No Strings Attached

Posted By Kathleen David on September 27, 2013

Yesterday she went into the city with Peter to see the Last Unicorn with Peter S. Beagle. They had a lot of fun.

She has school today and a flute lesson and kung-fu and Girl Scouts. Tomorrow her Girl Scout troop is doing an overnight camp at the local Girl Scout camp. Yes, she can do all this. I need to make sure she has everything she needs for her camping trip. So that is part of today.

Caroline as Amalthea at the screening of the Last Unicorn.
(for the VI: This is a photo of Caroline on a NYC street. She is wearing a white wig and a purple gown. She is clutching a white unicorn.)

I am rather proud of the fact that as of 11:00 am yesterday that dress didn’t exist. I got it patterned, cut, and sewing together by 2:30. I know I need to iron it. I also need to hem it for Caroline. But I am chuffed by how quickly I can put things together these days.

I didn’t go with Peter and Caroline due to some GI issues that didn’t make a lengthy car ride possible. So I cleaned while everyone was gone and caught up on some online stuff.

Today is going to be a combination of more cleaning and getting Caroline ready for her first camping trip.

Well New York isn’t really going to care much about the rest of the baseball season. Congratulations to those teams that have won their division and those still in the wild card hunt. Should be an interesting post season. It is a combination of teams with big budgets and a number of scrappy lower budget teams which shows that the system to even things up a bit seems to be working.

I think just about everyone’s fantasy football leagues are in turmoil considering what has been happening on the field. Is it my imagination or are more people going out hurt and I don’t mean because of the new concussion rules? I do like that the NFL is paying attention to the amount of damage that their players are taking to the head.

NYCC is in about two weeks. I might be there on Friday but will be there on Saturday. Peter’s table is B5 in artist’s alley. Come by and say Hi. I will have Rumple and Mr. Gold along with some other puppets for sale. No dolls this go ‘round. Debating about Phluzzies and Doctors. Any interest in them?

Weather is cloudy but no rain in the forecast. Lots of wind right now.

I am grateful for the ability to make costumes on the fly.

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Posted By Kathleen David on September 25, 2013

A number of years ago there was a debate (and I use the term loosely) about what Star Trek fans should call themselves Trekkies or Trekkers. There was a lot of mud slinging and a few flame wars before it was realized that it really didn’t make a difference. Yes, I know there are still hurt feeling out there over this. Heck there are a couple of t-shirt manufactures who have had a good run on making t-shirts related to this issue.

Now we have the cos-player or costumer debate, which is getting rather heated itself.

I always thought of cos-play in terms of Anime conventions. They have a contest where skits are done or re-enactments of scenes from the source material and the best one wins. I have watched these contests and they are very interesting to watch. Even if I don’t know the source material, I can appreciate the time that went into the costumes and the level of acting in the sketch. And they have given me a lot of new anime to watch.

The word Cos-play seemed to expand to those people running around the convention dressed up as whatever character they were portraying. It started with the anime set and quickly spilled over into the comic book characters. Since then it seems to encompass anyone running around in costume on the floor of a convention but not necessarily in one of the competitions.

I don’t feel that I have ever cos-played in all my years. I try to be what I am portraying in the costume but for me it feels more like me as puppet rather than me as character. But that is me. I am a costumer. I build costumes and I wear them although I build more for others than myself. I have built costumes professionally for various things. I compete at the Master or Professional level of costuming.

The current kerfuffle I have seen is those people who say that calling one’s self a Costumer smells of elitism and exclusion where as Cos-players are inclusive and fun. So they are setting it up as old guard vs. new guard but that is a straw man’s argument. I know people in these categories that see themselves as either or, in many cases, both.

Costumers are not elitist. The ICG is not trying to be elitist. Marty tried his best to get younger costumers to join the group and he went out of his way to anime conventions and media conventions to convince more people to be part of the ICG.

Like everything there are going to be some old timers that aren’t going to be happy with the new blood but without the cos-players, costume contests are going to go the way of the dodo. I have seen more literary convention give up on having a costume call. That use to be the place to go show your stuff. Just ask the Blackpool family back from the early 80s who stomped a swath of wins with their characters from Wizards and Warriors all over the southeast convention circuit. (Full disclosure: I know everyone in that group and call them friend but the Blackpool family sketches are how I met many of them).

The reason we have workmanship awards is that the costumers who spent a lot of time on their costumes were getting tired of being one upped by an OK costume and a great sketch. Workmanship allowed the person to show off their work that they put into the costume and not have to worry about stage performance.

So lets nip this one in the bud and allow people to call themselves what they feel most comfortable with and respect their choices. I don’t think we need to have any more flames fanned on the Internet.

