Recent months have been very hectic for me. I’ve been more stressed than is good for me. My real-person job has had a lot of spikes in workload, and this has worn me out. I have not been able to work on crafting nearly as much as I would have liked to.

Because of these factors, I am going to temporarily close my commission queue. That is, I won’t be accepting new requests for custom commissions. I will work on projects already on my queue until I finish them all. If you have already contacted me (even if I haven’t been able to get back to you yet), I will consider you to already be on the queue.

I also need to take time to work on some of my own ideas for new designs. I need to design things regularly, or else I get sad.

My hope is that I can finish all the things on my queue within 2-4 months. After that, I will open up again for new commissions.

So I've never been to a furry convention, but for the last year or two I've been keeping an eye out for one that would be convenient for me to get to, and signing up as a vendor.

Last summer there was the Maltese Fur Con in Boston, and I applied for vending and got accepted, but then had to cancel because my cousin was getting married the same weekend.

And now I find out that there's Anthro New England in just a couple months, and it's literally within walking distance of my house. I check, and it looks like they still have dealer space. But then I see the dates and realize that it's happening the same weekend as a LARP convention that I'll be attending with friends.

Oh, and Arisia is a big sci-fi/fantasy convention happening in a week, but I and a hundred or so friends are running a huge puzzle event that weekend, so no doing that either.

Graaaaagh schedules why do you hate me



Anyway, I just needed to rant to the internet, because I can't rant to people in real life.

In other news, I'm not dead, and I've been making a number of new animal mask designs, but they're for the aforementioned puzzle event, and I'm keeping them secret until afterwards. I'll have lots of photos to post in a couple weeks.

Only like 5 submissions appeared in my inbox all day. Did I watch one too many people? Did my inbox overflow? What's the deal?

Sorry for the radio silence this month, Internet. Between a huge pile of stuff to do at work plus a family wedding plus obligations to friends plus two craft fairs, I had basically no brainpower left to deal with commissions or updates.

To help me deal with the stress, though, I did make a large thing just for myself. (Well, it was also related to the big friends obligation.) I made an aluminum and rubber ring shirt in European 4-in-1. It's been at least a year or two since I made something large like that just for myself, and I'm really happy that I made it. Photos will be uploaded once I have a chance to take them.

Anyway, my obligations are back down to a manageable level now, so I'll be picking things up again and starting back up on commissions, and on the backlog of correspondence that's piled up.

I’ll be vending at a craft fair in Cambridge MA tomorrow! It’s called Cambridge Open Market, it’s located at the plaza at Harvard, and runs from 11-5:30. This is my first real live full-scale regular craft fair! (Though I have done a real live full-scale non-regular craft fair.) It runs weekly on Fridays through the summer, with tomorrow being the opening day. I’m signed up for three days over the course of the summer: tomorrow, then once in July and once in August.

Here’s hoping it goes well!

In just over a week I'll be vending at Nauticon. It's a 3-day long, viking-themed, 21-plus convention in P-Town. (For people not from Massachusetts, Provincetown is a very gay resort town at the tip of Cape Cod.) I'm pretty sure that I'll come back with Stories.

If you're in New England and want a spontaneous vacation, I'm pretty sure they've still got rooms available. Go check them out: http://nauticons.com/ (And even if you're not going to go, totally check out their website's banner, it's amazing.)

Anyway, for the last couple weeks I've been frantically getting things ready for it. I'm working on a bunch of small costume armor pieces, mostly bracers. I'm also producing a bunch more masks and headbands/crowns with horns. I'm also hoping to finally be able to sell a couple of the chainmail X harnesses I've made over time. I have enough leather bracelets left over from my last fair that I don't think I'll need to make more, but I do need to pound out a bunch of chainmail bracelets, so that will take a couple evenings. I'll definitely have a tail and a scale shirt there as display pieces at least; if I manage to get lots of things ready in time I may end up having an extra tail to sell, but I'm not sure about that. I also need to deal with getting my display materials done better; I'd like to get some of those wire grid panels to hang things from vertically.

I've made a good half dozen or so new designs for this convention, which I'm happy about. And I have been taking photographs of them, so that's good. But I haven't had much chance to post any of them yet. Writing descriptions takes a lot more effort and time than you'd expect! I'll probably end up dealing with posting everything (here, on Tumblr, and on Etsy) after the event's done and I have time to breathe. (Also, it would be dumb if I posted stuff to Etsy and someone immediately bought it, and then I had to re-make things before the convention.)

