Questions on a few fursuit makers.

[ianthegecko.livejournal.com]

Back in June I went to Rocky Mountain Fur Con, and one of the panels was all about fursuit commissioning. ArtSlave led the panel, and she said to stay away from Bladespark, Darkstone Realms, and Blackfire. Either she didn't explain why, or I didn't take note on that part, but apparently I should stay away from those three.

What do you all think?

Comments

[dinogrrl.livejournal.com]

I got my Niira suit from Bladespark and didn't have any trouble with her at all o_O. The suit's holding up fine too.

[bladespark.livejournal.com]

Uhm??????????

If anybody's ever had any problems with my suits, they've NEVER come to me about these problems, so... er.... I'm completely puzzled by this. I think I've had one case where I wasn't able to 100% resolve something to mine and the customer's satisfaction, and I think I posted here asking for advice about it, it was a guy who hadn't told me he didn't like velcro, and wanted me to completely re-do his bodysuit to remove the velcro closure, and I refused to do it for free, as he'd never told me not to use velcro, and redoing a whole body is a ton of work.

I've never so much as spoken to ArtSlave in person, and the only interaction I've ever, ever, ever had with her was she traded me a mangy, half finished tail for a yard of perfect, new fabric. Which, you know, I sort of came off the worse there.

[niiku.livejournal.com]

Wow, way to not have your "stirring up drama" radar turned on, dude. I see this thread getting deleted quickly, or blowing up into epic proportions. Either way, I have nothing but good things to say about BladeSpark as a person. Her suits aren't to my liking, but you can't expect EVERYONE to like your suits. But as a person, she's a kind, caring individual with some pretty good work ethic as far as I've seen.

*nod* That's all I have to say about that.

[bladespark.livejournal.com]

Heh. I'm not wanting any drama. But I'm just... WTF!!!!!!! I'm completely floored. I've always thought well of Artslave, and hearing she's been telling people I'm horrible shocks me. I have no idea why!

[thaily.livejournal.com]

Actually I'm glad he asked this.

People are going to be offended that they were mentioned but at least now they're getting a chance to defend themselves. Otherwise they probably would have never heard about this and their reputation would be slandered behind their backs and lose potential customers without being able to fight back.

If I was any of the fursuiters mentioned I'd contact the convention and tell the head of it that someone is using their sig as a soapbox to trash talk the competition to get more customers for him/herself.

[thrivis.livejournal.com]

Someone defaming the character of random people on their own panel, whether justified or not, seems pretty tasteless to me. O_o;

I guess it depends on the panel though... Sounds like it was just an "ethical practices and dos and don'ts" though, so targeting specific people for being flaky, rather than discussing guidelines, seems very out of place.

[ianthegecko.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it was an "ethical practices"-type thing, just someone brought up who to stay away from and Artslave gave her opinion. *shrug*

Sorry for dropping a drama bomb, everyone. =\

[joecifur.livejournal.com]

you commission the person first and foremost whose style you like and who you see completing suits on a regular basis. if you aren't considering all of those folks for a suit (they don't have much in common style-wise and beyond), why worry

[rmoorcat.livejournal.com]

whaatt?? I know Bladespark, shes pretty cool, I dont know either of the other two or the person who said to stay away from them, but if this had happened in my convention there would be some words spoken. its fine to not like someone, or their products, but to say it in a panel in an official setting is like...slanderous.

[beetlecat.livejournal.com]

I *really* hesitate to get myself involved here (I'm dramabacklash-phobic), but I have to back up Spark on this one. She's a very honest and forthright person (if anything, she's too honest and forthright, heh) and so I tend to believe her when she says only one customer has ever reported being unhappy. I've had several business dealings with her (generally, me buying fur) all of which have proceeded very quickly and smoothly.

The other two I have no personal experience with but, in any case, this seems to be a good lesson to us all that *anything* you say at a convention/large gathering of people (no matter how close-knit and chummy) has the potential to spread far and wide.

[harliquinnraver.livejournal.com]

i know Bladespark. shes a very close friend ans she has *never* ripped off a customer. she works really hard to make her deadlines and produce beautiful, well made suits that last. i dont know who this "art slave" person is but publicly saying such things about an honest GOOD suit maker bumps "art slave" down a couple notches in my book.

[ianthegecko.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I checked out Spark's website and she seems to be good. I especially like her essay on pricing. :)

[rs-studios.livejournal.com]

I have never even heard of anyone named artslave before.. But if anyone needs any reasurment for the quality of my work and my business practices. I am happy to have the owners of my work come forward to have a talk.:)

The drama that included me was over 5 years ago. And very little had anything to do with my fursuit making but my personal drama at the time. Which is 5 years behind me. Heh.

I have seen BladeSparks work and I like it. and I have never heard anything bad about darkstone realms before.. Many fursuit makers even own some of their work.

The slander has actually helped me. cause it keeps the troublesome comissioners away. and leaves me with people who pay on time. have clear idea's on what they want. and i give them all they pay for and more.

RCFM is a fairly young small con. And I am quite sure that if they knew slander was going on during a panel. It would not be allowed the next year.

[ianthegecko.livejournal.com]

You're thinking of Rocket City FurMeet; I went to Rocky Mountain Fur Con (the first one, actually, was this year). Oddly enough, they're both the same weekend next year. XD

[shadow-hazzard.livejournal.com]

I've gotten several things from Bladespark and never had any trouble. She does great work, and always gets it done promptly. In fact, I recommend her to people.

