No Strings Attached

Posted By Kathleen David on December 12, 2014

This is going to be one of those rare more than a cup mornings to get the brain going. I need to boost to cut the fog that has taken up residence in my head.

I have a list of what I need to do this morning and this afternoon and it is not a short one. I got a little done while the coffee was brewing.

Now I am sitting down and working on this and after that back at it.

Looks like it is going to snow today. I don’t think it will but that’s how the clouds look. The snow from the other day is gone so it looked pretty and then left.

The cats are chasing each other around the house. This seems to be the morning activity until the first cat nap.

I have a couple of friends who have health problems some serious and some chronic. So I have been keeping an eye on various places online to keep up with what is going on. I am thinking lots of good thoughts for all of them.

I got a number of ideas on how to do tattoos on a puppet. I plan to start playing around with a couple of them this weekend and see which one looks best. I am sorting out one of the pieces because it has only been described in a book and I am having trouble visualizing the piece.

I want to see if I can get another piece done by Thursday but it is going to be very fabric dependent. So two puppets in a couple of days. I can do that.

There is also getting ready for the holidays. I have to put out the lights and do a few other things to get ready. I just looked at the calendar and figured out that Caroline has one more week of school before her winter break. Yikes.

Then we are on to 2015 and all that brings.

Time marches on.

I am grateful for things that are done.

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Posted By Kathleen David on December 11, 2014

There are times when time itself seems to expand and contract at the same time.

There are days that seem to go on for an eternity but when looked back upon, went in what seemed a blink of an eye.

I am having one of those weeks were time is relative to the task at hand.

I know what I need to do. I know how long it takes me to do it under normal circumstance but for some reason the task is not fitting into the time constraints that I have put on it.

Then there are the wild cards. Things that I was not expecting which either add or subtract time from the task. Mostly add.

Makes it harder to budget time.

Where’s my TARDIS when I could really use it?

All though having the time limited does get some things done.

Off to redo my todo chart yet again.

I am grateful for when the time allotted is the time I end up using.

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Posted By Kathleen David on December 10, 2014

Recently at a convention outside of Chicago there was an attack against the members of the convention. It came in the form of chlorine, which was placed in a stairwell between two floors that a lot of the convention goers were on as part of the room block for the convention. Nineteen people were taken to local hospitals for dizziness and nausea. The hotel was evacuated because of the chemical threat leaving a lot of people outside in the cold not knowing when or if they would be let back in their rooms.

Any other time I think the concentration of coverage would have been on the attack but this was MidWest FurFest and a number of the convention goers were dressed as anthropomorphic animals or Furries so there were interesting visuals for the press and a number of jokes at their expense. The focus became about the weird people in the suits rather than someone had tried to inflict injury on a group of people.

If this had happened at say NYCC or SDCC or even a larger anime convention, the focus would be on the attack rather than those who were attacked and that’s a problem for me.

It could have been a meeting of model train fans or doll makers and again the focus would have been on the attack not the people attending the convention.

I know a number of Furries. Some are in the closet and some are out and proud. I know a number of artists who make a good living creating anthropomorphic art. I am good friends with some fur suit makers who also do a lot of mascot work for sports teams and businesses. They started by making fur suits and turned it into a decent living. They are incredible artists who can turn foam and fake fur into just about anything.

I have heard from friends who have friends who were there. The convention went on and everyone had fun.

They had over 1,000 people marching in the fur parade.

They raised 11,000 for a local animal charity.

They had programing and dances and all the things you would find at just about any science fiction convention or comic-con or anime-fest.

And they were singled out for an attack by person or persons unknown who has a problem with a group celebrating their common love for something.

Not right at all.

I am grateful that no one was seriously injured or killed.

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Posted By Kathleen David on December 9, 2014

I have a commissioned piece (actually I have three) that I want to get done before the end of the year.

But one of them is going to take a little longer because I have to recreate a set of tattoos on the puppet.

So how does one tattoo a puppet? Haven’t a clue but I have been thinking about it really hard.

I have gone through a number of ideas and discarded quite a few. Various types of pens from Sharpies to felt tip have been played with.

My friend Jeff came up with one solution that will work of creating ink jet irons of the tattoos and then applying to the fabric before sewing the torso. I love bouncing ideas off of Jeff because he always thinks of one or two things I hadn’t even considered and that may be the way to go with this.

I had another last night of using felt to recreate the rather intricate markings needed for this piece. That way the lines will match up with the form of the puppet.

I have another challenge for another puppet where I need to make something that can be triggered and then put back together. I know one way I could do it but I don’t think it is the best way to do it.

For the third I have to find some yellow EL wire, which hasn’t been easy to find.

So I have been thinking and figuring out how I am going to create these rather unique puppets. It is an interesting exercise and I let my brain mull on it until I have a set plan. Of course when something goes wrong with set plan, I move to my plan B and so forth.

I am grateful for people to consult on this sort of thing.

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Posted By Kathleen David on December 8, 2014

I pulled a couple of the machines to create different stations and give everyone enough room to move if they were doing one of the games that used the movement sensor.

Today I get to put everything back in place and take some time to get things back in an order that makes sense. I also am going to try to put the wires back behind the electronics. Logical brain is working over time actually I think it is my theater tech brain working on this problem.

Then I am going to restore the living room. I have some tables and chairs in places that don’t normally have tables and chairs.

Kitchen after that. I still have some party mess that I have to deal with.

I took yesterday off and did the bare minimum to keep the house together. People were fed. Dishes were done. But not much more than that.

So today is restore order.

Still figuring out tomorrow but I will and it will happen as it needs to.

Had a great idea for crafty Tuesday and promptly forgot it. Hope my brain can pick it up again before tomorrow.

I am grateful for a brain that can see and create patterns.

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