I think I didn't tell anybody that I was making them,
cause I thought I was kind of weird.
I had some of the negative connotations that, you know, furries were kinda like weird,
and I assumed that people would assume that if I make costumes, like that was my thing.
I still sometimes feel like this isn't a real job.
I think that it was just one of those things,
so I was like "I can", I don't know why I'm hiding this.
I kind of embraced it as more of, you know, like an art.
It just seems silly to hide it.
Think that the first one that I made was like from a couch cushion.
I put these together and I was like"Ok, like, it doesn't look bad",
so I put it up on Ebay.
I... I listed it for 50 bucks, but I didn't expect anybody to buy it.
I said it was recycled material, which it was.
And that sold for, like, I think, twelve hundred bucks.
After I sold a few, I was getting all of these emails for custom costumes.
People are interested in it, this is something that people are wanting.
And slowly the costume business ended up taking over my actual job and I quit.
And now I've made, probably, close to 300.
Now I'm booked out 12 months and can't possibly take on any more work.
I think the stereotype that people are like "Oh, furries and these animal costumes are specfically designed for sex.
It's been my complete opposite experience.
Out of the three hundred plus costumes that I've made,
I have had one person ask for the hole in the front with a zipper.
And I did it. I charged a thousand dollars, you know, everything has a price.
You ask anybody at a convention, like, "Oh, like, well, would you... Would you wanna use a costume for sex?".
And it's like doubts what would they wanna do with something that they spent so much time saving for,
and thinking about wanting to portray that as, like, who they are.
I think, maybe that that moment seems, like, degrading.
I don't think that they would wanna ruin the costume with something like that.
That comes up a lot, actually, the question "Am I a furry?",
and I would say that by my definition - yeah.
A furry is like a person who appreciates anthropomorphic art.
If I watched down here, and knew that this is my future,
I feel like me from seven years ago would have been like "Ok, this is weird".
But, you know, that person seven years ago,
I think, was trying to be a person that I wasn't really, like, meant to be.
But, I think that if, like, eight-year-old me watched down here right now,
I would be so excited and think that I have the coolest job in the entire world.
Now, I've gotten emails, they're like "Thank you so much.
I never thought that this character could be brought to life."
And that's cool.that makes me feel really happy.
All of these fursonas, or, you know, these, these characters that people are creating,
are, are user-created.
You are not expected to fit into a box, you can make your own.
Sometimes when I send them out, I have no idea where they go,
but when I see people wearing them, it just kind reminds me " Oh!".
I'm making this fursonas....