[dagbyot.livejournal.com]

That dude in my icon is from Blackfire. He was actually about the most trouble-free commission I've ever had -- he was super communicative via AIM, kept me up to date on frequent occasions, and really made me a part of the process, which I appreciated a great deal. There were some customs problems getting the suit from Canada to the US in time for AC, so he wound up paying for air shipping out of his own pocket so I'd have it in time. An incredible gesture (and one which I reimbursed him for).

I had at least one dude tell me "Watch out for trouble" after I mentioned him, but I had a great experience and I wouldn't mind getting another suit from him sometime.

I have a friend who commissioned a fairly custom'd up Realms suit and the only complaint he had was that they were late, and what suitmaker isn't late, really?

[guitar-stitch.livejournal.com]

Allow me to post a simple response to the allegations against Blackfire.

I don't know much about his history, nor do I really care. It is irrelevant now. The fursuit you see in my LJ pic was created by him in approximately 6 months with no real idea of what to accomplish. I have worn this suit very heavily, and have had to do very little in the ways of maintenance. So, let me do a small point by point.

1) Communication was constant, weekly at the minimum.
2) If there was any discrepancy, Blackfire gave me the benefit of the doubt.
3) Blackfire made extra efforts to make sure that I was happy with the product delivered.
4) I did not have any problems with his workmanship. Anyone that sees my suit is very impressed with its appearance.
5) Once I get my finances in order, I planned to commission him for another suit.

In other words, my experience with BF was completely positive. It's a shame that someone is spreading this bad publicity. Perhaps there's confusion? I personally find it highly unprofessional that someone would sling dirt to a crowd. It's one thing to promote yourself, but don't drag others down to do it.

[artslavedotbiz.livejournal.com]

I think you may have misinterpreted what I said. Because I don't think I'd ever say to stay away from bladespark- I don't know her. I know I always say you shouldn't drop the cash on darkstone realms stuff because it looks awful. I may have said I don't care for toony lookin stuff and then named some makers who make that stuff- but if thats what it was, it wasn't inteded to be one of those "Keep away from these people" kinds of things. As poor as my memory is, I know I would never have said to NOT commission someone(darkstone realms withheld as an exception, because they're expensive as a custom suit). I apologise if there was some kind of miscommunication about this?

[fuzzlebutt.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty sure that you had a list of people who where ok to work with and prices and a list that you said to stay away from that had 3 or 4 people. I remember quite well you talking down upon blackfire and his business and even though I knew he had something of a past I was still quite surprised that another creator would openly bash on another creator in a public setting let alone a con with the little to no tact that you used. I can't remember right now who else you had on the list. I know someone took video though. I'm sure that would solve any miscommunications.

[artslavedotbiz.livejournal.com]

And I would just like to reiterate, to bladespark and blackfire especially- that I apologise about this gross miscommunication of knowledge. I did not mean for my lecture to include or even vaguely come off as any kind of slander- which it obviously did. I do my best not to advocate, or down, any particular makers(except the mass produced stuff) in any panels I run(Which is practically at every con I go to); they are merely meant to be informative as to the process of building, commissioning and maintaining fursuits. As far as if anything came off as saying "Don't commission X, X or X", I don't know where that came from and I apologize deeply as it did in this case.
As far as commissioning fursuits, like I said, you should always let your own taste and judgement be the most important thing to listen to.

[bladespark.livejournal.com]

No harm done, really. I'm just glad that I hadn't somehow managed to have some horrible dissatisfied customer who wouldn't talk to me who about it, was a friend of yours, which is the only scenario I could come up with to explain this! Anyhow, I kind of have warm fuzzies with how many people said they liked my work, so hey, it all came out well in the end.

Pictures don't lie neither do quotes.

[fuzzlebutt.livejournal.com]

"I don't think I'd ever say to stay away from bladespark- I don't know her"
Sure looks like you got her name right.
"it wasn't inteded to be one of those "Keep away from these people" kinds of things"
Circled is your keep away from at all costs list.

Are you at all surprised that people took notes at a panel ??? I honestly think Ian's question was a honest one coming from someone who attended a panel to learn more. He asked a honest question based on the information you gave and based upon who you said to avoid.

Everyone on the list up top has a name and a price. The names below where your avoid list. Bladespark, Blackfire, Darkstone Realms, and new studios.

(http://img251.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dsc09781ns3.jpg)

Re: Pictures don't lie neither do quotes.

[artslavedotbiz.livejournal.com]

Jesus. That surprises me- but I don't think I would have said "Do not commission these people". I don't know them, so I can't make any judgements. I've never seen a blackfire suit, and I've never met spark or heard bad things about her. I know I don't care for their styles. If I said anything, maybe that was it? I can't believe I would say anything negative about anyone at a panel, but apparently I was wrong. But in case you don't understand- I don't have any reason to doubt the quality of bladespark or blackfire suits- I just don't care for their aestetics. I've never met the people or have anything against them.

[thaily.livejournal.com]

The only one I've heard bad things about in that list is Blackfire.

[rockstarpup.livejournal.com]

*feels his furry-ness die a little more* yay drama go go gadget fandom!!

[wolf-goat.livejournal.com]

Maybe it was just referring to the fact that suits by those makers are fugly (in her opinion) and not that they're unreliable in a business sense?

[ianthegecko.livejournal.com]

Holy crap; I didn't expect this many comments on this entry. XD

Artslave, I completely understand if you simply didn't like those artists' styles, and I remember you saying that you were sick and out of it that day. I'm sorry for stirring up drama, as it was certainly NOT my intention to do so. Would have been nice to have more suiters on that panel, but stuff happens. ^^;