None of this stopped Mom from offering me invitations whenever there was a local convention. She'd never push, just put the invitation out there and hope I'd be there. If I went, she'd always gush about how happy she was that I was there and how much fun she had hanging out with me at cons. It was a point of light in a dark time in my life and a much-needed reminder that I was special and worthwhile, if only to her.
I won the lottery in the Mom department. Dad's also awesome, and I am one lucky kid to have them.
It's so hard to find good minions these days...
When Mom mentioned on Facebook that she was needing a Table Minion, I jumped at the chance to go. Ben and I had a lot of fun at Octopodicon with her last year, so this would be a good little excuse to go have an adventure.SoonerCon was about 4 hours north of Dallas in a suburb of Oklahoma City. I've never been, but it looks to be about a mid-sized convention with a pretty nice turnout. It's theme this year was "Darkness Falls". I spent most of my time in the Dealer's Room, so I don't know how this theme played out in the panels.
It seems to be a mid-sized convention with a healthy turnout. Most of the folks there were locals, but a few people were from as far away as Washington. From what I could see, they ran a great con. I didn't hear complaints from dealers or guests, a sure sign of a disorganized ConCom. There was a good diversity of panel topics and the guests I was hanging out with (Ethan Nahte, Mel. White, and John DeLaughter) had fun on their panels.
I do wish I would have spent more time going to panels, but with a table to man I always feel like I need to be available and at the table, especially when I get "HALP!!" texts in the one and only panel/make shop I went to. This is probably something I need to work out with my co-minion, Ben (non-furry in the pic). I might hire those two to go find him and put him behind the table, they seem fit for the job.
The costumes and (Gulp!) Costume Contest
There were some incredible costumes at this convention. I was blown away by the creativity and craftsmanship of so many of the patrons of this con. I've got a lot of work to do to get up to this caliber! Even the hall costumes were really impressive here. It was so inspiring to see all of these costumes and take a look at really great craftsmanshp. For me, it helps to see them in person and begin to deconstruct what makes this good versus what makes a costume accurate but not as interesting.
Mano the Sewing Machine and I need to get a little cozier. I've got a list of projects that I've got in mind so he and I have a date.
Even though I knew it was unlikely that I'd win anything, I signed up for the costume contest and was ready to give it my best. I'm not much of a shutterbug in the first place so I din't take as many pictures as I could have. I wish I could have snapped the winning costumes to take a close look at them again. Instead, I just talked to people and tried not to freak the hell out onstage.
Once I walked into the room and got a taste of what was going to be shown there, I nearly turned around and didn't fill out a form. I saw one friendly face and decided to do it anyway. I filled out my forms, posted an update to my social media, and got lots of encouragement from my friends and family. Mom was very proud of me, and that felt really good.
Walking into the staging area where the other participants were was humbling. There were so many incredible costumes that I didn't get a single photo of. Everyone clearly spent a lot of time crafting some really amazing looking costumes, and there was a lot of diversity. We had everything from steampunk to elves to Adventure Time and Disney. There were some good performances, too. One of the winners, Ariel, played by a super sweet 19-year-old had, sung beautifully onstage, and made her costume from scratch. I had a great time talking to the woman who won the "WTF?" prize, a lady Cthulu with glowing tentacles and the 3rd prize in the light category, Steampunk Fluttershy. The grand prize went to a dragonslayer who not only had a really nifty costume, but also had the head of a dragon that he'd crafted as well. The audience loved him. A Critique of my own costume
For a first attempt and little sewing skills, it's good. It needs more work to be an award-winning costume, which is my goal.
I like the accessories. The tail is great, the hat is adorable, but the ears need to stand out more. That's going to require a lighter hair color, so I need to look into a wig the same or similar color to the tail. I'll need to come up with a style that will keep the hair away from them a little bit and back away from the ears. That will also give me some much-wanted volume on the top of my head to help balance out things better.
The clothing is really what holds this back. It needs more... something. I really, really need a corset for this look. That will punch it up considerably. Since I can't afford to buy a good corset, I'm going to need to make one and so I'll need to find a simpler design of a waist cincher or corset that I can reliably complete. I've got a few options open to me as far as material goes, a Japanese-type print, a technique like the hat, or a style that can be used for multiple costumes. I need a petticoat and some sort of detail on the skirt, and here was where I really wanted the Japanese detail. I don't know if it would be better on the inner or outer skirt. Painting it would be simpler, but it won't stand up to scrutiny.
The shoes died, so that's something I'll have to re-do. If I do, I'll add more detail to them somehow.
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