At the same time as all this prep, the architect I also work for has also been needing a lot of work from me this month. That timing was not the best. So yeah, that's why I've been quiet for a couple weeks. I'm feeling behind on commissions, but oh well.

Yay productivity! Yay convention! Yay money! Aaaaaaah stress!

Sales of products online have been slowly increasing over time, as expected, but are still slow. I'm currently attempting to make a reasonably large fraction of my income off of crafting, but it's difficult. Getting the word out is the hardest part.

I'm trying to find craft fairs and conventions to sell at, but that is also difficult. I put applications in to a couple conventions recently, and here's hoping that goes well. I just sold stuff at a rather small LARP convention, which went OK, but I knew it wasn't a convention that's geared towards vending. I made some money, but it wouldn't have been worth it if I wasn't going to be there playing games anyway.

Anyone know of any events in the Boston area that they think I should try selling stuff at? (I just sent an email to the Maltese FurCon people, they look like they've got a cool schtick going for their convention.)

Anyway, mostly I'm just writing this journal to refresh the one that was multiple months old. I don't have a whole lot to announce right now.

I'll be vending at the stART at the Station holiday art show tomorrow, in the grand hall of Union Station in Worcester MA. There will be over a hundred other artists and craftsmen there. If you're in the area you should stop by! Even if you're elsewhere in MA, the craft fair is literally in the same building as the commuter rail, so jump on the train! Doors are open from 11 to 5.

I've decided to start a Tumblr blog. It's got a format that lets me comfortably post multiple images together of particular projects, and hopefully it'll help me reach a wider, more varied audience. Also it may work as a nice clean stand-alone website that I could list on my business card.

So if you use Tumblr and you want to see more of my stuff, you should follow me! http://armoreddragon.tumblr.com/

Also, if you use Tumblr, want to share how you use it? I don't have a good sense for whether most users are there in a social media sort of way to follow different blogs they like, or if most people are doing some small amount of posting themselves, or if people tend to only create accounts if they feel they really have something they want to share. Thoughts?

I'm going to be selling stuff at a craft fair tomorrow! It's in Somerville MA, in Union Square. If you're in the Boston area, you should come by and say hi! And also check out the other cool people who are exhibiting.

http://www.somervilleartscouncil.or.....ion/2013/maker

Though I think we all know what the fox says.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jofNR_WkoCE

(and I can't get embedding to work for some reason)

At various points in time I've considered trying to make tails that could swing and move themselves. I have a reasonable idea how I'd go about doing it, and I think it might be cool. But I don't have any of the electronics skills to deal with servos and actuators and stuff, so I never pushed myself towards that. (And also, my tails already swing around and sway and bend much better than most stuffed tails. So it's not super-critical for me.)

But then I saw this Kickstarter campaign: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects.....-your-own-tail

They're making motorized swinging tails, and they're doing it in almost exactly the way that I had figured would work to actuate my dragon tails. So I think I'm going to get one of their mechanisms and give it a try. The one thing I'm worried about is whether the motors will be able to handle the swinging weight of a bunch of metal without hurting themselves. But the people who are making them say that they're pretty sure the motors can handle it.

If they don't make their funding goal I'll be kind of sad. But if they succeed, and then keep making them in the future, this could be awesome. I'd love to be able to offer a self-powered upgrade option on my tails, and I'm sure other costume crafters would be excited about it too.

I'll be vending at a craft fair in a week and a half, selling my chainmail and leather stuff. This is only the second time I've vended anywhere (the first was maybe 3 years ago at a sci-fi convention), and I'm nervous and excited. I've been designing and making as many things as I can, but I still have a lot to do. Mostly it's time to ramp up the production and make more copies of things.

If anyone's in the Boston are, you should come! It's a weekly (every Saturday) craft fair at Assembly Row in Somerville (near the Sullivan T stop), and the craft fair runs from 11AM to 4PM. I'll be there on August 10.

I have decided to increase the price of the scale dragon tails I make from $200 to $250. You can check my previous journal entry for explanation if you'd like. Since I set the price of the tails a couple years ago I have made improvements to the design, and have also been able to offer more varieties of patterns and materials, so I think the price increase is fair. It is still a very reasonable price when considering the amount of skilled labor they take to make.