I am grateful when people play nice with each other.

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Posted By Kathleen David on September 24, 2013

National Craft Making Month, it’s like Nanowrimo but with Crafts!

And I am going to attempt it. I tried it last year and failed terribly but I though I would give it a go. Part of the time is going to be taking care of UFOs (Unfinished Objects) and the other part is creating new things.

Part of what I want to do is Halloween related to the decorations we have in front of the house.

So there will be photos of things I am working on.

And, yes, the tutorial for the arm rods I keep teasing about.

I have a number of ideas for what I want to do and what I want to get done.

Might even do some ATCs to trade if anyone wants to.

So that’s my plan and I sticking to it.

I am grateful for motivation that keeps me being creative.

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Posted By Kathleen David on September 23, 2013

Today is my husband’s birthday. It is going to be a quiet celebration per his choice.

This year has been rather challenging for him. I don’t expect that a year ago he expected to be recovering from a stroke. But he is doing what he needs to do to make sure he is around next year.

I love my husband. I don’t think I publically declare that enough. He is a good man and a great father. We share a sense of humor that sometime only makes sense to us. And I know he loves me.

Many of you know Peter David the writer. Some of you know Peter David the friend. A couple of people on the planet really know him as Dad. I know him as my husband and better half.

There is a lot he does that he doesn’t crow about. He helps people without expecting anything in return. He stands up for those who need an advocate. If he feels that something isn’t right, he expresses his opinion on his platforms. Not always the most popular thing to do but he does it any way.

I love his sense of fun. We can find fun just about anywhere. He has a way of looking at the world that is not so serious. He can find a quip in just about every situation. I know this because he used humor to get through his stroke.

I have watched him work his way through a plot point. His face gets a certain look on it when he is writing in his head. And that brain pretty much goes 24/7. There are lots of what-ifs and what might happen going on in his head. I feel honored that I am the sounding board for his ideas. And that he takes what I say very seriously. We have worked out lots of plots for various things. Our brains don’t see things the same so we compliment each other’s creativity.

So Happy Birthday Peter! I am glad that we can celebrate this together.

Oh and Peter’s birthday wish is for everyone to buy a copy of Fearless (Amazon or B&N) and encourage others to do so. So tweet, blog , or whatever social media you use.

I am grateful for Peter in my life.

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Posted By Kathleen David on September 20, 2013

I think one of the things that was unsettling to me about Heroes of Cos-play is how a majority of the participants either had a business or wanted to create a business based on selling to cos-player or costumers as we use to call them. Those that had a business already created have worked their rumps off getting to that point and they diversified from just selling to one clientele.

I own “No Strings Attached” which is my puppet company and have been since 1988 (huh this is the 25th year). Now I have never really made a profit but I have broken just about even about half the time. Some years have been better than others. I really have not explored all the places I could put my puppets and the like. It has been more of a side business rather than my main source of income. One of the reasons for that is I enjoy making puppets and the like but right now I don’t want to do it 24/7. That’s my choice and I might change my mind on it down the road.

Part of the reason that I haven’t gone down that path as much as I might, is that I really don’t enjoy the administrative side of things. Dealing with the day in day out details that must be done. Customers that need information. Waiting for information or payment from customers before starting work. Most of the successful artists I know either deals with all these details or has an employee/partner who does. Then there is the promoting so you can continue the work to flow so that you can earn a living. The creative can fall by the wayside under the weight of the business. I am not saying that it is always like this but in my experience I have watched very creative people burn out rather quickly.

The other thing I have seen time and time again is biting off more than they can do in a reasonable amount of time. You really need to stop and think how long it really takes you to do something. Can you get it done by the client’s due date? Taking on a bunch of projects without working out what you will have done when is the road to disaster.

Also taking money from one project to pay for another is a no-no. And that is a scary trend I have been noticing from younger or newer artists. They take on too many projects at absurd prices and then take on more work to refund customers that are tired of waiting past the deadlines. I am not saying that hard times don’t come along. Right now I think I am poster child for rather crappy luck considering the year I am having however that doesn’t excuse not being able to meet ones obligations. You have created a business and, as a business owner, you are responsible for your company and meeting the obligations of that company.

If one is going to go into business then one has to act like it is a business not just a hobby that happens to make them some extra money. That is the thing that all those people who want to turn their cos-play into business haven’t seemed to look at what it would mean as a business. They like the creative side but don’t care for the grunt work that goes with making money at what they love to do. Grunt work is the price of doing business and may be if more people thought about that before starting up their companies we would have a lot fewer complaints about fan run businesses.

I am grateful for people who have managed to create good businesses out of what they like to do and still love what they do.

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