Fursuit Character Meme:
Okay, I've seen this posted in a few of my fursuiter friend's LJ's, it's Friday so I figure, "What the heck."
Ashes: Ashes the Dalmatian got his name from a dalmatian plush Sil gave me several years before which I immediately grew attached to. After attending my first con, Anthrocon, in 1999 I was hooked on several aspects of the hobby, fursuiting was one of them. It made more sense to me to make my first costume a dalmatian because I could not only enjoy portraying him at cons, but also utilize him in conjunction with the fire department. Over the course of the next year, I purchased a prosthetic dalmatian mask from Lionshel, theater make up supplies, and spotted up a white, lycra/spandex, body suit. I coupled that with a set of my original fire gear, shorts and an old department uniform shirt and debuted Ashes at Anthrocon 2000. Ashes continued to appear at AC in 2001, & 2002 and many public relations events and parades with the Aspinwall Vol. Fire Dept. Ashes, version 1, was retired in 2002.
I spent four years short listing fursuit makers and saving up to have Ashes recreated as a partial. In 2006 I commissioned PPardus to create Ashes v2 and he debuted at Midwest Furfest 2006. Since then he's been my primary suit to enjoy at conventions and to spread the word of fire safety through the fire department. Over the last 9 years I've added many props as I continue to fill out his costuming, but his fire gear remains the same. (It has seen more years of fire service than I have and I've been doing it for 20 years.)
Safety: Safety Fox was a Furbid win and was being auctioned off by the very talented Carissa Fox. Originally named Groucho, I changed his name to work with my fire fighting motif to Safety because his fur was literally "safety orange." I acquired Safety in 2005 and debuted him at Morphicon that same year. While he took on the firefighter fur role, he was never really comfortable in it. He appeared at Morphicon and Anthrocon in 05 and 06 and Midwest Furfest in 05. You may have seen him on the cover of AC's highlights and masquerade DVD for 2006. Safety was retired by me in 2006 and has since been adopted by Patrick Foxchild, a fine artist, and is living in the metro DC area.
Rocky: Acquiring Rocky was a fluke. I was growing tired of not only the hour prep and clean up time to get into Ashes v1, but also being made to feel that my efforts at furry costuming and character were substandard because I lacked a "proper fursuit." I won Rocky in a Furbid auction in 2003 from SilverFang, a Canadian fur living in Windsor, ON, to help her raise money to buy art supplies for school. Rocky was my first "real" fursuit by fandom standards and he helped me to really experience fursuiting. He could have been an arctic fox or a white husky. Not wanting a fox character who wasn't Swift, we opted to let Rocky be a white husky. He definitely didn't feel like a firefighting dog but he looked real good in my Navy dress blues, so that became his shtick. He debuted at MFF 03 and also appeared at AC and again at MFF in 04. I performed with him in my first AC maquarade in 2004. With the arrival of Safety, Rocky was retired after MFF 04. (As a side note, he is currently looking for a new home with a fur who wants to get their paws wet in fursuiting without the huge expenditure…like I did. If interested, PM me.)
Swift: [Future] I have concept art for my character suit, and like Ashes, I continue to short list fursuit makers and save money. However, at the rate commissions continue to rise in price, I can't keep up. My goal is to find new homes for Safety and Rocky to establish a $500 down payment, which two or three years ago would have been enough. Rocky's sale may get me to that goal, but I'm going to need about $300-$400 more by the time I can commission him just for the down payment. I'll keep saving, eventually the stars will align and Swift will finally come alive for you and me to enjoy.
That's a short history of the suits I own or have owned in the eleven years I've been a part of this fandom.
Thanks for reading,
Swift Fox
Ashes: Ashes the Dalmatian got his name from a dalmatian plush Sil gave me several years before which I immediately grew attached to. After attending my first con, Anthrocon, in 1999 I was hooked on several aspects of the hobby, fursuiting was one of them. It made more sense to me to make my first costume a dalmatian because I could not only enjoy portraying him at cons, but also utilize him in conjunction with the fire department. Over the course of the next year, I purchased a prosthetic dalmatian mask from Lionshel, theater make up supplies, and spotted up a white, lycra/spandex, body suit. I coupled that with a set of my original fire gear, shorts and an old department uniform shirt and debuted Ashes at Anthrocon 2000. Ashes continued to appear at AC in 2001, & 2002 and many public relations events and parades with the Aspinwall Vol. Fire Dept. Ashes, version 1, was retired in 2002.
I spent four years short listing fursuit makers and saving up to have Ashes recreated as a partial. In 2006 I commissioned PPardus to create Ashes v2 and he debuted at Midwest Furfest 2006. Since then he's been my primary suit to enjoy at conventions and to spread the word of fire safety through the fire department. Over the last 9 years I've added many props as I continue to fill out his costuming, but his fire gear remains the same. (It has seen more years of fire service than I have and I've been doing it for 20 years.)
Safety: Safety Fox was a Furbid win and was being auctioned off by the very talented Carissa Fox. Originally named Groucho, I changed his name to work with my fire fighting motif to Safety because his fur was literally "safety orange." I acquired Safety in 2005 and debuted him at Morphicon that same year. While he took on the firefighter fur role, he was never really comfortable in it. He appeared at Morphicon and Anthrocon in 05 and 06 and Midwest Furfest in 05. You may have seen him on the cover of AC's highlights and masquerade DVD for 2006. Safety was retired by me in 2006 and has since been adopted by Patrick Foxchild, a fine artist, and is living in the metro DC area.
Rocky: Acquiring Rocky was a fluke. I was growing tired of not only the hour prep and clean up time to get into Ashes v1, but also being made to feel that my efforts at furry costuming and character were substandard because I lacked a "proper fursuit." I won Rocky in a Furbid auction in 2003 from SilverFang, a Canadian fur living in Windsor, ON, to help her raise money to buy art supplies for school. Rocky was my first "real" fursuit by fandom standards and he helped me to really experience fursuiting. He could have been an arctic fox or a white husky. Not wanting a fox character who wasn't Swift, we opted to let Rocky be a white husky. He definitely didn't feel like a firefighting dog but he looked real good in my Navy dress blues, so that became his shtick. He debuted at MFF 03 and also appeared at AC and again at MFF in 04. I performed with him in my first AC maquarade in 2004. With the arrival of Safety, Rocky was retired after MFF 04. (As a side note, he is currently looking for a new home with a fur who wants to get their paws wet in fursuiting without the huge expenditure…like I did. If interested, PM me.)
Swift: [Future] I have concept art for my character suit, and like Ashes, I continue to short list fursuit makers and save money. However, at the rate commissions continue to rise in price, I can't keep up. My goal is to find new homes for Safety and Rocky to establish a $500 down payment, which two or three years ago would have been enough. Rocky's sale may get me to that goal, but I'm going to need about $300-$400 more by the time I can commission him just for the down payment. I'll keep saving, eventually the stars will align and Swift will finally come alive for you and me to enjoy.
That's a short history of the suits I own or have owned in the eleven years I've been a part of this fandom.
Thanks for reading,
Swift Fox