ditorial
Costume Evolution: It's odd how the costumes are showing my personal development. I had a terrible personal tragedy in my life that just destroyed me and that's when I began sculpting and making Korul and he showed very much the person I was then.. or how people saw me.. cold, distant, maybe reptilian. Impressive, but at arm's length. And his personality is shy, wallflowery. Loopy shows how far I've come from then, though still wounded I'm learning how to relate to people. Loopy's cuddly, approachable, chummy, real, pally.. Easy to pet, easy to talk to, kinda funny and not afraid to be dumb or show that he's not invulnerable. Loopy's very human, just like you. I find it odd that these suits are showing on the outside what I'm feeling on the inside.. maybe that's why I feel so comfortable in them, because in a strange way, I'm being totally honest: I put on a mask to take one off.
Archon20:  I attended Archon20 much on a lark, I hadn't really intended to win and Korul wasn't even finished by that point.. but a friend suggested I go and since Ray Harryhausen was going to be there, I pushed up production schedule by a month and made a minimal gargoyle for the show. Turns out Harryhausen wasn't a very nice person, but I'd admired him since I was tiny little monster-maker, so I got his autograph, that being my first and last. You can imagine my surprise when I won first for novice, and there I was up against some damn stiff competition.   As soon as I get pictures and videos back from Archon20, I'll try to capture some of them for you and make them available here.
Costume Family: As my little costume family grows, it's eerie how each takes on their own life. Loopy has become Korul's "younger brother" and I work hard to make sure Loopy gets the attention Korul did, because I feel bad for the little guy laboring in the shadow of a famous older brother, and I guess that makes me the Dad. Sometimes when I'm fussing over Loopy I look up and see the gargoyle's head looking at me, and I'll say "Don't worry, gargoyle, you're still beautiful.." and give it a lil kiss on the beak. What will happen when Loopy and Korul are joined by Salem, and the Gryphon, and Jessica? I'm also amazed at how different <I> am in the two costumes. Korul is very reserved, shy, withdrawn.. Loopy is more cozy, freindly, approachable and funny, .. and in some strange way, I'm more me when I'm in Loopy that I am when I'm "dressed up" as me. [editorial.]
I went out on Hallowe'en in Montreal to see if I could win some prizes (which incidentally, I didn't..) people were so inconsiderate of the tail.. and the wings.. and the snout.  I was nearly blind from fog on the  inside of the lenses and the   darkness in the club, and I couldn't see what was happening.. All I could feel was people crashing into me, into the tail, into the wings, mauling me like an old newspaper and those things are very fragile! You'd think if someone can't come in costume, the least they can do is to be considerate of others' costumes. 

                           If the costumes we make are fun to look 
                            at, and you enjoy them Kindly do not 
                             knock or bump into them, Consider 
                           that the person inside is blind, crippled 
                             and probably deaf, Give them some 
                           room, some space, some breadth We do 
                            these things in part for ourselves, in 
                           part for you If you help us out, you're a costumer too! 
Costumers R Cool: I do like the way costume people treat each other. It's the way I wish all of society worked. We all work hard on our costumes, and when we meet each other it's often we meet someone who has done better than us, and we are usually in competition with each other, but there is no question of pettiness or jealousy. We love costumes, we know the work that went into them.. We appreciate one another.  At Ad Astra, costumers were complimenting me and ready in an instant to help me, and at CF8 it was plain to me that Lance's lion suit was far an away superior to mine and I'd have been glad to see him win. We share an interest and somehow (magically) we focus on that and forget the other. Costumers are always there to help you out, help you in and out of costume, help you down stairs, hand you a drink.. they'll even help you make spot repairs to your suit and they sometimes know that means they'll lose, but I guess they love your costume and yes they want to win, but they want to win fair and square.. not because they sabotage or refuse to help another costume, but because their costume is best. We all need help, so we all help each other out. Isn't it a shame that so few groups and society in general doesn't know this simple, little lesson? 
Uncool Uncostume People: I learned at Hallowe'en that, unfortunately, it is not the workmanship you put into a costume or the quality of the costume itself that wins, but a lot of it is presentation. What's unfair about this is the amount of work it takes to make a costume like this is just hours and hours and hours.. I started Korul 4 months before Hallowe'en and I was still rushing come Hallowe'en and to be honest on the night I was exhausted.. I'd been up till 2am every day beforehand, trying to finish. It therefore kinda stings that you're not judged on that effort, but on how you perform when you arrive.. do you have a routine, is there sex involved, is it a man or a woman underneath.. bla bla-? Usually, this is when audiences are polled: They seldom understand what went into a costume.  At Hard Rock Cafe, Korul lost to an dominatrix and her alien pet. Now, while not denegrating the leatherwork that went into the alien (it was impressive), it was a one-technique costume.. The gargoyle required sewing, prosthetics, molding, casting, .. a few minor miracles both mechanical and artistic, to pull off and it's a shame that wasn't taken into consideration.. At the Dome, I even went to the unbelievable lengths of building a castle-costume for a friend to wear in the afternoon before the contest (and I still don't know how I pulled that off!), that I would climb up onto to spread my wings and that didn't put me over the top, either. 
Advice for a new Costumer:
  • Presentation is at least 50% of any award you hope to win.  If you've made a fabulous costume but you can't perform, let someone else wear it.  It shouldn't be so, but it is.  What you do counts for as much as what you've done. 
  • Costuming takes a huge amount of time and money and commitment, and the only return is personal satisfaction and attention.  Korul took months and months of effort, working till 2am in the morning and Loopy was insane.. He was harder than Korul though you'd never believe it.  I think in all Korul cost $2000 and Loopy to date $500. 
  • It is best to compete in Judged competitions, not popular vote.  Choose your competitions carefully.. Each win puts you in a higher bracket and makes it harder and harder to get that Gold Medal rush.