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Califur post-con post (long)
9 years ago
First off, I met Zyira in the dealer's room, she's so FA famous I expected her to be different but she was so sweet, she tried to give me a free print (in addition to the free 'messed up' charm [it looked fine!]) and I refused because her art is amazing and needs to be financially supported! I've got three of her prints to hang up now. It was really reassuring knowing I'm not the only gal who gets freaked out by crowds and socializing. And we're about the same age which is awesome too.
One reason I get a little 'meh' about anime conventions is the young age group... this was not an issue at this con! There were a surprising amount of (mostly) men well over 60, wearing harnesses and raving it up too. No doubt, that'll be me because I'm never giving this lifestyle up, bury me in a fursuit please.
I stumbled into the hackers meetup accidentally and it ended up being the best panel I've ever been to! It was run by a guy by the name of TM Drake (gonna look him up) who was extremely knowledgeable, engaging, and talented. Needless to say, I've been extremely inspired, I'm going to apply what I'm learning in my IT degree to my hobby and start programming LEDs, embroidery machines, etc.
I don't know what official attendance was, but it felt like a thousand people, which I actually enjoyed. You run into the same people over, and over, and over. It really took the guesswork out of trying to track each other down on social media or trying to find some obscure meetup location. By the end of the con I was greeting people like I was running into an old friend. I didn't even notice I'd come alone because I always had company if I wanted it.
I loved the video streaming room and I spent hours in there. It was like 70s adult swim for furries. Watching some of those videos at 2am was really, really trippy. It was a quiet, dark 24/7 spot to just chill out for a bit away from the semi-humans. I definitely need to track down some of those shows.
Free snack room= awesome. It was really useful being able to pick up coffee and carby snacks when I spent the entire time eating Clif bars and a bag of apples (I lost a lot of weight).
Admittedly I spent a decent amount of time at the hotel bar. The bartender was the first person *ever* to recognize my obscure comic book reference on my t shirt, so he got mega-tipped. I met so many people there too..!
I have a rep for being a party pooper around here (I always turn down invites to stay in and study/craft), but at Califur I was such a ridiculous party animal. The mini outdoor rave Friday night sure beat the official rave, but Saturday night I danced it up (even though it was like an hour long, so short), the condom and sex toy balloons were hilarious. So many odd textures..
I'm scared to look at my bank account, I also bought awesome ears and one of those silly sexy foxgirl dresses. (Necessary.)
I know a lot of people didn't have as much fun as I did. Yes, it was small, disorganized, the panels ran way too long. But for me, it was therapy for my soul. Being amongst my own kind for days felt like a different world, one I'd missed so desperately. Not having to hide a single part of my personality was so freeing.
The advanced BDSM panel was not as extreme as I'd hoped. It was more like make your own BDSM toys. Like the conversation I had with the former professional dominatrix - if you don't have to put down a tarp, is it really that extreme? xD (bahaha, good times)
Well, time for me to enter the post con blues stage. I'm going to make attending furry cons a top priority in my life now. (Besides TFF, I didn't enjoy that one at all.)
One reason I get a little 'meh' about anime conventions is the young age group... this was not an issue at this con! There were a surprising amount of (mostly) men well over 60, wearing harnesses and raving it up too. No doubt, that'll be me because I'm never giving this lifestyle up, bury me in a fursuit please.
I stumbled into the hackers meetup accidentally and it ended up being the best panel I've ever been to! It was run by a guy by the name of TM Drake (gonna look him up) who was extremely knowledgeable, engaging, and talented. Needless to say, I've been extremely inspired, I'm going to apply what I'm learning in my IT degree to my hobby and start programming LEDs, embroidery machines, etc.
I don't know what official attendance was, but it felt like a thousand people, which I actually enjoyed. You run into the same people over, and over, and over. It really took the guesswork out of trying to track each other down on social media or trying to find some obscure meetup location. By the end of the con I was greeting people like I was running into an old friend. I didn't even notice I'd come alone because I always had company if I wanted it.
I loved the video streaming room and I spent hours in there. It was like 70s adult swim for furries. Watching some of those videos at 2am was really, really trippy. It was a quiet, dark 24/7 spot to just chill out for a bit away from the semi-humans. I definitely need to track down some of those shows.
Free snack room= awesome. It was really useful being able to pick up coffee and carby snacks when I spent the entire time eating Clif bars and a bag of apples (I lost a lot of weight).
Admittedly I spent a decent amount of time at the hotel bar. The bartender was the first person *ever* to recognize my obscure comic book reference on my t shirt, so he got mega-tipped. I met so many people there too..!
I have a rep for being a party pooper around here (I always turn down invites to stay in and study/craft), but at Califur I was such a ridiculous party animal. The mini outdoor rave Friday night sure beat the official rave, but Saturday night I danced it up (even though it was like an hour long, so short), the condom and sex toy balloons were hilarious. So many odd textures..
I'm scared to look at my bank account, I also bought awesome ears and one of those silly sexy foxgirl dresses. (Necessary.)
I know a lot of people didn't have as much fun as I did. Yes, it was small, disorganized, the panels ran way too long. But for me, it was therapy for my soul. Being amongst my own kind for days felt like a different world, one I'd missed so desperately. Not having to hide a single part of my personality was so freeing.
The advanced BDSM panel was not as extreme as I'd hoped. It was more like make your own BDSM toys. Like the conversation I had with the former professional dominatrix - if you don't have to put down a tarp, is it really that extreme? xD (bahaha, good times)
Well, time for me to enter the post con blues stage. I'm going to make attending furry cons a top priority in my life now. (Besides TFF, I didn't enjoy that one at all.)
I think size is part of the reason why I've never made cons other than the timing and expenses. I'm similar to you in that stand point, I just can't do large crowds any more.
The LONG answer - you know how people who make realistic fursuit head blanks use a mold? That's where I'm starting, so I can try lots of different substances without having to re-create perfectly sculpted cat ears every time. I bought pretty much every transparent/translucent material out there. See-through = LEDs, so I totally admit to having a personal agenda here. (Slime LED ears are an idea, too!) Some are going to end up hard (that's what she said?), so it'll only be the appearance of dripping and not the actual texture, though I'm going to try to go for the texture too (transparent silicone is looking like the best bet right now).
I plan on eventually making a tail too, which becomes a bit more complicated due to the weight factor. But I'll figure that out after the ears... I used to own an inflatable latex tail, you could totally get that shine factor and crazy pink color, and use the sample sheets they include to make matching ears too. That sounds so much easier >>