Hi there!

Do you run a business within the fandom or do you have serious plans to start one? If that is so, then you really don't want to miss this future opportunity.

This year during Eurofurence we are planning a small and informal panel about furry entrepreneurship.
The panel will be hosted by Nightfox (nachtfuchs) and myself and our goal is very straightforward: to share ideas and experiences, success stories and unfortunate failures and to discuss possible traps, loopholes and other issues we might have or will encounter. In other words we would like to get the opportunity to learn from one another.

For various reasons, we believe that hosting an open panel isn't the best way to reach our above goal. That said, we don't want to scare away anyone either! So, if you are interested in joining us in Berlin this August, we kindly ask you to write a short motivation in an e-mail and send it to info at ezwolf dot com.

We hope to hear from you soon! Keep in mind though that we have limited spaces so don't wait too long!
See you in Berlin!

EZwolf & Nightfox

During Anthrocon we’ll bring our EZCooldown cooling vests and other great cooling products to the dealers den.

Unfortunately we can only bring a limited amount of products so if you want to be sure to get yours: PRE-ORDER it from our US webstore before June 20 (for non US residents too!). Just select the ‘Pick-up at AC’ as option for shipping method and your order will be waiting for you at our dealers den table. No shipping costs!

You don’t only save on shipping costs: all EZcooldown cooling vests -pre-ordered or bought during AC- come with a free PCM CoolCollar, worth $20.00!

Learn more about how our cooling vests can keep you cool in during fursuiting

Looking forward seeing you at AC!

This year I'll be having a table in the dealers den where you can try and buy EZcooldown cooling vests.
The dealers den opens on Saturday, May 24 but if you pre-order, you can pick up your order from May 22. Our cooling vests come with activated PCM inserts so you can start fursuiting comfortably right away :)

Pre-order your coolingvest here and check 'Pick up at CFz 2014' during the ordering process.
You can also buy your vest in the dealers den but remember: we can only bring a limited amount of cooling vests so it's a first come, first served basis. Customers who pre-order will have their vest right at the start of the con, guaranteed!
No matter if you pre-order or buy in the dealers den: you always save shipping costs :)

How to activate your PCM inserts during Confuzzled?
To my (and many other's) surprise, the rooms in the prestigious Hilton Birmingham Metropole don't have mini bars or mini fridges.
This is particularly a problem for fursuiters who wish to activate their cooling vests.
Together with CFz staff and the hotel management we created a solution which in fact might work better than a fridge: free ice available from the bar. One pound of ice and some cold water in your room's washing basin creates ice water which activates your set of PCM inserts in about 20 minutes. Twice as fast compared to a fridge!
According to the hotel management, the bar is capable of providing enough ice to keep you cool so don't hesitate to ask for a bag of ice when needed. Only thing you might need to bring yourself is a plastic bag.

Feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

Looking forward seeing you all at Confuzzled!
- EZ

One of the largest fantasy/renaissance festivals in Europe is Elfia. Personally I think it's the nicest place to go fursuiting imaginable and I notice an increase of (realistic) fursuiters attending every year.

I made a short video of this 3 day event. Amongst others you'll see  godzuki,  Zyxwen,  Jenari,  Strifeb,  rinthedragon and yours truly.

Furries make only a small part of this video but if you like fantasy costuming, re-enactment, steampunk, LARP or just super creative people wearing the most incredible outfits, watch this: http://youtu.be/xg8j4OFy-ys

My documentary film about the recording of Fox Amoore's album 'Come Find Me' at Abbey Road Studios is now on Youtube:

http://youtu.be/FmAyahigZVk

Enjoy watching :)

Currently there's a lot of stuff going on and I thought it might be nice to share a few things with you guys :)

Abbey Road Video
Yesterday I returned from London were I had the honor to shoot a documentary film of foxamoore's album recording at Abbey Road Studios. It was an amazing experience to be there, witnessing the event and seeing so much talent gathered to realize a dream. 'Come Find Me' is going to be totally mind blowing, that's for sure!
It was great to hang out with the Fox, Shay, Colson, Lillypad, Alexander James Adams, Neil, Iain (dad fox), Amadhia, KhakiDoggy, Oatcake, Matoakit and Cerberus. You guys rock!
Right now I'm busy with editing and my goal is to release the film within a few weeks as a preview to the upcoming album.

