Anyway, convention happened. I roomed with Zoren, Alizar, and two people I don't know. Unexpected fifth person was actually really nice. Would room again, though I still have no idea who he was.

Did a few panels mainly to eat up time. Notably the fursuit concept and design panel went over pretty much everything proposed for my fursuit anatomy panel idea so now I don't have to worry about preparing such a presentation myself. Spent more on dealer stuff than expected ($20 on the novel Save The Day, $5 on a Certified Rat badge, $30 on the Pack Rat puppet) but well within my means, and regrettably completely forgot to look at the art show.

Got some suiting in and for once I went through the whole con without anything breaking or feeling bad about how terrible it looked. What few pictures I've been able to find indicate I messed up on the ears and there are issues with the body, but nothing horrible. I do see in retrospect why so many people were calling me a mouse, this will need some work. I only went to dance briefly on Sunday night but enjoyed myself thoroughly while there. I don't think I'll ever recapture the feeling of the first time I ever did it but this came close and I look forward to trying it again. My footpaws held up admirably under the stress, will have to figure out I how I built them.

I do feel that I failed to socialize. I mostly hanged out with the Sac crowd, and even then not all that much. Dined alone fairly often. Also managed to fail to order the paneer at that Indian place even though I went there twice intending to try it. Need more outreach. Also have to remember I'm carrying a camera. I now regret not capturing Gravy doing his so unbearably cute it's actually pretty scary routine.

All things considered I'd call this the least eventful con I've done so far, for good and ill.

Back from FC, now I can step back from my work to evaluate what else I need to do. Further revisions are likely as photographs come in.

Small: Widen the white patches around the eyes to include part of the bridge of the nose. Take the opportunity to install powerful magnets for magic pince-nez eyeglasses, also to be built. Redo the ears. Make a new, longer, lower jaw. All fairly low priority since the existing pieces are still functional, but easily done.

Medium: Redo the foot paws. Mechanically they've been holding up very well. I just need to take the time to competently sculpt and sew them. Priority task, I'm really dissatisfied with the current pieces. Lower priority, make a wider tail. Better handpaws would be nice.

Big: Redo the upper body, and possibly the lower to match. The construction of my body suit is just ridiculous and there are lingering issues with the fitting. I'd like to redo it, and in the process hopefully add padding to bulk the body up some. I keep getting mistaken for a mouse and I think it'd help if I were less slim. Major undertaking but high up on the list of things to do.

I'd also like to do some work on my accessories. The hook got some nice comments but has major durability issues. I'm also pondering making a proper cloak. Thoughts on performance, mannerisms, and a possible name change are also percolating.

Where are you staying?
Hilton. Room 319?

Arrival/Departure
Arriving Thursday, Leaving Monday

Sharing a room with
Zoren, Alizar, Cosmo

Who do you hang out with?
Sac crew, Sac expats, assorted Bay acquaintences.

Gender
Male

Relationship Status
Single

How old are you?
29.

How tall are you?
5'6" out of suit

Are you an Artist?
Nope

Are you a Fursuiter?
Yes. Look for a brown rat with glasses.

Attending parties?
Might peek in for a couple minutes, but I'm not exactly a party person

Do you drink?
No

Can I buy you a drink?
Why on Earth would you want to do that?

Do you smoke?
No

Are you attending any panels?
Yes. I've already done most of the suiting ones so this time I'm going to try to focus on writing panels.

Stage or public performance?
Suiting around a bit, but nothing formal

How can I get your attention?
Tackle me, stick a gun in my face, surprise groping, or just say "Hey Henry." That last one is the least likely to make me instinctively respond with deadly force, so you should probably try it first. Tweets to raxmei go to my phone so I should eventually get back to you if you do that.

Rules of engagement (physical contact)?
You can basically do whatever you want.

How can I find you?
Not easily. If you think I should let myself be found tweeting Raxmei should work as long as I'm out of suit.

Can I talk to you?
You can try.

Can I give you lots of money?
For what reason?

Can I give you stuff?
I guess

Can I hug or snuggle with you?
ok

Can I come to dinner with you?
Ask in person

Can I hang out with you?
Yes?

Can I take your picture?
Yes, especially in suit

How do I know if you're not looking to socialize (angry, busy or upset)?
From the trail of dead

Personality Type?
Low key, prone to odd tangents

What's your goal for the con?
Socialize, learn a few things, get some fursuit frolics in.

I had the package put on my doorstep today. On a sunday, five days after it had been reported stolen, and it had been opened and crudely resealed with scotch tape. I think it was delivered to the wrong person, who opened it, decided they didn't want it, and eventually returned it anonymously to its proper addressee.

