Hot Dang Press - An Interview With Katherine Wallis

The business of making tattoos for your clothes and how the strawberry is the bird of this craft decade.

Tattoos for your clothes - who else is totally in? I had the chance to chat with the fine folks over at Hot Dang Press (Katherine and Ben Wallis) all about their business, life in Atlanta, navigating wholesale and more. Be sure to check out their website, Instagram and Faire.

Oh and guess what I’m giving away a sheet of adorable Hot Dang Iron-On Transfers! More at the end of the interview.

Where are you? Your profiles kinda say all over the place, but I’m guessing Atlanta area is home base? If I’m correct how is the DIY scene there? I know you have Plaid corporate right outside of town, the Indie Craft Experience has been around a good long while and I’m obsessed with Michelle Norris and Space Queen.

We are in Atlanta! We met in Atlanta doing stand up comedy, and in 2021 we moved to LA, then back to Atlanta in 2023. Ben’s older daughters (my stepdaughters) still live in LA during the school year, so it will always be one of our homes. But man, Atlanta is great and has been the center of our creative lives for a long time. We’ve been selling at Indie Craft for years (with our other projects Party Sally and Beardy Glasses), we love a good vintage market with Space Queen (yes, Michelle is a literal fashion queen and an incredible creative mind), and there are craft nights and events at Press Shop in Summerhill (and beyond). Crafting is everywhere - cosplayers at DragonCon, the lantern parade, drag shows, and Pride parades. Atlanta’s hottest club is definitely wherever there’s crafting and creating (IMO).

Produce Stickers Sheet Set from hot Dang Press

How long have you guys been doing Hot Dang Press and what made you think to yourselves: “you know what the world is missing - tattoos for your clothes”? Did you get the idea from the look of sticker sleeve style tattoos? I’m used to big tattoos and big iron ons but your style and vibe is a fun modern petite smattering of designs.

Way back in 2019, I wanted to make some custom shirts for my family without spending a fortune. I had done runs of screen prints before, but I wanted each piece to be unique. Everything on the internet about making a custom t-shirt seemed so serious, so rigid, and overly complicated. I was like- do I really need a Cricut? A special heat press? Can’t I just cut it and iron it myself? So we did! We worked within the constraints of what we had and made some very cute, hand-cut HTV shirts. Then Ben got me a Cricut, and we got the idea to cut a ton of small single color illustrations and use them to customize clothes on the spot at a kid’s birthday party. That is when we realized this could be a thing. We workshopped names, got really excited about its potential, but our youngest daughter was still a baby, so we just didn’t have the mental capacity to add more to our chaos. Once Sylvie turned 3, she was in daycare for the first time, we had been back in Atlanta for about 6 months, and like a lightswitch, I said, “I’m ready”. That was just one year ago! The DTF technology had made leaps and bounds since I’d last done research, so we were able to create this product in full color with minimal limitations. Our one constraint was that we knew we wanted people to be able to do this themselves as a craft with a regular iron, just like we’d originally done, and the best way to ensure success with that is to keep the iron area small. Tattoos for your clothes came by us honestly as a practical solution! It’s also the cutest way to showcase your unique style.

Image by Tom Bell.

Once upon a time I was a jewelry designer and occasionally did wholesale orders. Things have changed a lot since then especially with Faire. I’d love for you to give your thoughts on Faire and running a small business. A one stop shop for tons of great products seems like a dream from the outside. Do you think a central wholesale marketplace helps with visibility as opposed to the olden days when you sent out line sheets to stores?