Other Video Projects
Project Emerald, the next big movie after Bitter Lake, is still in progress but things have been slowed down a bit. Currently Shay, or wolly as you might know him on FA, is still working on the script and costumes for the film are being made by qarrezel We currently have no dates planned for recording, let alone releasing. Only thing I can say is that we are still diligently working on it.
In the meantime I'm planning to do two videos this year. One at Confuzzled and one at Eurofurence. One of them will be a co-production with BBF and will carry the Room 366 label :) The other one is more like a comedy: a mild parody on the furry fandom and that will be directed by Shay.

Photo projects
I've been doing (advanced) fursuit photography for a couple of years now, especially with Clockwork fursuiters as can be seen in my gallery: http://www.furaffinity.net/gallery/ezwolf
During the next months I want to try something I've been dreaming about for years: introducing fursuiters to my fine art photography.
I'm lucky to have an agent who represents my photographic artwork around the world: http://www.wanrooijgallery.nl/artis.....eyn-langedijk. I think the time is right to experiment with fursuit elements in my non-furry photography and see how the art world responds to it. So far two projects have been planned and a third one is in the making. Of course I'll post these pieces on FA as well so you all can enjoy them :)

New crowd funding project
I'm very happy and honored that a world famous furry artist asked me and Shay to create a video for their crowd funding campaign. The only thing I can reveal at this moment is that it's about a massive art project which has been in the making for about 4 years. Be patient friends, more info will follow soon :)

Conventions 2014
As said: I will attend Confuzzled and Eurofurence this year. Next to that I'm looking forward to travel to Stockholm for Nordic FuzzCon in February where I'll do a few panels about photography and fursuit performance.
If everything works out well, I'll be in Pittsburgh again this year for Anthrocon. I've been missing you guys!
There are a few other cons I'd love to attend but I have to decide about those later this year.

EZcooldown cooling vests
This started as a little idea early in 2013. I couldn't have dreamed it would turn into such a serious business; shipping cooling vests for fursuiters and other costume performers all over the globe. A massive THANK YOU to all customers who ordered vests, took time to write reviews and feedback or contributed in other ways to turn this little idea into a success.
During Nordic FuzzCon, Confuzzled and Eurofurence I'll have vests available for trying / buying. So if you attend those conventions and would like to give a vest a try or buy one, be sure to stop by! Things are still in the works for Anthrocon, where I am hoping to have a dealers table!
For more information please visit http://ezcooldown.com

All in all 2014 is going to be a busy but interesting year! So many projects coming up, many places to visit and many people to meet. I'm really looking forward to it all! :)
I can't thank my sweet tigertom enough for standing right beside me, helping me out and supporting me. You are the best!! <3

-EZ

As an early holiday gift from wolly (Shay) and myself, we have put our first furry movie "Bitter Lake" on Youtube for everyone to enjoy.
If you didn't manage to grab a copy of the DVD, you can now watch it whenever you like from the comfort of... wherever really :)

http://youtu.be/kaL4YJbXUys

We would like to thank Eurofurence for giving us a stage and help première it now more than two years ago...
We would especially like to thank foxamoore for the amazing, goose bump inducing soundtrack... you made it all come to life, foxy... all our thanks!
Also a big thank you to everyone on our small production team who made it all possible. Thank you for your time, energy, patience and friendship!

And of course we would like to thank everyone who bought the DVD or downloaded the media package and made it possible for us to work on the future project that is still dubbed "Project Emerald" for now. Without your help, we would never have been able to start looking into that. You also helped produce the many other short movie projects that we made. Our warmest thanks for your kind gestures... and make sure to keep an eye out in 2014 for announcements concerning the future... there is a lot going on... who knows, we might even lift the veil on Project Emerald :)

From all of use that worked on Bitter Lake, warm holiday greetings...
Have a wonderful, warm, healthy and above all... Fuzzy time!

- EZ

We have been busy... Next to Europe and North-America we now have a distribution network for EZcooldown cooling vests in Australia too!
This means competitive pricing, low shipping costs and no custom fees.

Find your local webstore here: http://ezcooldown.com/web-store

Find out what our customers think of EZCD cooling vests: https://twitter.com/EZcooldown

We’re receiving a lot of requests if it is possible to have our EZcooldown vests available for purchase during MFF. This is especially interesting for customers who live in areas where we don’t ship or where our vests are more expensive due to import tax and V.A.T.

We have good news: we can ship a (limited) amount of vests to MFF where they can be picked up at the start of the con, so you can enjoy fursuiting at a comfortable temperature during the rest of the event. The price will be the same as mentioned in the US webstore: $225.00 per vest. There are no additional costs for this drop shipment.