Would there be any interest in a fursuit anatomy panel? Basically an anthro anatomy panel with a focus on applying it to suiting.
Basic outline

Fursuit anatomy
Introduction: Why do we care and how much should we care?
Part 1: Heads
-Using references
-Proportions
-Features
-Compatibility issues between character and wearer anatomy, particularly concerning vision
-Comparison between various animals and humans
-Why most suits have dog faces
Part 2: Bodies and appendages
-Markings
-Form
-Does this fursuit make me look fat?
-Digi legs: A brief discussion of what is being simulated
-Paws
-Tails

Fedex being stupid as usual, box of materials is having some trouble getting through. I might have to do this with just what I have on hand. If I have to I can reuse body 1's old forearms, maybe even the forepaws though I'd like to replace those as soon as I can. If things really don't get together I can improvise material for nonshowing surfaces and cannibalize body 2 for its fur.

Today's progress: finished smoothing out the upper beak, installed eye subsurface, installed things to tie the lower jaw to.

After a long spell of just not being able to do stuff the knives are coming back out. Current project is fixing some mistakes I made with the gryph suit. I'm going off of head 2 and body 1, complete reskin and minor resculpt on the head; padding, adjusting the tailoring, and redoing the paws on the body. Hoping to get something presentable by early September.

Reexamining my work, the fit on the suit is just about right already and I got the symmetry on the head dead on even though it did it freehand. Aside from resurfacing the head's getting its ears chopped down to be less mousey. Priority for the body is getting the paws right, also considering extending the white down into the inner thighs. I don't think I'll actually need to use any cinnamon for this, though it will come in handy when I go back to my rat.

On order: Black and Cinnamon fur. Swatches for short pile pink, unfurred black, and mesh fabric.

Project queue: Gryphon revamp in progress. Rat revamp materials on order. No real progress on new character. I'm pretty sure I'll never have the right build to be a good cheetah but maybe I can find someone to build it for. My physical condition does seem to be improving, at least.

This year was a lot less "oh, so that's what you're supposed to do" and more "yeah, I did that bit wrong" and "I should try something else next time". I have a pretty good idea what I'm shooting for now. It's mostly execution that needs work.

Future projects:
Current- Revisit my rat, design and build new "Moon Dog" character
Future- Cheetah

In the middle - Physical conditioning, schedule reasonable amounts of time for projects. Time management has been a problem since forever and my present physique is imposing limits on what I can do.

Techniques to experiment on: Body padding, different eye styles, eventually airbrushing

Alphashespirit wants volunteers for her characters to make out with. She's pretty good, check it out.

http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/2562605/

Doing some foaming for my head with this new foam I'm experimenting with. It's pretty stiff and doesn't seem to take glue very aggressively so it's hard to laminate curves into it. On the other hand its stiffness makes it very easy to carve. Softer foams tend to flex under the knife and this doesn't. I'm actually able to make cuts with a simple blade instead of scissors. It does still take glue well enough to work and it flexes enough that I'm not worried about it snapping so it's a viable material. I won't be able to tell if it does the thing I bought it for until I finish.

Now that I'm measuring and cutting stuff it's hitting how big an 11cm by 21 cm beak really is. My old head was way out of proportion in that regard. This would be really crazy if I were basing off a crow or raven.

I'm thinking of going with plastic domes for my eyes. I've never been perfectly happy with my eyes and it's a design I've never tried before. The simplest design is solid black, which is more or less what crow and rat eyes look like but not jackdaw eyes. I'm not sure how it'll work with ventilation and fogging.

For shaping I think I can manage to get the eyes pointing kinda sideways and still have the forward part that I'd actually be looking through have low obliquity to minimize the optical distortion. I'm already expecting to have to set the forward part of the face a little forward of my face. If all else fails I can do the tear duct thing.

Anyone know if it's possible to put a tint on clear acrylic? I found a source on transparent hemispheres in the right size.

Back on May 16th I placed an order for three pieces of fur from CR. Last week I noticed that I really should have received it by now and started poking around for the status. The website said my order was being processed. Since it was Memorial Day weekend I wasn't able to get hold of anyone to ask about it until the 31st. Turned out that one of the items was out of stock but it was expected in later that week. I should have my stuff some time the next week (early June).

Cue next week and I haven't received a shipment notification and the site still says it's processing. Phone call, my stuff wasn't in last week's shipment but they should have it within the next couple weeks. My order's already been idling for three weeks by this point and I'm now being told that I'll probably have it by the end of June and I'm not sure I can believe them. This delay is starting to cause serious damage to my time table. At this point it seems like it could be faster to cancel my order and start again with another supplier, including ordering swatches.

Anyway, does anyone know where I can find a reasonable approximation of brown agouti in pile length between 1/2" and 1" for less than $20 a yard? I also need black and white but you can find those anywhere.

I'm considering switching to shorter pile fur. I've previously used mainly 15/16" fur and I'm currently looking at 7/16". Looking at the old stuff I think it looks too shaggy and the ripple effect caused by the guard hairs when the fabric moves has always been a problem. On the other side I'm not sure what the end result would look like if I switched to short pile.

