I think I've finally recovered enough from last weekend to sit down and write a coherent post. ^^;
Anime North 2013 turned out to be a lot of fun. This is quite good because I've really been struggling with enjoying myself in past years. (I'm not exceptionally good at socializing with people I don't know...). I've already started planning for next year. XD
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Friday:
Most of Friday was spent wandering Artist's Alley, Crafter's Corner and visiting the Doll North Marketplace. The market at DN actually had 4 time slots this year, so we went back 4 times, but only Friday and Sunday have interesting stories.
In Crafter's Corner there were a lot of interesting items this year and I ended up falling for an Amigurumi Cat from
Atomic Ami. I've named him Patton. :)
During my Doll Market visit, we passed the BlueFairy booth and I found the perfect dress set for Jonas. It was made for the Sugar body which is quite a bit smaller than the Bisou Ai so I didn't know if it would fit. When I asked about it, the man at the booth basically grabbed her from my hands, opened a package and started trying it on. XD It took about 15 minutes (she was still wearing shoes and underclothes XD), but it fits like a dream and suits her new style flawlessly.
He was actually really surprised when I asked how much it was (I don't think he thought I was actually going to buy it?) and then spent another 15 minutes trying to fit the cardigan sleeves over Jonas's obnoxiously large hands. Definitely a super sweet way to start off the weekend.
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Saturday:
Saturday was just a huge ball of stress. I hadn't fully finished my entry for the doll masquerade, so I spent the whole morning working on it. I thought it turned out really well in the end, but sadly I didn't place. I didn't get any good photos at the contest (or all weekend really :/), so I'm hoping to take her outside in a few weeks to get some 'action' shots.
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My good friend Rosey (Tempurashrimp) snagged Fan Favourite for her Fran entry and won an adorable little Blufairy Shirley girl.
After the DN Masquerade we went over to the
AN Masquerade where we waited in line for about 2 hours while they discovered they hadn't put enough chairs in the room. :| I was really hungry, tired and disappointed so I didn't really take that too well. Definitely glad my boyfriend doesn't have to deal with that anymore. -.-
There were A LOT of really spectacular entries, but again, no photos (both from laziness and not super-great seats). This was my favourite outfit of the bunch though so I've evilly stolen a photo from
DeviantART to show you.
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| Extremely Ferocious Beast |
Their little walk across the stage was so perfectly in character I can't even describe how wonderful it was. I wonder if AN releases their Masquerade video so you can all see?
We went out for a late snack with friends afterwards and then went back to the hotel and passed out from exhaustion. XD
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Sunday:
Sunday was the day I had my Doll North Marketplace slot, so we got up relatively early, packed and headed over. We did a quick circuit of the Dealer's Room since we didn't go on Friday, but there wasn't too much of interest.
After setting up my little table (I was super lucky and got one between Sadol and Bluefairy!) I had my first customer come by. She purchased a dress I had made for Mali last week as a stress reliever almost immediately after I set her down for display. ^^ Don't worry! Mali will be getting a replacement.
After that I had a few things go home with new owners, but not too many. I think I've learned for next time that I need a bit more diverse set of items and also need to make sure people know I've made everything myself, since most assumed they were from a company. I think that's flattering? ^^;
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| PukiFee and Bisou Ai Sizes |
The absolute highlight of my weekend however, was when the representative from the Bluefairy table came over as I was packing to go home and bought two of my little dresses for his personal collection and complimented me on my work. ^^ He'd been walking past all day looking at
something, but I could never figure out what, so it was a HUGE surprise when he turned around and said "2 please". ^////^
Not going to lie, I almost cried.
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All in all, I look back on the weekend favourably. I've learned a lot and have a tonne to do for next year! XD I'll be starting on stock concurrently with the Subtle Memory release this Saturday, but probably won't talk much about it until I decide what I'm actually bringing. I liked having a table on Sunday, but it's been suggested I get one on Friday next year, so we'll see what happens.
I hope everyone had a great weekend. I loved getting to meet new people at Doll North, though I should have been more proactive asking for names. Next time! XD