If you’re interested in picking up a vest at MFF then please send us an email and we’ll provide ordering instructions for your vest right away. http://ezcooldown.com/contact

I'd like to get in contact with people who are staff member at (or affiliated with) DragonCon USA.
I'm also curious if there's something like 'DragonAffinity', I mean something similar to FA but for the DC community.
Thanks for your help! :)

Since March this year I've been working on something new: a cooling vest specially designed for fursuiters.
There's nothing new about cooling vests but they all have the same issues: too bulky, adding thermo-insulating layers to your fursuit and the lack of adjustment for a large variety of body types.

During the last 4 months I worked on a new vest in cooperation with a sportswear manufacturer. It resulted in the EZcooldown vest, designed with the specific needs of fursuiters in mind. This vest preserves your fursuit's natural anatomy, is virtually invisible and fits ANY body type.

How does it work? The 4 inserts contain Phase Change Material (PCM) which is able to store cold thanks to its advanced polymer technology.
Once activated, the PCM slowly cools at a constant 14°C / 57ºF providing comfortable cooling relief for up to 3 hrs.

We had the chance to test the first prototypes during Eurofurence 2013 where about 80 fursuiters were able to try them, each for at least 2-3 hours. Their response was overwhelmingly positive which gave us the confidence to continue developing the vest.

The EZcooldown vest is now in production and will be available in Europe by the end of October. We’re working on distributing the vests in the US and Canada soon!

All information about the vest, other cooling products and how to order them can be found on our website: http://ezcooldown.com

This year's EF is going to be pretty interesting in many different ways... Starting with the opening ceremony where you can experience a whole new and fresh look on Room 366... Don't miss it!
Speaking of R366… I'll have a unique little item on sale in the Art Show. This is for the more distinguished R366 adepts and it's a 100% charity item, so be sure to go look and of course bid! :)
Next to that, the last original R366 tags and collars will be available on EosFoxx's table in the Dealer's Den. Next to her own artwork, prints, coasters and other items, she will sell the self adhesive 3D canine and feline noses, which you might know from the 3D nose badges done by Big Blue Fox and yours truly.

I’ve been a bit busy the last few months. Last July I finished work on 'Come Find Me', a new video for Fox Amoore, directed by Shay. This music video will support Fox's crowd funding campaign to record his new album at Abbey Road Studios in London. I'm very proud and thankful that we can premier this music video during EF's Dance contest. Don’t miss it!

And then there's this other 'little' project...
It started as a nice little idea: Just trying a few things, talking about it with fursuiter friends, doing some research... Aaand before you know it you get more than you bargained for!
Now I find myself talking with manufacturers from 3 different continents and spending 16 hrs a day on developing this one single product: The perfect cooling vest, specially designed for fursuiters.
With a little bit of luck from the DHL and UPS gods I'll bring 10 prototypes with me for you guys to give a try at EF. Bear with and follow me on: http://www.ezcooldown.com for more information!

I almost forgot the other 'Object of Utter Excitement'...
Currently it is on its way from Maryland USA to the Netherlands. If customs are kind I'll have it with me at EF. It is a project 3 years in the making and though it will not yet be fully operational, I can't wait to try and run around in it :)

Looking forward to seeing you in Magdeburg!!

I've been making badges and collars for almost a year now and it still makes me smile seeing you guys wearing Room 366 tags and 3D nose badges at cons :) The R366 concept turned from something obscure to a worldwide accepted phenomena in the fandom. And there's more to come: if you attend EF, be sure not to miss the opening ceremony :)

It was a real pleasure to work with BBF who did the artwork for the nose badges and I'm looking forward to future collaborations.

You can still place your orders for customized tags and badges until August 31. The order form is here
It's also possible to buy original R336 tags and collars in the EF dealer's den at EosFoxx's table. As a novelty we also offer self adhesive canine and feline noses. These are the same noses used for the badges. They come in black and pink.

A HUGE thank you goes to all our customers who bought tags and collars. You might not realize it but you helped funding furry video productions like 'Lost', 'Murry Xmas' and 'Tears of the Forgotten' We love you!

Currently I'm working on a new novelty product for fursuiters. What it is I can't tell yet but you'll find out soon enough :)

- EZwolf

'Hi! Do you like M&Ms?'
'Ooh I LOVE M&Ms'
'Here, I have some for you. They're blue'
'Sorry, I don't like green M&Ms'
'But these are blue!'
'Em.. don't like red ones either'
'What color DO you like then?'
'I don't know.... What colors do you have?'

