Califur 2012 - Kitty costume

Califur 2012 - Kitty costume, a photo by DragonSquared Studio on Flickr.

Quick update, and some pics of our most recently completed suit!

Just a generic cat I built for myself in the week before the convention. She is made from some really lovely mottled faux fur I picked up in the Fashion District of LA. It's always a delight to use some of the great fabrics I have in my inventory for my own costuming shenanigans. :)

Behind the scenes with The Guild

A little behind the scenes of my partner & I! The Bui brothers did a great job with the impossible task of getting decent material out of us during our 4am screen time.
Do you know how hard it is to not look at the camera when doing an interview? It is! :)

Reindeer - Delux Plush Doll

Reindeer - Delux Plush Doll, a photo by DragonSquared Studio on Flickr.

As an artist who likes to MAKE things, I find documenting things really challenging!

It's not as fun to set up a photoshoot, take a pile of pictures, weed through all the shots to find some good ones, edit the colours and framing, jumble together a collage... it's just not my cup of tea!

But it is necessary. So here's some (way overdue) pictures of my Christmas present to a very sweet boy.

Love this doll, I think it turned out so well. The little velvety antlers are my favorite.

Further Confusion 2012

Had a blast at Further Confusion 2012!

We've been working on LED components lately, and finished a 300+ LED hula hoop to film a bit of my hula routine in costume! The hula hoop is full of RGB LEDs, which means when we modify the controller inside the hoop, I should be able to obtain a spectrum of over 16.4 million different shades of colour, controllable to preset sequences or even reactive to inputs such as sound or oscillation or acceleration. Fantastic!

Can't wait to put together another hula video now that I've got a bunch of LED hoops to play with!

Sometimes I'm a dog

Thanks to a dear friend and a very quality DSLR, the Puppy officially has some fantastic headshots.

Some specs about this costume:

 - The bodysuit is built to fit unisex, so it's rather baggy. I built it with the thought that both my studio partner and I would be able to wear it. It fits anyone between 5'8-6'2". The body comfortably fits between 145lbs-200lbs, though it starts to get tight around the tummy any larger than that.
 - The materials used were for the most part unidentifiable. I haven't found similar fur to the body since! It's made of locally sourced 2" two-tone brown, 2" tipped beige (the kind that came with a faux suede backing), and some Monterey Mill's brand fox white.
 - It has 2 sets of feet; one built on size 11 mens shoes & one pair on size 7.5 womens shoes. The feet are soled with an additional .75" rubber matting so the traction is great and they're very comfortable for long uses.
 - The tail is carved foam with 2 belt loops, so it has a great wag and will always hold it's shape.
 - The hands are 3 fingered, the paw pads are textured pleather and the pads are lightly stuffed with polyfill for a little extra squish.
 - The nose is cast rubber, tinted with commercial rubber tint and a foam core. Solid and squishy yet very light! Read how I made it here.
 - The head is hand-carved foam lined with a lycra balaclava, the ears are semi-rigid cold foam, and the eyes are CNC machine cut plastic with plastic mesh for vision. The irises are painted with high quality acrylics so they won't bleed or fade. The vision is great out of this head; even in low-light/night settings it's fantastic! This head is so light, it barely weighs 1lb!

Definitely a lot of fun to wear!

Comikaze Expo 2011

November 5-6 was the much anticipated Comikaze Expo at the Los Angeles Convention Center. We were invited (along with the rest of the Video Game Reunion crew!) to speak at a panel about the series.

Me & Rainbow Dash!

The VGR panel was a rousing success; apparently fans of the show are quite die-hard, and eager for Season 2 & 3 to start! There was a fellow who flew all the way to LA from Australia just to hear the actors & crew speak! We're a pretty close-knit family of crew and fans, so everyone was excited to meet up at the Expo, and to party afterward. There was some excellent give-aways at the panel; namely custom artwork done by the Production Manager, a copy of the script signed by all the cast and key crew, as well as limited edition prints and other schwag.

We attended the Expo for one day, arriving Sunday afternoon. I can't speak for the rest of the Expo, or any other panels, for that matter, but I has a pretty good time! As a costumer, I definitely appreciated the air conditioning in the convention hall!

After the panel, I changed into my Dog costume (as seen on The Guild!), and went to make appearances & pose for pictures! Met up with folks like Team Unicorn, I <3 NerdGirls, some of the Guild of Extras personalities, someone dressed up as Kanye West as a teddy bear, and lots of other great costumers and cosplayers. They really packed the LA Convention Center full!

 

I'm certainly looking forward to the 2012 Comikaze Expo!

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Seeing as we were in Los Angeles anyway, we took a day to visit Disneyland and a day to visit the fashion district downtown. Exciting! Getting to see and touch all the new synthetic furs and fabrics is really a treat.

Filming of the new Batman Movie!

 Goodbye LA, thanks for an excellent little holiday.

kitten update

So my boyfriend's little adoptee went from this:

 To this!

So big and handsome! And energetic!

He's added on a few more ounces since rehoming, weighing at just under 3 lbs as of his vet visit last week. He seems to have grown so much, he's like a long wiggly noodle now. His new mom (my studio partner's cousin) has given him a wonderful new home. We miss him like crazy, but I'm happy to see him so content.

According to the latest tests, he's Feline Leukemia & Feline HIV negative. Which, while we hoped for the best, surprised everyone. Yay!

Sadly, the Vet suspects he might have FIP (Feline Infectious Peritonitis) which is fatal and almost completely untreatable. It's going to be a tough few months... The Vet has warned us all that FIP strikes fast, though if he survives past ~6 months the prognosis might be more positive. Apparently feral kittens who inherit/are born with FIP don't usually survive kitten hood, though if they do they can fall victim to it suddenly and swiftly. They just get sluggish and tired and then... 

So, we're hoping he's somehow avoided that guillotine. Unfortunately there is no definitive test for whether a cat is positive or negative for FIP, so we won't know for sure.

He's catching up on all his vaccinations, which have been spaced out and given individually instead of by booster because the vet thinks he's still quite frail and weak. He still may have Feline Herpes, since he's got an infrequent sneeze, which means more lifelong meds. We've been advised to take him for a consultation at a veterinary ophthalmologist as soon as we can all afford it... His 'good' eye may be something an operation can improve (removing the film of scar tissue), and his 'bad' eye may still have to be removed. So far 2 different vets have given two different opinions on removing the eye... 

Of course I'd love for him to not have to go through that trauma, but if it would make him more comfortable, or decrease likelihood of future injuries or infections, I'll gladly pay that bill. We've been very lucky, in that the Kitten's new Mom is helping us with his bills. I just hope that sooner rather than later we can catsit and be 'auntie and uncle' to a healthy & happy cat.

Oh, and he's got a name! Meet Stevie!