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Looking back on 2017 and ahead to the future
8 years ago
2017 was TOUGH. I don't want to do it again. That's not to say that it wasn't a good year for Alkora and I. However, we were under an intense amount of stress and financial strain, trying to make our dreams take flight. But I believe this also was crucial to improving ourselves. We didn't have the ability to stand still and not improve. It was improve or die. Everything, every suit we made, had to be the highest quality we were capable of. And guess what?
We succeeded.
And though we aren't in that critical "improve or die" phase, we still strive to improve with each suit that we make. If it's not an improvement, and if it doesn't make me cry ('cause I'm a sap who gets overly emotional) then it gets reworked.
I'm going to take a look back throughout the year and I can tell you what I was thinking and what was going on behind the scenes.
January 2017
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/23133361/ - Alkora the Rabbit
The first fursuit of the year and the first since incorporating. We premiered this at the MNFurs holiday party, and I was so proud of it. We didn't have many of the processes in place when we made this. We were still building our workshop, and we were trying very hard to get commissioners. I wasn't too stressed quite yet. I had a significant amount in savings, and I knew we could coast on it for awhile. Which is good because we were still very new and business wasn't flowing in. I had concerns about our production times. It took us too long to pump out this fursuit, and I remember crunching numbers and was pretty freaked out. We needed to go faster but not compromise quality. We needed to innovate what we were doing.
February 2017
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/23220674/ - Jay the Bunny
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/23133644/ - Lucky the Rabbit
Our first two commissions. These were the first 3D printed heads we constructed - the culmination of weeks of R&D behind the scenes. True fact - we actually take up to one week each month to R&D new processes and ways of doing things. These version one 3D printed heads felt like a game changer and we were both optimistic. Lucky also proved that we could complete a rush order if we needed to. We figured out her owner was going to a convention and decided we wanted her to have it in time for it - essentially we did most of the build in 3 days. We literally worked around the clock to surprise her with it in time for the con.
After these commissions we decided to invest in some studio lighting and a backdrop, so we could take more professional looking photos.
March 2017
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/23356152/ - Havoc the Husky
We didn't have any commissions during this time frame and my savings were starting to get thinner. We knew we needed to be able to start paying ourselves within the next month or two. Plus we didn't just want to sit around and not do anything, so we decided to start making characters to auction. With Havoc, our goal was to do more head shaping and also to do some body shaping using fur shaving techniques. We invested in a $150 pet grooming shaver, and it gave us a lot more control.
April 2017
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/23606657/ - Francis the Wolf
After Havok, we decided we wanted to push ourselves more with the shaping of the head. We wanted him to have attitude. We were both really happy with him. Though the stakes were getting higher. We needed this guy to sell. I still had money saved up, but not as much. I needed Francis to sell so I could continue to up the amount Alkora and I were paying ourselves and eventually stop the bleeding from my bank account. I remember going for a walk in the middle of the night to a local park, during the final hour of our auction. I was so nervous. There's also a feeling like, if this auction doesn't do well, that means people don't like what we've made... and when you are as passionate as Alkora and I are and you are wearing your heart on your shoulder... it's an emotional experience. The good news is, he did sell! And to a really good performer.
May 2017
During this month, we made a fursuit that didn't live up to our standards and we scrapped it. It was V1 of an Angel Dragon named Minty. Eventually we re-made him much later in the year, but he began in May. He wasn't horrible but he was a definite step backwards. As I said earlier in my post, if it doesn't meet the highest standards, we start over. So we buried some of the evidence and put him on the back burner.
June 2017
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/23913311/ - Hibiscus the Angel Dragon
Our first digitigrade fursuit of the year. This was also the final time we used our version 1.0 head. More on why in a little bit. This was another auction suit and was a lot of fun. He's Hawaiian, so we wanted him to have bamboo horns. We 3D printed them and I used my years of miniature painting experience to give them a realistic paint job. We sold this guy a week before Anthrocon, and while we were at the convention, we spotted him in the Fursuit Parade. I was really proud watching him.
July - August 2017
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/24971918/ - Ochik the Dog (seen on the left of this photo)
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/24708521/ - Clover the Rabbit
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/24659970/ - Watermelon the Red Panda
All of these suits were a lead up to our first time in a Dealers Room - Furry Migration in Minneapolis, MN. They were also all using our V2 3D printed head blank. Version 2 was something being prototyped off and on for months. It provided better shaping and allowed all kinds of 3D printed add-ons. On the surface level, this meant custom muzzles, cheeks, eyebrows, etc could all be printed and snapped into place. It made it so even though we were streamlining the process, every suit was custom and different. Below the surface, the new 3D printed skull meant it allowed for fan slots in the muzzle, LEDs, and was more comfortable to wear. Also during this time frame, we had a local teen over and were helping to nurture her interest in costume making. She's actually the one modeling Watermelon.
