The Velvet Alchemist

Picture it; Michigan, early naughts. VERY early naughts. Adult Swim is on TV, and I’m getting deep into Fullmetal Alchemist. As an as-of-yet-undiagnosed-ADHD-riddled creative person who dabbles in fanfiction, I found myself mentally toying with different forms of alchemy that would work in this animated world. This led to me wondering how this world’s alchemy would best benefit me.

“What if I could just… put the fabric and thread and zipper and all the stuff into an alchemical circle, clap that sucker, and boom. Outfit. No sewing machine issues, no pressing, no fiddling around with zipper feet and crying over a seam ripper or futzing with a paper pattern. Just a finished item, ready to wear. But what would I call it?”

Velvet Alchemy. BOOM. Trademark it.

A few years later, while keeping my friend company while she tended to her booth at Pagan Pride Day, I began doodling what would eventually become my logo. I set the goal of having my own booth the next year, writing out ideas of things I could make and sell on another page of my sketchbook. This ended up becoming a tradition, bringing this sketchbook to every event I vend at, jotting down thoughts and quick sketches and design ideas to try out once I got back into town.

The day finally came to name my booth. To establish myself on social media as a small business. To stake my claim on Etsy.

Wouldn’t you know it that Velvet Alchemy was already taken? *sigh*

Ok, fine. Hand me my eraser; we can still do this. What about…

The Velvet Alchemist.

My new name was accepted, my sketched logo was adjusted to reflect the name change, and voila! I scanned it in, made it my official profile picture, and introduced myself to the great wide world.

You would have laughed to see how excited I was that my own hand-drawn logo could be put on business cards. Once that box arrived in the mail I felt like I had truly made it. Using my Cricut to put my logo on a wooden sign that I strap to my booth canopy brought intense satisfaction. Someday, when I finally acquire a permanent vehicle in which to haul my wares, you bet I’ll be slapping my logo on the doors!

It’s been many years since that debut. Pagan Pride events, the local Burn Run, a farmer’s market, a pop-up market, harvest fests… promoting myself on various calls for Small Business Shoutouts from Facebook to Threads to Fark’s Holiday Farketplace… and I hope for many more in the future.

As for anime and fandom, I’m still a big ol’ geek. I still play around with fanfiction ideas in my head, still think of ways to shoehorn myself into various worlds while trying not to go full Mary Sue (NEVER go full Mary Sue!), still use that sketchbook to brain dump ideas of things to make for people.

Stay tuned for more stories, more updates, pictures, brain-dumps, and the rest!

Stay fresh, cheese bags!

-TVA