What is it that you sell?
We sell a variety of ttrpg (table top role play game) accessories, many of which are made from wood and cut/engraved with a laser engraver. We also make 3D printed items such as our own custom articulated dragons, dice holders, and a select handful of items that we source from other artists. We are known at faires and conventions for our wooden mimic boxes, monster books, wooden dice towers, and wooden journals.
- What got you interested in starting out in this business?
Ami started as an actor in the New Jersey Renaissance faire in 2014 and later performed as an independent with Chaste Treasure. She has enjoyed Renaissance Faires since she first visited one back in the early 2002. Jesse was the supportive husband who also enjoyed attending Renaissance Faires. After years of involvement in the Renaissance Faire scene, Jesse found out that he was going to be let go from his full-time job due to departmental restructuring (right around COVID). We decided to invest in a laser engraver and start our own craft business making fairy doors and dice boxes. We did our first show right after the pandemic shutdowns at the New Jersey Renaissance faire and have enjoyed being vendors ever since with a focus on ttrpg related crafts.
A part of our decision to start this business was wanting to work for ourselves and not spend all of our time and energy working for a corporation. Ami was also in school to finish her master’s degree in forensic science. As such, this was a more flexible option as a part time job which still helped pay tuition and other bills. We started with Renaissance Faires due to having been familiar with the scene after years of acting within them and helping at various faire events. We started doing some nerd focused conventions this year but have also spread to further faires within the Tri state area.
- When did you start selling? In general or at ren fests?
We started selling at renaissance faires. The New Jersey Renaissance Faire in 2021 was our first vending event.
- What was your local faire or home faire?
The New Jersey Renaissance Faire.
- What advice do you have to give to others that are just starting out in this business? Or how to stay in this business?
You have to love it. It isn’t just a job. In a way, it’s a way of life. We work more hours a day than we would at a 9-5 job. Some days we work 12-16 hours to make sure we make enough product for a show. We work in all weather conditions: hot, cold, wet… We come to each show with joy in our hearts, ready to jump in with both feet for another amazing day. There’s no room for being grumpy or negative or miserable about conditions. Our job isn’t just selling product: it’s making sure everyone that visits us feels our joy and our love of being there. Our job is to have fun because that’s how you help others have fun. Our job is to be kind and open and friendly and help pull people even further into the realm within which we are selling our wares. Our job is to spread joy and acceptance and happiness. If you can genuinely enjoy yourself no matter how hot, tired, cold, wet, etc you may be then you will be successful, and your joy will be contagious and remembered by everyone who experiences it.
Its one of the hardest jobs I’ve done but it’s also one of the most fulfilling, most fun, and most enjoyable jobs as well.
- How do you handle thefts or copying of your works?
We tell people that if they really want to do what we do they are more than welcome to try: if they do it well then, we will wholesale from them, haha. What we do isn’t easy and the tools we use are a bit pricey. Even with a laser and a 3D printer: honing in the settings for the laser to ensure good cuts, taking care of the wood and the machine, knowing how to troubleshoot and fix it when something does go wrong, knowing how to 3D sculpt and design, being able to put everything together… It’s a lot of work and it isn’t easy work either.
- Are you doing any online sales or virtual performances?
We do have an online website for online sales. 3D2U.org. Our website is a little bare bones during the active faire seasons as we have most of our items with us and with how unique many of our items are, it is difficult to keep up with online stock. However, we tell people that if they follow our Facebook they can see new items that we make as we make them. If they see us post an image of something they want, and it isn’t on the website, they can message us and ask us to invoice them for it and ship it to them or hold it for them until the next faire.
- In five years (or less) my goal is to: ___________________
Our eventual goal is to turn this into our sole means of income. Right now we are still fresh: only about 3 years in business. We hope within the next five years to expand our reach both with direct vending and wholesale supplying. Right now, we sell some of our products wholesale to the amazing folks at Dice Knight Adventures who run a festival wide RPG at faires all around the country. We just bought a second laser engraver at the end of last year and upgraded our 3D printers this year with the hope of being able to create more so as to take on more wholesale clients. We have also signed up for a total of 11 events this year, some of which are multiple weekends long.
- At faire, what was your garb/attire your usual go to?
Jesse tends to wear blue wizard robes covered in pins he’s collected, a Luffy hat, and a leather belt. Ami will switch it up from time to time but generally enjoys wearing green in her garb. Sometimes it is a green dress while other times it may be a green skirt and bodice with a white chemise.
- What makes your act/wares unique or different?
Most of our wares are made out of wood and, as such, have unique patterns based on the wood grain, burn pattern of the laser, and any other tweaks or special details we decide to add. We source many of our materials from other small businesses (our wood is from a small business who specializes in making the sheets we need for the engraver, our pattern wood for our Mohawk mimics comes from a small business who specialize in infusing patterns into wood, and many of the engraved designs come from small businesses who specialize in making digital SVG files.) A lot of love and thought goes into each product made. The smell of the burned wood, the intricate designs and features (such as wooden hinges) that the laser engraver can help fashion, and the overall quality of the products help draw people to our products. We also enjoy seeing how we can level up our skills by trying new techniques or tweaking designs until they meet a quality that we would desire for ourselves. If it isn’t something we find joy in then we don’t make it. We feel that the love we put into our products can be felt by those who pick them up at festivals. Feeling that love is how they find new loving homes.
Everything we sell is something that we enjoy (and have probably kept at least one of for ourselves, haha.)
We have also started to make out own 3D printed articulated dragons and dice displays this year. As they are sculpted specifically by Ami, the exact designs she makes can only be found here for the moment. (She may decide to sell the files for commercial licensing at a later date but that is something we are still looking into.)
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Thank you so much for letting us feature 3DTU and RPG type things, this is rather interesting. To see new technology mixed within the older style products you can get at a Faire. This to me, is what makes faires so interesting. There is usually something for everyone.
Happy Easter/Happy Spring to those that celebrate. #Huzzah!
Again, this is just a promotional service that we provide, so please do your due diligence in researching this vendor.
If you would like to be featured, please reach out to us on our fan page http://www.facebook.com/renperfmerch and we will get back to you as soon as we can.