As for the convention, we didn't sell a ton in the dealers room, but we met many good friends and got our name out there.
September 2017
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/24900407/ - Metro Mutt
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/25146137/ - Minty the Dutch Angel Dragon
We began the month working on Metro Mutt, who was to be debuted at the MNFurs Fall Picnic on the 2nd weekend of the month. Metro Mutt was our first 3/4 suit. When we were contacted earlier in the year to make this character, we jumped at the chance. We really liked the character design and wanted to make it happen. And we were able to make the deadline and he premiered at the Picnic as planned. We had a couple weeks before our next commission was to began and decided we wanted to give Minty, our Angel Dragon character, another shot. We decided to go all out on him - we wanted to do a lot with shaping so we made him chunky and gave him digitigrade legs. We also wanted to use the opportunity to continue developing our heads and using more dynamic shaping. I'm still really proud of how he came out. He was a new bench mark for us.
October 2017
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/25429781/ - Binxie the Rabbit Plush Suit
This suit was a journey. It was like climbing Mt Everest. It was a journey that began months before, with lots of careful considerations and research. Plush Suits, for those who don't know, are meant to resemble a giant stuffed animal. The suit is all sewn together, one piece - there's a zipper stretching from the head all the way down the back. You are completely reliant on a handler to get you in and out of fursuit. There's also a giant, over-sized maker tag on it, to match the scale of the maker tag you'd find on a smaller plush toy. It was a big undertaking but one we feel better off for making. We don't shy away from a challenge. Unfortunately most of this month was actually our worst emotionally of the year. We had a number of commissioners pull out and us being a small business, and a first year small business, there was a good deal of financial and emotional pain. We made it through but there was definitely some soul searching and careful budgeting.
November 2017
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/25648372/ - Robbie the Hyena
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/25680473/ - Midnight the Cat (2nd from the left)
These two suits were made leading up to Midwest Furfest. Robbie was another experimental suit that we would be auctioning. With this suit, we took the lessons learned while making Minty, and we amped it up a few levels. He was just a fun character. He had 3D printed pegs in his ears, stars in his eyes, more shaping around the eyebrows and cheeks than previous suits, and had interchangeable magnetic tongues. And he passed the make Aerak cry test. We saw him completed in the middle of the night and I just lost it - I was so overcome with emotion seeing him in one piece and how good he looked. He was the new benchmark. Immediately following Robbie, we got to work on Midnight's fursuit. Looking back at the build, I don't know how we finished this one in time. We were multitasking like crazy and putting in 16 hour work days... for like 4 days straight. And then we left for MFF. Midnight is our first cat. We custom designed his muzzle and wanted a big smile carved into his cheeks. We also changed up our design with his ears since he has cat ears but we also wanted them angled so a robin hood styled hat could fit between them. This suit also passed the make me cry test. Like I said, this is an important test.
December 2017
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/25877360/ - Novastar the Husky
Novastar I've referred to throughout the year as my Hollyhock. I guess I'm her mentor / father figure? And I guess she's like my not biological daughter? At any rate. Her family decided to commission me for a surprise fursuit for her to be delivered on Christmas. We took video surprising her with it, and it's really precious. Super cute. Novastar utilized our new airbrush system. We were able to give her a giant snoot and do some really cool pearlescent paint effects to it. Her eyes were also airbrushed and because of this, the color is much more vivid than what we were able to get before. She also has an LED blush effect, touch activated with sensors in the cheeks. There's a small buzzer inside the head letting the wearing know when the effect is active. Plus there's a fan in the muzzle.
During December we were featured on Furry Amino and our commissions began blowing up. At the time of my writing this, we have one slot open during the Spring of 2018. Otherwise we are completely booked for the next 6 months.
January 2018
This is an exciting month for us. Among other things, one of the projects we are most excited to be working on is a Zootopia Fox character for auction. For this suit, we are completely redesigning the feet, hands, and head, and we'll be working the body shaping to try to match the Zootopia style as closely as possible.
So that's our year in review. We are taking commissions for Summer - as soon as those fill we are closing our doors for a month or two so we can play catch-up. I'm super proud of everything we have accomplished this year and very thankful for all of the support we've received along the way and new friends we have made.
Hello, 2018! =3
We succeeded.