Ohhhhh this old chestnut/can o’ snakes. I was an early wholesaler on the Faire platform, and I definitely appreciate the ease with which I’ve been able to reach new customers and build that customer trust - because that’s really Faire’s strength to me, even over visibility and outreach. Building a bridge between wholesaler and retailer that’s like, “you’re gonna get your products, and you’re gonna get paid, and if anything goes wrong, you have some recourse” is a service worth paying for when you need to. And you do need to with the number of unvetted, new customers you’re able to reach with the ease of an online market. I can also handle the oversaturation that’s happening on the platform, even though I’m not the biggest fan, because I stand by my products and their unique worth. The one thing that I think creatives and wholesalers need to be very wary of, however, is the way Faire is trying to corral and control our product creation and selling and buying habits. That’s actually a warning I have for the retail side of Faire - attention retail shops, shoppes, mercantiles, and boutiques!!! : Faire is overpromising our goods as if we’re big box stores and putting your beloved creators on a treadmill of free shipping, constant promotions, and nonsensical product creation goals because that’s what data suggests is best. Please don’t fall into the trap! Don’t consume based on these terms - wholesale is supposed to exist outside of this kind of consumption for a reason. The base level of what we need to stay afloat AND inspired to develop that next IT product for your store is that we need some consistency and the ability to plan/create on our own terms. This soapbox is almost over I promise, but one more thing: give some love to the sales reps. I would prefer boots on the ground relationships. That’s the vetting/trust-building, the reaching new customers, and the developing true symbiotic relationships that we really need. I’m gonna preach the old school way for as long as possible. Tradeshows, sales reps, people, travel. Why are we giving up a trip to another city on the company dime to showcase our products to just sit at a computer and let Faire rake it in? Come on, y’all, join me at the post-show cocktail hour. Fin.

Image by Tom Bell.

So I gather you guys are hitched and have littles. How does being married to your business partner change things? Is this the first project you have collaborated on? Are the kids ever like “can we please stop talking about iron-ons at the dinner table”? I know my kids give me a hard time about overuse of the words craft and vintage.

I think we’re both (fairly) soft, gentle people in our marriage, so the biggest change is realizing when it comes to the business, we have to adjust to each other’s sharper edges. You gotta stand up for the idea you believe in, but also make dinner and parent and hang out with each other. Every rose has its thorn, but I think overall the biz side of things is copacetic. At least we can get right to it instead of going 4 rounds of reply emails like “per my last email, correct me if I’ve misunderstood, but…” ;)

This is our first official collab, yes, but it seems crazy to say that because we’ve been giving each other ideas and feedback since day one. Ben has come up with the copy for a couple of incredibly successful Party Sally cards, and they’ll be the first to let you know which ones.

I THINK our kids still think our business is cool. They all want to contribute ideas and design. Even Sylvie who will tell us she’s drawing a “hot dang”. Next up we’ll try to make it a verb. Whatcha doin’? “Oh just hot dangin’”

Produce Stickers Sheet Set from Hot Dang Press

How do you come up with ideas for designs? Do you tend to make designs that you love or more what you think a broader audience will love? As someone who creates content for other companies I know sometimes this is tricky for me. Not everyone loves my cup of kitsch.

So we’ve clearly gone with sheets as themes and buddies as cute pairs. That’s a starting point. My friend Sam Kramer of Near Modern Disaster told me we needed to be doing name tags so I was like- yes, smart friend, you’re right, we’re doing name tags.

We’ve tried to stay super true to our own taste levels, which doesn’t mean we won’t end up doing something with mass appeal. It just means we have to make sure we figure out our take on it, our perspective, and give it that ring of Hot Dang truth. E.g. the berries and the flowers. They’re more pretty for pretty sake but they still fall in line with our overall taste.

I do love that I have been able to add some of my own love of word play into the titles and themes. I was slightly concerned people would be like “groannnnnnn” to our ‘J’adore le pain’ sheet, but it’s popular! But maybe people just really do love bread. :D

Have you ever considered partnering with other artists similar to say how Sublime Stitching with embroidery patterns or Pipsticks does with stickers? I can see pluses and minuses (exposure to a different audience vs. royalties).

