Take a look in my Scraps; Melissa and I just bought another old car, just for cruising and having 30mpg fun. A lot different from the streetable drag racers we've been driving the last couple of years...

Take a look in Scraps - I just uploaded a few pics of my Studebaker D/Coupe LSR car in progress, as she'll be until my foreleg heals. I wish I'd gotten farther along, but I'm surprised I made it this far, frankly.

I'm actually THIS -><- close to being able to put the body back on the frame, but I'll need some strong backs who don't mind lifting things an inch or two (or moving hem back and forth similar amounts) at command...

In about seven or eight hours I drive in to Chatham (probably by myself) for major reconstructive surgery. I won't have a lot of mobility in my arm when I'm done, so I'll probably be fairly quiet for a month or two, except for especuially personal stuff. Hopefully I'll be able to post pics of the Studebaker in its current state of assembly, but it'll depend on when they let me lift things. Even the camera will be too heavy, it seems. I may even ask for pics of the procedure that I can post here and squick y'all out with.

Haven't had anything this invasive since I was five. Most of what they'll be doing, including the anaesthetic procedures, weren't invented yet when I had my tonsils out. Listening to old music - Al Stewart, The Shadows, The Ramones, has been oddly helpful, but it's still scary. 'Specially since squishing my foot last month proved that I'm not invuinerable any more.

Pretty much 100% of my time has been spent getting the Studebaker together before I'm laid up for the rest of the year (don't ask), but in passing I make the following observation:

The 'Splash Pad' is possibly humanity's greatest invention ever.

At some point I'll post a pic or two to show y'all just what it is I've been doing. I am THIS close to being able to drop the body on the chassis - all the reinforcing and welding and extra mounting points are finished, all the wiring and fluid lines will be done within the week, the body's been finished forever apart from two new holes that need to be drilled for the seat mounts. Amazing to think that I've only had the new chassis in my hands since... what was it, March? April?

But I stand by the splash pad comment. Beats hell out of cooling off in the shower, plus it's the municipality that pays for the water.

Apparently if you get behind over a month on SL they cancel your account. Not put it on hold, cancel it outright.

So much for all those custom AVs, signs and buildings. At least I still have the texture files. For all the good that will do me.

If you're interested in Studes take a look in Scraps - there's a pic of the frame that's going under my 54 Starliner...

Been crazy busy. Plus just plain crazy. Living with an alcoholic will do that to you.

Will have summat new to show you shortly. Stay tooned.

I wanna go to this event BAD.

http://wastelandweekend.com/

Got the leather. Got the car. Got the time, probably. Now I just need the gas money - or the location of a small desert community producing its own fuel. (Is there still a refinery in Petrolia?)

Anyone up for a trip to the SoCal desert from Southwestern Ontario, or locations between here and there?

I'm serious. I R E A L L Y wanna go...

I don't know why Coyote has taken an interest in my life. I just wish he'd STOP.

Because it looks an awful lot like I'll once again be homeless, and pretty soon too. My partner has been drinking herself into a state (again) but this one may last longer. I don't know. If it does, there'll be no way I can stay - I'm pretty sure she's trying to make me leave so she can blame ME for things. A situation I've been in before.

Why is this here? So those of you who care will know there's a reason if I drop off the map for a while.

Good to see some of my work from the mid Nineties still being worn - take a look at http://www.furaffinity.net/view/4089046 . That's Wolverton on the left and Mishi on the right; both have been modified to some extent from their original designs (by me) and both are holding up fairly well. Mishi did much of the assembly on his body suit and that's held up well too.

I'd build them quite differently now, of course, but it's still nice that some of the things I did are still appreciated.

To all those who like to flaunt their devoutness at me:
Earnestness is not a substitute for intelligence, TYVM.

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Riding in to work on the bus this morning, the clouds to the south over Ohio were variegated and roiled and here and there thin enough to let some colour through. Just the sort of weather that gives me a serious case of Happy Feet. Unfortunately, there's test-and-tune Friday night and a car show on Sunday, and I couldn't afford to go to AC even if I wanted to (I don't) so I'll be feeling frustrated and fractious for at least the next day or two.