And though we aren't in that critical "improve or die" phase, we still strive to improve with each suit that we make. If it's not an improvement, and if it doesn't make me cry ('cause I'm a sap who gets overly emotional) then it gets reworked.
I'm going to take a look back throughout the year and I can tell you what I was thinking and what was going on behind the scenes.
January 2017
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/23133361/ - Alkora the Rabbit
The first fursuit of the year and the first since incorporating. We premiered this at the MNFurs holiday party, and I was so proud of it. We didn't have many of the processes in place when we made this. We were still building our workshop, and we were trying very hard to get commissioners. I wasn't too stressed quite yet. I had a significant amount in savings, and I knew we could coast on it for awhile. Which is good because we were still very new and business wasn't flowing in. I had concerns about our production times. It took us too long to pump out this fursuit, and I remember crunching numbers and was pretty freaked out. We needed to go faster but not compromise quality. We needed to innovate what we were doing.
February 2017
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/23220674/ - Jay the Bunny
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/23133644/ - Lucky the Rabbit
Our first two commissions. These were the first 3D printed heads we constructed - the culmination of weeks of R&D behind the scenes. True fact - we actually take up to one week each month to R&D new processes and ways of doing things. These version one 3D printed heads felt like a game changer and we were both optimistic. Lucky also proved that we could complete a rush order if we needed to. We figured out her owner was going to a convention and decided we wanted her to have it in time for it - essentially we did most of the build in 3 days. We literally worked around the clock to surprise her with it in time for the con.
After these commissions we decided to invest in some studio lighting and a backdrop, so we could take more professional looking photos.
March 2017
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/23356152/ - Havoc the Husky
We didn't have any commissions during this time frame and my savings were starting to get thinner. We knew we needed to be able to start paying ourselves within the next month or two. Plus we didn't just want to sit around and not do anything, so we decided to start making characters to auction. With Havoc, our goal was to do more head shaping and also to do some body shaping using fur shaving techniques. We invested in a $150 pet grooming shaver, and it gave us a lot more control.
April 2017
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/23606657/ - Francis the Wolf
After Havok, we decided we wanted to push ourselves more with the shaping of the head. We wanted him to have attitude. We were both really happy with him. Though the stakes were getting higher. We needed this guy to sell. I still had money saved up, but not as much. I needed Francis to sell so I could continue to up the amount Alkora and I were paying ourselves and eventually stop the bleeding from my bank account. I remember going for a walk in the middle of the night to a local park, during the final hour of our auction. I was so nervous. There's also a feeling like, if this auction doesn't do well, that means people don't like what we've made... and when you are as passionate as Alkora and I are and you are wearing your heart on your shoulder... it's an emotional experience. The good news is, he did sell! And to a really good performer.
May 2017
During this month, we made a fursuit that didn't live up to our standards and we scrapped it. It was V1 of an Angel Dragon named Minty. Eventually we re-made him much later in the year, but he began in May. He wasn't horrible but he was a definite step backwards. As I said earlier in my post, if it doesn't meet the highest standards, we start over. So we buried some of the evidence and put him on the back burner.
June 2017
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/23913311/ - Hibiscus the Angel Dragon
Our first digitigrade fursuit of the year. This was also the final time we used our version 1.0 head. More on why in a little bit. This was another auction suit and was a lot of fun. He's Hawaiian, so we wanted him to have bamboo horns. We 3D printed them and I used my years of miniature painting experience to give them a realistic paint job. We sold this guy a week before Anthrocon, and while we were at the convention, we spotted him in the Fursuit Parade. I was really proud watching him.
July - August 2017
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/24971918/ - Ochik the Dog (seen on the left of this photo)
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/24708521/ - Clover the Rabbit
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/24659970/ - Watermelon the Red Panda
All of these suits were a lead up to our first time in a Dealers Room - Furry Migration in Minneapolis, MN. They were also all using our V2 3D printed head blank. Version 2 was something being prototyped off and on for months. It provided better shaping and allowed all kinds of 3D printed add-ons. On the surface level, this meant custom muzzles, cheeks, eyebrows, etc could all be printed and snapped into place. It made it so even though we were streamlining the process, every suit was custom and different. Below the surface, the new 3D printed skull meant it allowed for fan slots in the muzzle, LEDs, and was more comfortable to wear. Also during this time frame, we had a local teen over and were helping to nurture her interest in costume making. She's actually the one modeling Watermelon.
As for the convention, we didn't sell a ton in the dealers room, but we met many good friends and got our name out there.