This will not affect people who have already put in orders for commissions. If we've agreed on a price, that is the price.

I've been realizing recently that there's a lot more overhead time than I had originally thought when I'm making these dragon tails for people.

Also, no longer being in school means everything is more expensive, and I'm starting to feel the need to value my time a bit more highly.

Also, I've had enough demand recently that it feels like my commission queue is piling up and overflowing. And I hear there are theories about supply and demand that are relevant to my current situation.

On another side of the matter, I feel that the types of patterns I can do have increased, and the overall quality has improved since I set my current price a couple years ago.

Also, with a higher price I'll have a higher incentive to work on them, and I'll be able to get them done more quickly.

And if I end up getting fewer orders, I think I'm kind of OK with that right now. It's been quite a while since I've had a chance to make anything for my own enjoyment. If I clear up my commission queue maybe I'll be able to finish the scale shirt I started months ago but has been sitting in a pile while I have lots of commissions. And there are a few pattern ideas for tails that I'd like to make, which I'll probably put up for sale. And I've also got other crafts that I'd like to work on.

Anyway, I haven't yet settled myself completely on what the price will end up being. This will not affect people who have already put in commissions, and if you put in your request in the next couple days I'll let you sneak in with the current price.

Hey guys, should I apply to vend at a convention? I'm thinking of FAU, as it's not too far from Boston, and it's not too huge, and it's not too far in the future.

There are 2 main genres of issues: logistical and social.

Logistically, I don't have a drivers' license, so I couldn't drive there. Which means I'd probably be taking a train or in and then a cab to the hotel. I haven't searched for what the efficient way to get there is, but I assume there is a way.

Compounding the logistics of getting there is the fact that I'd be carrying 2 genres of things: heavy (chainmail) and easily squashed (leather). The heavy can just be stuffed into a rolling suitcase and I can deal with them being a pain to carry, but I haven't yet dealt with packing leather pieces.

Socially, I don't really know if I'd want to let my friends where I'm going. The furry fandom is really not a visible part of my life in the real world. It's not something I've ever told anyone. Sure people know I make tails and stuff, and it's no secret that furries are buying them. But I don't really have any desire to tell my friends "I'm a furry." It's not something that I consider very essential to myself as a person.

The social upshot is it could be awkward for me. I might be able to just say "I'm selling at a convention. Yeah, it's a furry con, that's where my market is" and not go any further than that. But I don't want to become known as "the furry" in my social circle, if that makes sense.

Arguing for going, I really would like to give vending at conventions a try. I do want to step up sales and work this towards more of a real business, and this could be a good step in that direction.

Anyway, what are your thoughts? Is anyone who's watching me in the Boston area and considering attending the convention? Is there a message board or something somewhere I could look for people to share rides with? Having a buddy to help carry things and travel with me could be super-helpful, and I'd be willing to help offset costs for such a buddy.

So on Monday UPS had delivered me an empty box instead of my $400 of chainmail supplies.

But today, they delivered me a new box, containing all of the missing materials. The box had an odd UPS return address, so it looks like what probably happened was what someone had suggested as a theory a couple days ago, namely that the box broke open on a truck bed somewhere and they managed to gather everything back together and put it in a new box and get it to me.

So yay! I can start on the commissions that I had been waiting on materials for!

So I ordered a few hundred dollars worth of chainmail supplies. And today the box arrived.

The box was empty.

It looks like customs opened it to inspect the contents, then sealed it up again (there was US Customs packing tape), and then someone cut it open again (the US Customs packing tape was cut) and took everything out.

Everything sucks.

The shipment was insured I believe, so I expect I won't loose money on this, but it's a huge frustration to say the least. Also, I have like 4 tail commissions that were waiting on this shipment of materials, and now they're going to be waiting for another 2 weeks.

GraaAAAAHHHRRrrghh.

Relatedly, if you're thinking of commissioning me for something, now would be a good time to let me know what colors you'd like, because I'll be ordering supplies. Again.

Well, I got rejected by the craft fair I applied to. Oh well, I guess I'll just find some more to apply to.

I'm sad about it, though, because the one I applied to was very close to where I live, and set up in such a way that it would have been very easy for me to do as a new vendor who doesn't know all that much yet. But also I'm not especially surprised, since when the application was due I had just barely gotten enough stuff made to post them up for sale together. Since then I've probably doubled the number of designs I have.

