The Point Of It All

“I will absolutely work on my blog this weekend,” I said last week as I then absolutely did not.

Whoops.

Except not really whoops because I have no regrets and knew exactly what I was about.

I’ve been playing games with friends and it’s been so nice and relaxing, especially after the work and family stress that always seems to ramp up around the holidays. I’ve needed the company I think and having the opportunity to spend time with people whose company I enjoy has helped me come back with much more focus for this. It helped me think that, of all the things I still need to do to tidy up this space, one thing that might be the most useful for anyone interested in following along is actually explaining The Point.

I thought about The Point the other day during a doctor’s appointment. It was a routine thing for me, an allergy checkup to check progress on how my SLIT is going. (Yes, it’s actually called that. It’s an unfortunate acronym for Sublingual Immunotherapy Treatment and I am entirely incapable of not giggling like an asshole every time someone talks about my SLIT progress. In case you’re wondering, my SLIT is doing very well.)

Anyway.

…will be made evident after the continuation of my brief story tangent starting now:

During this appointment the nurse working with me heard my insulin pump beep and was very excited to talk to me about it because her teen-aged son was also, like me, a Type 1 diabetic on an insulin pump.

I was diagnosed what seems ages ago. I was 11 and am currently 35 at the time of writing this, so I’ve lived with this condition for longer than I’ve been without it at this point. For me, I hardly remember what it’s like to not have to deal with it in some capacity which was was part of the reason she was excited to talk.

She wanted some insight on what it was like going through different stages of life with diabetes and having to deal with it because her son was in a rough patch at the moment. She was very desperately hoping he would come out of it eventually but while you’re in the thick of it, hoping can sometimes seem pointless. Now I have no idea what it’s like to be a teenager in this day and age and even less so while trying to navigate my teens during a global pandemic, but I gave her what advice and information I could on how things went for me and, if nothing else, it made her feel better for the moment.

Doing that reminded me very much of The Point of this blog.

Generally speaking, I welcome the chance to share whatever knowledge I’ve accumulated about whatever thing I know with anyone who is curious and wanting to learn. Most of the things that I know how to do in my career and in my hobbies I’ve learned from others who shared information freely and created or provided free resources on how they learned to do a thing.

Emphasis on free.

Until very recently, I was not in a position to afford things like classes, direct instruction, or oftentimes even books or manuals meant for teaching a subject. I learned so much from people who attempted to make information more accessible that it is something I always try to do myself for others.

When it comes to crafting and, more specifically, cosplay, when I started out in my wee years in 1997, there weren’t nearly as many resources as there are now. The internet absolutely did not exist in its current state and what information you could find out there was sparse. A lot of crafting techniques that people use very commonly today were kept close to the chest like trade secrets or published only in books or manuals that were often difficult to find if you didn’t live in an area known for film and TV production.

Supplies like specialized fabric for corsetry or materials for SFX and moldmaking and casting were just not readily available. (For clarity’s sake, these aren’t sponsored links, just places I have personally ordered from in the past.)

What helped make crafting things possible for me were the handful of people who also had to figure out how and where to get what they needed without easy resources or tools to make what they wanted, who then went on and shared it on a personal GeoCities or AOL webpage of theirs, oftentimes with step-by-step photos and lengthy explanations. The fondest memories I have were folks who shared things like how to make a fiberglass body double and subsequently craft a Guyver suit out of hot glue, or how to safely use thermoplastic to mold armor pieces, or even how to slush cast and paint a latex Evil Ash (from Army of Darkness) mask with some clay, plaster, and liquid latex.

It brings me back to The Point.

Although resources and supplies are more abundant now than ever before for cosplay and costuming in general, part of what really helped me learn was the personal touch to working through a project. It wasn’t just having a step-by-step “how to”, but it was the “I tried this and it didn’t work” or a “I wanted something to do a thing but it failed to do a thing”. There was a lot I took away from the process recorded as a whole instead of a clean guide for how everything came out in the end.

So, finally, The Point of this blog is primarily to record the projects I’m working on as I get back into cosplay and other methods of craft. It’s to showcase things as they are being made — including the failed things — and to do it alongside whatever other personal blurbs I happen to have to say (or need to say).

I don’t have any goals for this becoming a popular thing to read by anyone, just that it hopefully provides some entertainment, some resources, maybe some education and insight on things I’ve struggled with and learned over the years, and mostly that it is accessible.

I hope that, like for my nurse friend, if nothing else, it makes some folks feel better for the moment if it’s at least a moment to feel better that they need.

And I hope that anyone following along and reading enjoys watching the projects I’m working on come together. :3

Next post (whenever that will be, likely in another week or so), I will have a small project list to share for things I’m plotting out for next year.

Until then, stay lovely, everyone.

\o/