That went well

As far as pacing is concerned this is the best con I've done so far. I attended all of the events I really wanted to and got in some good social and suiting time. I left feeling accomplished and was neither bored not overextended. As usual I got a good opportunity to take a look at the state of the fursuit community. This time I had fewer moments of suddenly realising I'd been doing things completely backwards and more that I simply needed to continue refining my technique. My suit got a good reception, most praise centering around character design. Oddly the glasses got the most comments. The workmanship wasn't all it could be and I already have plans for a revamp.

I do have a short list of disappointments:
The planned tea party never happened
I didn't get to go skating
I didn't buy any art or commissions
I completely missed the art show
I simply forgot to take any pictures
I did not feel the workmanship of my suit was of a high enough standard to participate in the Masquerade this year. It's the best work I've ever done but my standards have also risen.

Packing list:

reg paperwork
CDs and cases
laptop

Tea
cups
kettle
sweetener (I now have all three colors of packet, but not sugar.)
water bottle

Cash
document carrier
camera
photocopies of ref sheet

sewing machine
fabric
foam
thread, needles, pins
suits, duh
glue gun, glue
tape measure, calipers

glowy stuff
collar
badges and buttons
badge carrying hardware

clothes, including warm clothes
change of shoes
laundry bag
personal grooming kit

There's a safeway across the street from the hotel so no special need to carry food.


Currently complete: Both bodies, tail, wings

Tonight's build plan: Rat paws upper, rat paws lower, some head work
Tuesday night: Finish off gryph paws, gryph forearms. Continue head work
Wednesday: Finish heads, cleanup, pack
Time permitting: Paw sandals.

Getting the old rat body fixed has energized me some. I was considering going with just the gryph but now I'm more optimistic about getting both in presentable condition. Bringing the second suit would let me spread wear time between two bodies and that would be of particular use for the dances.

I have an electric kettle, a selection of teas, and little packets of sweetener. Is there any interest in a little tea party at FC? Question directed in particular to my roommates.

How much of the gryphon's upper body is normally avian? I've seen mammalian shoulders and upper arms pretty frequently as well as all avian and all mammalian arms. I'm pretty sure I'm doing avian hands so I basically need to know if I should do avian shoulders and upper arms as well or leave the avian bits at the forearms, head, and upper back. Character design is still up in the air.

It strikes me just now that the hands and arms should probably be my lowest priority on this project since I can always go back and fill them in later and all of the intermediate stages would be useable. The parts that really must be done are my rat paws and tail and the gryph wings, head, and belly.

Ran over a fairly impressive screw on the way home. Fortunately Zoren's a saint as always and turned around for me. Tried putting some air back in once I got home and determined that I will definitely have to swap the tube out. Thankfully I picked up all of the necessary supplies and equipment including tire levers a couple weeks ago.

This might be of particular interest to Sparky.

I've been looking to gryphon anatomy recently as part of unspecified project. A few examples that I found interesting now populate my recent favorites. A related concept is angel wings. Angels are often depicted as man-shaped creatures with wings, and that has obvious relevence to the matter at hand. Anyway, after I'd decided that the anatomy was sheer madness and I should just go with a shape that looked pretty and somewhat winglike I got linked to this youtube video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRHVzbJVx8I

The project's now a little more ambitious, enough so that I can't just throw on some wings and do a head swap and call it a day. I'm making a whole new upper body now, which means I can't reuse my current suit without irreversibly altering it. Fortunately I do things a little strangely and have two alternative body suits of the same character in my closet. Suit #2 appears most suitable, having good fit and the defective bits are located in areas that I'm going to rip out anyway. Just cleaned and brushed it out this morning and the fur seems to be in good condition except for a little patch about an inch long that got damaged somehow. I currently have the materials on hand to start on the upper body and upper arms and should have the materials to work on the belly and lower arms next week.

I've had a rat/jackdaw gryph form in the back of my head for a while now and now I'm starting to think about making it a named character. The name I've been going by is actually derived from my real name and is of no particular significance. Raxmei is an odd spelling of the word and boy's name meaning ray (of sunlight) in a foreign language.

Vea seems like a good candidate. It's a corruption of the word and boy's name Veha, meaning sky. That would perhaps make too much sense, but it sounds good.

It has stress on the last syllable, as should Raxmei.
In the process of looking into this I think I've found a pretty good surname in Mao. That would make my primary Mao Raxmei (dark ray of light, for those keeping track of meanings). Mao Vea has a nice sound, I think.

This evening I got to thinking about how I was going to make my tail and then I remembered I had this great big useless piece of foam in the closet. I have something tail shaped but now my thumb's gone numb. You can tell I put a lot of effort into planning.

The best part of fursuiting is you get to eat your mistakes.