*sobs*

The last few weeks I've been working on a very exciting project together with  foxamoore and  wolly (Shay).


We produced the official promotional video for Fox's new album 'Come Find Me' which (if everything works out right) will be recorded in the famous Abbey Road Studios later this year.
By now the video is finished and will be released soon. An exact date hasn't been set yet. All I can tell you is that it I'm very happy with the result and so are the few crew members who saw it.

Preproduction, shooting and editing took 3 weeks which makes this the biggest furry related production I've done since Bitter Lake. To me, the title song for this album 'Come Find Me' on which the video is based, is one of the best songs from Fox so far. During filming and editing I heard it for at least 300 times and it still gives me goosebumps every single time I hear it!


 alectorfencer did some beautiful artwork for the video and will also be the head artist for the album.

We also had the best crew imaginable:  tigertom,  razenl,  kwisa and  eisbaer

And then there was this great other guy who I can't mention yet as it would reveal to much... :)


Bear with us... good stuff is coming!
More info about 'Come Find Me': http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/4644784

Sneak peak behind the scenes:
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/11049334/

I received a lot of questions lately about our film 'Bitter Lake' and why it is not available anymore.

Bitter Lake was available on DVD from BlackPaw and FurPlanet until spring 2012. Selling this DVD helped us to cover the costs of producing the film.

From September 2012 until april 2013 we offered the Bitter Lake Media Package as a pay-per-download. This package included the film in full HD, the original soundtrack by Fox Amoore, the hires movie poster, the original script and some more goodies. The sale of this media package covered the start-up costs of a brand new film project Shay and I am currently working on. Mind you, we're just in the pre- pre production fase so there's nothing we can tell you at this moment except that we use 'Project Emerald' as a provisional name for it.

So, why is Bitter Lake no longer available as a pay-per download?
Simple.: When the amount of downloads dropped at some point, the costs for the webshop and keeping a 3,4 GB file online exceeded the profit we made out of it.

Does it mean Bitter Lake will never be available anymore?
Certainly not! We will have Bitter Lake available for free on Youtube within six months! It will be in HD720 and we don't offer the extras that came with the media package. However, if you'd like to obtain the original soundtrack: Fox Amoore will have it available within a few weeks so keep an eye on his FA page!

To all you good people who bought Bitter Lake we want to say: Thank you, thank you, thank you! You literally contributed to independent furry film-making. You also helped us realizing several spin-off projects in both short furry film productions as in furry-related music and thanks to you there will be much more to come!

EZwolf, Shay & FoxAmoore

**** MORE UPDATES ****

All pieces were sold at Confuzzled raising GBP 375,-- for charity.
Big thanks to all buyers and bidders!



**** UPDATE ****

First of al: thanks everyone for the many notes and requests I got!

I have decided to donate these pieces to Cunfuzzled's artshow where they will be for sale. All sales will 100% benefit CFz's charity: STA Ferret Rescue.

If you're interested in obtaining one of these pieces and you're attending confuzzled, than keep an eye on this journal for more information later.

*****************

I'm giving away 4 giant blow ups (2.00 x 1.60 meter) vinyl prints of some of my early pieces.

http://www.furaffinity.net/view/2556483/
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/2556558/
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/2556529/
http://twitpic.com/cne2od

I had them made 10 years ago for an art exhibition but I have no use for them anymore. So now I want to get rid of them but I hate to just throw them away. They are in perfect condition. I give them away including aluminium suspension system.

A few things however:
- One item per person
- No reselling
- I live in the Netherlands. I can ship worldwide but the costs are yours to pay.
- I can NOT bring them to CFz or EF as my car is already packed with suits and equipment.
- If you choose to pick them up you have to do so within 3 months

EDIT:The weight of a print, rolled up in a hard PVC tube plus the aluminium suspension system is about 7 kilos. The length of the parcel is 30 x 30 x 160 or 200 cm (depending on what print we're talking). If you're interested in what shipping to your place costs, check out the sites of UPS, DHL or TNT.
I live in Winssen , The Netherlands. Postcode is 6645CA

If you're seriously interested; send me a NOTE. Keep in mind this is not a 'first come, first serve' thing.
If you have a question, please ask in the comments.

