i went to dojin kobo

recently, i made some more game merch for myself at dojin kobo (同人工房).

dojin kobo is a shop in ikebukuro where you can make your own merch in small numbers (like even just 1). you can do regular stuff like can badges & also some more unique stuff like nui (plush) cloth printing & mugs.

now a lot of online sites will let you make small lots of merch too, but at dojin kobo you have to make the merch by hand yourself, which is part of why i like it so much! the shop staff will print the data for you, but everything else you do yourself. for example, if you're making a can badge, you have to cut the design from the paper, put the paper & metal parts into the can badge maker, & then make the badge yourself.

it's an experience you wouldn't be able to get if you just got stuff made from an online site.

this is what i made this time:

• acrylic key holder
• cloth badges
• nui pettan (their flat felt "nui")

the merch i made this time was all stuff you needed to do heat transfers for, which means i had to line up the printed heat transfer sheets with what i wanted the prints transferred on to. in the photo above, i have the print transfer sheet with the acrylic heart.

then, i used this big machine thing (sorry i don't know what it's called... it's the black machine in the photo below lol) to heat the sheet & transfer the print.

that was pretty much all i had to do for the acrylic key holder & the nui pettan (the nui pettan is just a felt sheet that you cut & stick together at home), but i still had stuff to do for the cloth can badges.

i made can badges with paper before at dojin kobo but i got dust stuck in between the paper & the plastic cover... so actually i found the cloth badges easier since there's no cover to get dust stuck under. i think they turned out really cute so i want to make more.

i screwed up a little with the acrylic so there's a spot under the hat where there's no colour but i'm just going to ignore it 😅

i'm super satisfied with the nui pettan! making nuis takes so much time & work but for this all i have to do is cut out the shapes & glue them together. plus, it being flat makes it easier to carry around.

i don't want dust to get on it though so i'm going to look for a carry pouch at the 100 yen shop soon.

there's still other merch i want to make for myself so i want to go to dojin kobo again soon 👀