Notes:

- Polished stainless steel is way more difficult than brushed. The watercolor beads up and has to be applied thick, which makes it coarsely ridged and uneven, which makes the transfer quality poor. Then as one is engraving, the watercolor can flake off in large pieces from the vibration, which is especially awful for lettering. It is possible to apply the transfer straight on the metal (no watercolor), but due to the shiny, polished finish, it is hard to see. Basically, it SUCKS. I'm glad I only bought one of these particular tankards. Staying away from high polish in the future.

- Trying to apply transfer on a curved, beveled, irregular surface is still a crapshoot. Dampen paper with water, press it into the shape to dry, then acetone? No good. Press it into the shape, dampen with acetone from a mister? No good. The only way that works seems to be slow, firm movements pressing the paper against the object, getting it soaked through right the first time, and hoping for the best.

- I'm using windsor & newton cotman watercolor now, after finishing the tube of artist's loft (crap). There is a difference. The toner stuck to the artist's loft so well it was not possible to remove the toner print without removing and reapplying the watercolor. With the cotman, the toner print can be wiped off with acetone without disturbing the paint, which makes it more time friendly for repositioning.

- People are visually attracted to the colorful items first, and then if they stick around they look at the more subtle plain steel. But initially they scan the table quickly for an eyecatcher and either approach or walk on based on that. Maybe 20% read the little sign I put up. Only one person cared to use the QR code (I thought they would see more popular use these days, guess not) and everyone else went straight for the physical business coasters/cards. About 3 dozen people took cards. People did like the coasters and those went quickly. Spouse decided to express an opinion that he preferred regular business cards to the coasters (better to fit in pockets, etc) but his visiting coworker sided with me and said the utility of the coaster was worth it, and the non-standard shape was an advantage, ha. The battery powered rotating turntable is a huge winner - in fact I might get a second one. The little fabric bags for transport/purchases worked really well. A pair of battery powered clip lights might be a good for future indoor shows to show off the shiny engraving. People were reluctant to pick things up, and that is a problem because the angle of the cup "hides" the engraving if it is just sitting on the table, esp with the plain metal cups. I still need to figure out a good price marker method/placement - half the people didn't seem to get that the price was on the bottom of the cup, or they didn't want to pick up items to check (understandable). I want to do something without sticker adhesive, like a clip or magnets or something.

- Making a snappy looping video of the engraving process to show at the table might be a big boost. I'm pretty sick of saying "I hand engrave with a rotary tool" over and over to anyone who spends 3 seconds looking at stuff.

- One of the other artist vendors at the con was wearing a spider man novelty apron and it was pure genius. I'm going to wear my boba fett apron to the next con. I mean, 1) everyone knows aprons are cool and 2) perfect no-effort vendor costume and 3) I get to wear my boba fett apron in public. That guy is basically Einstein - I had to go over and compliment him and declare my intent to follow his fashion trend.

- I'm building a little sound dampening tent for my workspace. I got a kids playhouse construction set for $10 (oversized tinker toys - 16" plastic rods and connector pieces), and some acoustic foam tiles. I put together a shape that encloses a small tabletop work area of roughly 2.5' cubed and I'm cutting cardboard pieces to zip tie to the frame. Then I'll glue the foam tiles to the cardboard on the inside. It's not fine home decor, but hopefully it will take a few decibels off the engraving noise for the neighbors. As a bonus I can also use the construction pieces to make a custom lightbox frame for product photos. Cheaper than pvc pipe, not super sturdy but sturdy enough. Plenty of pieces left over for any other uses I think up.

- Going to visit the NGA today! Excitement. But have to get going.