Quite often I see artwork posted here which loads very slow. A closer look at the file mostly reveals the issue: The file is very large due to

- Wrong (low) jpg compression
- Not using the best file type
- High bit depth
- Use of unsharp masking or sharpening filters

In many situations the file size could be reduced by 50-70% without losing any visible quality. This is how you do it (without the complex details :)

JPG compression:
Standard JPG compression works on a scale from 1 to 12 or 'low quality to high quality' (depending on your imaging software). Choose 8 on the numeric scale (like Photoshop) or 'medium/better' if your scale only has descriptive indications. Any higher quality will not result in visibly better pictures but the file size will increase immensely.

File type:
For general use like on FA, JPG is perfect. It is able to compress your image to a small file while maintaining maximum quality. TIFF and PNG will create larger files, not better quality.

Bit depth:
While a 16-bit workflow is great for photo editing; 8 bits per channel is enough for a final image.

Sharpening or unsharp masking filters:
This is of course a matter of taste. Personally I dislike the artificial sharpness that some people add to their photos. Sharper does not equal better. Most people also don't realize that these filters ad a lot of artificial details by increasing the image's micro contrast. More details means more information which means a larger file size.

Of course you can say this is all pretty trivial when you have a fast internet connection but imagine what browsing FA is like when using a slow connection and many files are 50-70% larger than necessary. It's not only annoying for the viewer but it also might reduce the # of views your art gets ;)

It took me a while to make up my mind what cons to visit this year. So far I can confirm Confuzzled and Eurofurence for sure!
Attending Midwest FurFest has been on my list for several years. I really hope I can be there this year but running a business makes it hard to make a long term planning *crosses paws* I also need to be sure that my dog has a good home while I'm away.

I have some interesting plans for photo shoots during Confuzzled in co-operation with my awesome mate tigertom
For Eurofurence I'm planning to do an other music video. Something like the one I did last year , but a bit different and more advanced!

Interested in getting a 3D nose badge or a Room 366 name tag with matching collar? I'll be happy to take orders and deliver them to CF or EF. You save 10% shipping costs!
More info in my next journal.

See you soon! :)

OK, it took a while and my apologies for those who have been waiting for this but OMG it was worth it!
The original Room 366 collars are now available! And we have more... What about customized tags with your name or artwork? Woop! check out!
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/8903622

During the last couple of months I have received many questions about the Bitter Lake DVD and if or when it would be available again.
For various reasons Shay and I decided not to produce a new batch of DVDs and in stead we decided on something better: The Bitter Lake media package. This package can be downloaded for a small fee and contains the original movie in full HD, the original soundtrack album by Fox Amoore and a bunch of extras like the hires movie poster and the original production script.

Interested? Check out: http://tinyurl.com/bitterlakemedia

By buying the media package you help us to realize new future movie projects!
Thank you in advance! :)

The full version will be premièred during Eurofurence 18
In the mean time... have fun with the teaser!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oFqTvULyt6c&feature=youtu.be

Eurofurence is my 4th and last big con for this year and now it's getting closer, I'm getting pretty excited as this con is probably going to be my busiest so far. I got a lot of things planned and most involve video / film.

First of all is the premiering of my short film 'Lost' which will be showed on Friday during one of the major con events. The film is shot at some amazing locations in Berlin (Germany) and Nijmegen (The Netherlands) with the help of an awesome 20 person crew. The soundtrack is produced by the very talented foxamoore.'Lost' will be aired on EF Prime TV starting Friday evening. After EF it will be released on my Youtube channel: http://www.youtube.com/theezwolf

During EF I'll be shooting footage for a few video projects:
A general con video. However, this will be be something different from what you've seen so far :)
A music video, featuring about 50+ fursuiters.
A video which involves a certain Doctor.

Next to that I've been asked to judge some events during EF and I'll be doing some photoshoots right before/after the con.
So, yes it's going to be friggin busy but I'm sure I'll find enough time to bounce around as North or checking out the scene as the more serious Raden Drraer. And when I'm not in suit, you probably can find me in the bar with my mate TigerTom. Feel free to join us for a drink!

See you there :D

The Making of Bitter Lake is now available on Youtube! Watch how our project came to life!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2dcdOGHncw

Enjoy :)

People often asked us how it all started. What happened, how, and for what reason.
As for any music video, it all started with proper auditions. And as we all know, every audition has its share of good and bad. But we at Room 366 take our job very seriously.... sort of ;)

Watch video on Youtube: http://youtu.be/-BLwTGvwjSQ
... or on Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/44546801