Anyway, yeah. Time to work on getting my name out there. Once I have a few more designs going I may see about taking out some ads here and there.

Somebody bought the green sea dragon mask I made! I'm so excited!

Validation!

Anyway, everyone should check out my Etsy store and whore it out to everyone you know because then people will see the stuff I've been making and will want to buy it and I'll be happy: www.etsy.com/shop/TheArmoredDragon

As may have been apparent from my posts, over the last two weeks I've been pushing to polish up some designs and ideas I'd been working on over the last couple months working at the laser cutting store and get a nice line of products put together.

I also started looking around for craft fairs that I could apply to. And in a happy coincidence of timing, last night I found one right in my neighborhood whose application was due today. Luckily I have enough things ready to show that I was able to grab some friends to act as models and quickly take some nice photos of my things being worn. So now I just sent in the application. Wish me luck!

Relatedly, I should probably switch up either my featured submission or profile picture to show the leather pieces rather than the chainmail.

Oh, and I will be posting my things up to Etsy in the next couple days, so expect some linking in the near future.

Well, I got fired from the laser cutting shop yesterday. For really dumb reasons on the part of the owners.

I'm really worried about the other two technicians who have to pick up the slack now. I'd been the one who'd been there the longest (by a factor of 3 or 4). I hope they can pull through. They don't deserve to be shafted as much as they're going to be.

The owners of the shop can go to hell, though. If the shop dies in a big fireball without me (which is honestly a strong possibility), they deserve it.

Anyway, so I guess I'm unemployed. Hit me with some commission requests while I look for a job!

This has nothing to do with furry anything, but it doesn't matter it's beautiful. Tiny cities of skyscrapers made by hand with a band saw.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects.....nd-co-studio-0

I see a lot of art in my line of work. When I really like it, my response is usually "Wow, that's beautiful. I really want to make it."

This may be the first time I found my response being "I really want to own that."

It's practically engineered to make me happy. It builds a texture of similarity through repetition of variations on a theme. And it ends up with a tiny little city! It's exactly what I want more art to be.

Of course, I'd still love to make something like this. But if someone else is making art this obsessive, and so perfectly matching my sensibilities, I must support their efforts.

So I guess technically I have been at a con before, but it was a kind of smaller and less exciting convention and I had a table so I wasn't really taking part in the convention.

But I went to a convention! The con was Arisia, a sci-fi/fantasy convention. I wandered the halls wearing chainmail and gave out a lot of business cards. I went to a couple little panels. I ate nice food at nearby restaurants. I got hit on by a guy at the dance and it was cute. I talked to a bunch of dealers in the dealers room. I made my shoulders very unhappy for carrying 20 pounds of metal around for 2 days. I had fun.

I liked the fact that there were a lot of people in costume, and the costumes were really varied. Heavily steampunk-leaning in general, but also a good amount of anime, super-heroes, fantasy characters, etc. I found myself a little bit surprised that I didn't see any fursuits, but then again I didn't actually go see the masquerade so I didn't see most of the super-amazing costumes.

Now I'm really seriously thinking about working out the right way to sell crafts at dealer tables at conventions. Might try for Dragoncon. I just checked, and their vendor application opened a week ago. So it's entirely likely that they're already full. I'll look into that for real tomorrow.

Anyway, yay fun!

At the laser-engraving/cutting shop I work at, we had expected a holiday rush, but were still a bit unprepared for the magnitude of the craziness we would be enduring.

I was put almost completely out of commission the entire time between Thanksgiving and Christmas.

And now I'm stuck at home with family for a while because I just had my wisdom teeth removed (2 days after Christmas) and am lazing around waiting for them to heal.

I just powered through a tail commission that had been on my plate for over a month, but now I've got a blister that'll keep me from working on more chainmail for a couple days. Once I can use pliers again, I brought enough supplies with me to maybe make a scale shirt. I've had a couple ideas for how to make it be more convenient to wear than the one I made five years ago. If it works out well, I plan on posting it up for sale. (The shirt I made for myself five years ago was made with galvanized steel rings, which aren't sturdy enough for me to be comfortable selling it.)

Anyway, there's my status update. Happy holidays everyone!