This has been a goal from first conception. We’re so down to make collab sheets with other artists! In fact, we did our first collab with Meredith White of

Root Inward

. Their art, our product process. The only barrier we have to this right now is that we’re new and small, and we can’t adequately project or offer royalties and commissions. I’m not going to go around asking for people’s art for the “exposure” we can’t properly provide. Also, that’s what WE want out of it, too! I dunno, if anyone’s willing to start small with us on this, we’re willing to make a go of it, but otherwise we’ll wait until we can make artists a licensing offer they can’t refuse (a reasonable wage!).

Oops All Berries Sheet Set from Hot Dang Press

What is your favorite Hot Dang Press design? What is your most popular design? I know for me often times they are total opposites. The thing I love the most sells last and the thing I hesitate to put out in the world is the first to go. Maybe this speaks to my taste level.

I love the “Hello I’m three kids in a trenchcoat” name tag because this is how I feel most of the time. Can I get an adult over here? I am merely a child pretending to be grown. I also have an obsession with the lil’ fruitcake on the Santa Came! Sheet.

The berries are by FAR the most popular sheet. A strawberry is definitely the bird of this craft decade. No hate.

Food and Fruit Embroidery Sheet Set from Hot Dang Press.

I adore the embroidery iron ons, especially as someone who does not love their own handwriting or stitching skills. Such a great cheat for that look. Do either of you embroider as a hobby? Favorite stitch? Is it true you can embroider on top of the iron ons? Like a paint by number guide but in stitch form.

We don’t really embroider hardcore, but I hand stitch felt craft projects, and I insist on using a shitty running stitch. It is simply the aesthetic I prefer! The shittier the better. And I wanted that to be the look for our embroidery sheets, too. Entry level. Amateur hour. That way you can, yes, stitch over them as if they’re a regular stencil. Go for it! But also don’t if you don’t feel like it. It’s good enough as is. Your craft is enough. You are enough!

Katherine I know your other business is Party Sally. Did your background in stationery help with Hot Dang as far as finding your footing with wholesale and manufacturing.

Absolutely. I have amassed so much knowledge since beginning Party Sally in 2016. The wholesale knowledge is mostly the same, but the greeting card and stationery manufacturing standards have been around for decades. No such thing exists with this Hot Dang Press product. I concepted and produced a manufacturing process with hardly any prior comparison. I t’s kind of cool to have made a line of products that are entirely our own creation. But on the flip side, someone could come in tomorrow and be like - you’re doing this all wrong. And I’d say “please, I beg of you, show me an easier way”.

All Dinos Sheet Set from Hot Dang Press

What is the most unusual item you have seen a Hot Dang Item added to? I saw some pictures of what looked like leather and acrylic bags - how does that work with a hot iron? Also, as someone who loves them a junk journal I am curious if these will iron onto paper.

I love the vintage Coach bag Michelle Norris let us iron strawberries all over. Yes, the product works on leather, acrylic, and paper - it’s just a game of starting the iron temperature lower and seeing if you can get the transfer to adhere before the surface burns or melts. Theoretically you can heat up the adhesive to go on anything as long as the iron doesn’t burn or melt what you’re ironing onto! So take risks, but also know your limits, you know what I’m sayin’?

Anything else you want folks to know?

Hmm… we do have some extremely cool products in the works. Not just sheets and buddies, of which we do maintain a totally unhinged google doc list that’s a mile long and we’re always trying to get through. There’s some stuff on that list we should’ve done yesterday.

For the other goodies in the pipeline, I’ll put it to you this way:

We could do a burger themed sheet, but what if it doesn’t come on a sheet?

We could do a smoking (and toking) themed sheet, but what if it doesn’t come on a sheet?

We could do a Christmas decoration themed sheet, but what if it doesn’t come on a sheet?

We could do a sewing kit themed sheet, but what if it doesn’t come on a sheet?

I’m so excited but also about to make my work life 10x harder. Anything for the sake of art!

Let’s chat about that giveaway! All you have to do is be a subscriber and leave a comment on this post telling me what you will do with this super fun Embroidery Letter Red Set. In one week I’ll pick a lucky winner to send a fabulous sheet to! In the meantime be sure to check out the Hot Dang Press Website and follow along on Instagram!