September 2017
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/24900407/ - Metro Mutt
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/25146137/ - Minty the Dutch Angel Dragon
We began the month working on Metro Mutt, who was to be debuted at the MNFurs Fall Picnic on the 2nd weekend of the month. Metro Mutt was our first 3/4 suit. When we were contacted earlier in the year to make this character, we jumped at the chance. We really liked the character design and wanted to make it happen. And we were able to make the deadline and he premiered at the Picnic as planned. We had a couple weeks before our next commission was to began and decided we wanted to give Minty, our Angel Dragon character, another shot. We decided to go all out on him - we wanted to do a lot with shaping so we made him chunky and gave him digitigrade legs. We also wanted to use the opportunity to continue developing our heads and using more dynamic shaping. I'm still really proud of how he came out. He was a new bench mark for us.
October 2017
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/25429781/ - Binxie the Rabbit Plush Suit
This suit was a journey. It was like climbing Mt Everest. It was a journey that began months before, with lots of careful considerations and research. Plush Suits, for those who don't know, are meant to resemble a giant stuffed animal. The suit is all sewn together, one piece - there's a zipper stretching from the head all the way down the back. You are completely reliant on a handler to get you in and out of fursuit. There's also a giant, over-sized maker tag on it, to match the scale of the maker tag you'd find on a smaller plush toy. It was a big undertaking but one we feel better off for making. We don't shy away from a challenge. Unfortunately most of this month was actually our worst emotionally of the year. We had a number of commissioners pull out and us being a small business, and a first year small business, there was a good deal of financial and emotional pain. We made it through but there was definitely some soul searching and careful budgeting.
November 2017
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/25648372/ - Robbie the Hyena
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/25680473/ - Midnight the Cat (2nd from the left)
These two suits were made leading up to Midwest Furfest. Robbie was another experimental suit that we would be auctioning. With this suit, we took the lessons learned while making Minty, and we amped it up a few levels. He was just a fun character. He had 3D printed pegs in his ears, stars in his eyes, more shaping around the eyebrows and cheeks than previous suits, and had interchangeable magnetic tongues. And he passed the make Aerak cry test. We saw him completed in the middle of the night and I just lost it - I was so overcome with emotion seeing him in one piece and how good he looked. He was the new benchmark. Immediately following Robbie, we got to work on Midnight's fursuit. Looking back at the build, I don't know how we finished this one in time. We were multitasking like crazy and putting in 16 hour work days... for like 4 days straight. And then we left for MFF. Midnight is our first cat. We custom designed his muzzle and wanted a big smile carved into his cheeks. We also changed up our design with his ears since he has cat ears but we also wanted them angled so a robin hood styled hat could fit between them. This suit also passed the make me cry test. Like I said, this is an important test.
December 2017
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/25877360/ - Novastar the Husky
Novastar I've referred to throughout the year as my Hollyhock. I guess I'm her mentor / father figure? And I guess she's like my not biological daughter? At any rate. Her family decided to commission me for a surprise fursuit for her to be delivered on Christmas. We took video surprising her with it, and it's really precious. Super cute. Novastar utilized our new airbrush system. We were able to give her a giant snoot and do some really cool pearlescent paint effects to it. Her eyes were also airbrushed and because of this, the color is much more vivid than what we were able to get before. She also has an LED blush effect, touch activated with sensors in the cheeks. There's a small buzzer inside the head letting the wearing know when the effect is active. Plus there's a fan in the muzzle.
During December we were featured on Furry Amino and our commissions began blowing up. At the time of my writing this, we have one slot open during the Spring of 2018. Otherwise we are completely booked for the next 6 months.
January 2018
This is an exciting month for us. Among other things, one of the projects we are most excited to be working on is a Zootopia Fox character for auction. For this suit, we are completely redesigning the feet, hands, and head, and we'll be working the body shaping to try to match the Zootopia style as closely as possible.
So that's our year in review. We are taking commissions for Summer - as soon as those fill we are closing our doors for a month or two so we can play catch-up. I'm super proud of everything we have accomplished this year and very thankful for all of the support we've received along the way and new friends we have made.
Hello, 2018! =3
Looks like a rough patch has passed and you're on to a successful new year! Looking forward to seeing your new projects!
BlueHeelerSunFire
~blueheelersunfire
What a year for you two. I'm very proud of what you have decided to do, and the effort you put into it. I know those would say you shouldn't be emotionally invested in your business, but as small business owners, it's inevitable. And being fursuit makers means you want them to be the best they can be. You want those out there when they come up to ask somewhere who made their suit, that sense of pride when they tell others about your suits and the relationship of building the suit with you was. I know you two will do great, and at some point I will be talking to you about things.