BUT I got the mods to Mishi done (though not entirely to my satisfaction), the sergal's almost ready to sew together, and the pony gear I've been doing for someone (not a fur) is coming along reasonably well.

So, y'know, swings and roundabouts.

---

It is possible to sew outside. When it isn't 30 bloody C in the shade. One just has to remember to put a tarp over the sewing table in case it rains.

Hard to know which is worse: sewing in the heat or welding in the heat.

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This undirected rambling has been brought to you by Lilly Pharmaceuticals, makers of Cymbalta.

Between servicing, modifying and racing the Bel Air, taking the tractor in to the dealer to have the clutch checked, selling my old Volare wagon and the 47 Ford, moving the Studebaker back home, and getting the Yiffliner back on the road, there hasn't been a lot of time to do anything furry. But today I finished the patterns for the sergal suit, so as soon as I can get the fur (Thursday or Sunday, depending) I'll start sewing it together. Then it's a matter of padding the legs and I am done.

And while I was doing the modified patterns I also started patterns for the NEXT fursuit.

Now if the heat would just go 'way so I could try stuff on...

And in many ways a wasted one...

Took the 67 Bel Air to Grand Bend Motorplex for opening day, yesterday. The omens were unpromising, but we went anyway. Got three runs in before eliminations, with the ETs all over the place - between 15.6 and 14.3 seconds, much of which I blame on the balky transmission and the rest on sticky choke linkage. Eliminations start, and poor Melissa falls asleep at the light (reaction time of 3/4 of a second!) and fumbles her way down the track with her absolute WORST time ever, 15.76 seconds. I mean, she was turning better times than that when the car only had a worn-out 327 in it.

And I don't even want to get into how much it cost us.

I think maybe I'm gonna stick to working on my fursuit projects for a week or two, get the tire smoke out of my ears (really!) and wait for the new transmission to get installed...

Spent the bulk of today doing something that doesn't get to happen very often nowadays: 'volunteered' a couple of friends and pulled the C8BA flathead out of the 47 Ford I've had for a while. Came out surprisingly easily, given that none of the bolts have moved in decades, but the motor and transmission really gave my hoist a workout - together they weigh something like a half ton. Also got a lot of the suspension bolts removed (thanks to an imact gun) and should have the frame stripped clean by Friday when we put the race car on the trailer.

Damn, it all feels good, even if I did once again overstress my damaged feet.

Anyone have a need for a solid and straight 1947 Ford convertible frame? It's free; just come & get it...

There is nothing like altering a pattern to make you face reality in re one's body shape. I like to use Kwik-Sew 2335 for close-fitting suits, but it has to be adapted for fur because it's meant to be made from 75% stretch material. So I estimated how much I needed to expand it (mostly around the waist) and added the necessary amount of paper to widen the upper and lower body. Then I cut a 'muslin' from an old bed sheet* and fitted it with  mishi's help.

Long story short: gonna be a pretty chubby sergal. :/ But at least I have a new and proper-fitting body suit pattern for the next project, whatever that will be.

We also fitted his old cougar suit, which is due for some pleasant modifications; I'm sure he'll post pics as soon as it's done, possibly next week.

Baloo's head and paws should get started this week too; I finally have my work space cleared off. (it was occupied by my display of 1/64 scale police cars, which has now outgrown TWO sizes of panel. Just finished transferring them to both halves of a hollow-core bifold door, which ought to give me space to expand the collection, at least for a little while.)

The rest of my time this month will be occupied with prepping the race car for its first run this upcoming weekend, and disassembling the 47 Ford chassis so I can get the Volare wagon in and get the motor and tranny out of THAT. And working on the garden. Plus trying to cope while the new drugs take their fracking time at taking effect.
Maybe I'll go watch trains for a while first...

*free tip especially for YOU, Constant Readers!

It's not directly relative to things here, but...

