If you’ve attended a comic, game, or similar convention in the Western United States in the past few years, you have probably seen a booth with a sign of top hat being worn by a tentacle. Below the sign exclaiming “Better living through tentacles” is a plethora of items made by Deeply Dapper, which any proud conventioneer will by interested in purchasing.Deeply Dapper is the business name for a creative, and slightly warped, artist and his views on the fandoms supported by many in our community.
The Artist(s)
Kristopher (Kris) McClanahan is the man behind the art and the madness, according to his own statements. His creations have a wide range. In trying to summarize what is in the booth he and Lindsay, his wife, live in during conventions I find myself not at a loss, but a little overwhelmed.
The range of products available leads me to believe Lindsay is involved with the creativeness on display. Along with the creative side, it is clear they put in a lot of work to ensure they have products people are looking for.
The Art
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| Kris McClanahan |
What first caught my attention were the fun pictures on display. I think just about every geek in our gaming community has some level of fandom they follow. At Deeply Dapper they give some straight up support of our favorites like Snake Plissken or Jareth, The Goblin King. There are also interesting twists on some well-known favorites such as The Satanic Mechanic, and the Dapper Monster Series including Mr Cthulhu and Mr Xenomorph.
Every time I see the booth at a convention there are new pictures making me smile.
Other Art Forms
Deeply Dapper art is more than just pictures to hang on the walls. They also have light switch covers and key hooks. Many of them have creative sayings to play off what we already know and quote when we are geeking out with friends. Potter fans could cast the light and dark spells of Lumos and Nox, while Zelda fans could pick up the keys because “It’s dangerous to go alone.”
The McClanahans have written and illustrated books fitting into the theme of their art. But you might be looking for something more portable.Enameled lapel pins come in varieties to support varied taste. You could go out one day with The Power Gauntlet and around Christmas sport your Krampus pin. And speaking of Christmas, check out the Krampus and Sasquatch holiday cards.
You can also get a flask to hold oil for your beard or to drink your preferred potion from. These are covered with unique sayings, along with what you are already expecting to see. And the beard oils are fragranced to match their line of melting waxes and soaps.
The fragrances are what has me and others in my group coming back to the booth. Of course some of the fragrances are easy to identify by their name—there is bacon. Other, however, require smelling. Once you smell them, you know the fragrance, but it is hard to identify popcorn from a soap named “Loyalty” with a badger (maybe I need to talk more to a Harry Potter fan about that). One person in our group regularly goes back for the coffee fragranced soap. During my last visit, I had to pick up a bar of Shiver because it had lips. I’m anticipating using it.
The last time I ran into this fun couple was at SaltCon (website and Facebook page) 2018. I hope my soap supply will last until the next convention. If not, I will have to go online to get more.
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| Soap |
You can check out the fun products Kristopher and Lindsay McClanahan are regularly coming up with by checking out Deeply Dapper (website, Facebook, and Etsy).
If you have a comment, suggestion, or critique please leave a comment here or send an email to guildmastergaming@gmail.com.