My brain does not produce adequate quantities of neurotransmitters. Never has, it would seem. Normally this is corrected to a degree by a type of drug called an SNRI, but the one I've been taking for some years has become ineffective and I'm being transitioned onto another one. While it's happening things are still pretty grim at home and work, and while I want to comment on some things - art, journals, and so forth - I just can't work up a lot of enthusiasm for the task. Can't even work up enough interest to go on SL and do some things that have been in the pipeline for months.
But I'm thinking of y'all, okay?

After seeing the first three pics taken last weekend, I doubt I'll bother posting them here. Everything about them is wrong, though  mishi did his best. You all will just have to wait a bit longer to see what it looks like all together.

This last weekend  mishi took a few pics of me in the first-stage sergal suit, using a knock-off flight jacket in place of the as-yet-unmade body suit. Pretty bad. Visibility was almost nil, I'm going to have to relearn how to walk if I'm to keep from tripping over my own toes, I'll be obligated to wear a balaclava just to keep the hair out of my mouth, and the tail was just a disaster, too thick, too heavy, no 'feel' to it at all.
And just to cap it all off I look HUGE in it - not just heavyset but FAT, thick-bodied, gross and sloppy. Not suitable for this species.

Suppose I'll post a pic or two here once I get them, but it's hardly going to be worth looking at.

So I have like four SL pics here. One is highly Photoshopped (I actually used Canvas, but never mind that now) but the others are simple snaphots. HOWEVER said snapshots are all taken of avatars I created from scratch (including all textures) in environments I also created from scratch.

Does this violate the parts of the AUP everyone is arguing about? No-one has actually said 'No SL snapshots, period,' or at least no-one seems to have actually written it down. I'd kinda like to know, because if these are suddenly unacceptable I have a few rather good projects in the works I'd have to scrap...

( /me seems to be rather grumpy tonight )

Paws are mostly done and should be finished today, but designing the feet got me thinking.

See. I've never had much luck with fursuit feet. The modular lion has effective ones, but they were actually designed to be boots that just LOOK like feet (if you don't look too close.) I used to use a glue-on design based on canvas deck shoes, but it isn't all that effective for doing realistic feet either. A sergal's digtigrade legs and long feet will need something different.

And it sidetracked me into thinking about learning shoemaking. Maybe there's a market for fursuit feet that look good AND are good to walk in. I've started to explore it as a possibility; it's unfortunate that there aren't that many places that teach it, and only one of them is in Canada (and that one is in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan.)

But we'll see. In the meantime, I have paws to pad. :)

Yes, after a drought that's lasted since I did that Taye suit - what, eight years now? - I am actually doing a new fursuit for myself. Should have a pic of the head ready in a few days - I spent part of the morning (when I wasn't sewing up a new Hawaiian shirt for myself) painting a new eye design I'm trying out. Lower jaw's done, pretty much, should have the upper head finished tonight if all goes well.

The intervening years have seen the cost of fur rise a LOT, from around $15/yd on average to over $20. Must be the p;rice of oil or something. And my usual suits require a good 4 yds of fabric, so this is gonna stick a major crowbar across my budget's rails. But it's worth it; one can't build model airplanes forever, after all.

Now I just need somewhere to wear the thing when it's finished.

It's taking forever - race season really gets in the way of sewing - but I'm about half-way through making a rather nice bunny puppet from an ancient pattern found at a thrift store. He (I assume) is surprisingly large, roomy enough for my big paws and long enough to cover my forearm. With luck he'll be finished next week and I'll be able to take a pic or two of him, along with Lambton St Clair (sheep puppet used on TV in 2003) and the revised version of my rabbit robot puppet.

Stay tuned.

Here's a question that isn't in the site FAQ:

How does one go about giving a bit of gift art to someone? Do you just treat it as a submission and tell them it's here? Or is there some procedure to it?

Yes, I have something in mind for someone...

It's not the easiest site to use, but for some reason I feel rather good that all these old fursuit pics are getting seen again. Hopefully it will inspire me to do new work too - there's Mishi to finish modifying, the paintball sabretooth and deer to finish, Batbat to upgrade, the turtle to buld...