#riftwing designs

[kayliapickfairy]

Time for another Vlog this week, introducing "Daily Endeavors." [Vlog 6]~!

This Vlog talks about what I do on a daily basis, and what I've striven to do since I was first gifted.. well, my little planner ;3 Ever since, I've started logging events to my day to day life and it's helped me <3

Huge shout out to Riftwing Designs/Brass Knuckles/ Gretchen for making the newsletter that's reached out towards the end of the vlog, go check out her stuff!

https://riftwingdesigns.tumblr.com/post/170200012446/conceptualization-challenge-when-i-have-time

[riftwingdesigns]

HiHi to those I met at MAGfest! This is the blog you want if you want to see how I made this Riftwing dragon kigurumi. 

...of course I never published the last 2 steps. I’ll try and do that this weekend... or month... just poke me, please and I promise I will! :D

[riftwingdesigns]

Hello to everyone who’s found me recently! I’m RiftwingDesigns - pronouns based on what I am presenting as. Riftwing is my dragon (tattooed and my fursuit) and I am a Designer of many things - artist, “fabricmancer” (sewer), cosplayer and model, yoga instructor, motivational speaker, leader, fan of all things spooky and an all-around-nerd. I post about what I like, not for the likes, so expect random bursts of costumes, art, mushrooms, etc. I am OPEN for invitations to conventions and special events. To see more videos, pics, and events I have scheduled, follow me everywhere @ RiftwingDesigns!

[riftwingdesigns]

It is with hesitation and disquiet that I am announcing my retirement from speaking as a full-time hobby.

Let me preface this by saying that for me, letting go is extremely hard to do. I put so much of myself into my work that it is very difficult to change and try something new. Arguably, as I’ve said in my presentations, humans are wired for comfort, for doing what comes easily. Change is hard. Major change is exponentially harder. And yet, only with change can you grow.

It is extremely important for me to grow and experience new things. My decision came from a combination of this realization, the #2009vs2019 challenge, and where I am in my personal life.

So, first, what’s changing:

I will no longer present at conventions, unless I am invited as a guest or it is a convention I am attending anyways (e.g. MAGfest). Final conventions are:

Super MAGfest, National Harbor MD (Washington DC), January 2-5

Katsucon, National Harbor MD (Washington DC), February 14-16

Fur the 'More, Crystal City VA (Washington DC), March 6-8 (schedule dependent)

I am removing my videos from YouTube, in major part due to the potential COPPA rules

I already closed all my sales venues earlier this year, including Etsy and Redbubble (letting go of Etsy was particularly hard)

I am cutting back on Toastmasters, focusing only on my home club, and not volunteer/leadership.

What will stay the same:

Still active on all media as “RiftwingDesigns”

Continuing my monthly newsletter (in part because some of you have told me in person how much it means – thank you so much for telling me that, it really touched me.)

Daily Intentions and Motivational Quotes on my daily Instagram stories

Open to speak at conventions and events upon invitation

Will be going to new conferences/conventions for my new hobbies

Art to be posted on DeviantArt

Donations always open at Ko-fi and PayPal

What will be new:

Taking 200 hour Yoga Teacher Training – to grow and enable me to give back in a different way!

Organizing my home. I have so many unfinished projects I want to invest my time into:

Scrapbooks

Sewing

Writing (much of which I started 20 years ago and never finished)

Making art for myself, not for the likes

House repair and decluttering

Playing more games that I know I will enjoy, but put off for decades, such as Pokémon, Mass Effect 3, Skyrim, and soon Diablo 4.

I am always available here on e-mail or any of my social media, and am glad to hear your comments and suggestions. And I’ll be back on the 15th to close out this year’s newsletters. I hope you can also find new opportunities for growth, and wish you a wonderful December!

Best.

~Rift

Riftwing / Gretchen / Brass Knuckles

Designer, yogi, and leader.

@RiftwingDesigns on all social media, to include:

Facebook | Instagram | Pinterest| Tumblr | Twitter | etc...

[riftwingdesigns]

Making a kigurumi: Step 6 (~30 minutes) - Creating the back of the wing

While the inside of my wings are snuggly, the backs are leathery, so I needed a second copy on the body fabric. So I laid them out, and followed the second rule:

Make sure the sides are correctly facing.

I made sure that the leathery side was facing down, because the way I’m cutting is the way I want the final wing to look. After double checking, I smoothed out the fabric, and then started pinning.

Now, I hate pinning. I’d much rather just cut around it and have a “good enough” cut. But the pins will be useful in future steps, and it makes sure they align perfectly. So pin.

Then triple check that the correct sides are facing before cutting out the wings.

[riftwingdesigns]

Making a kigurumi: Step 5 - Making the wings (time spent: 2 hours)

I am more of a kinesthetic learner, so I develop my pattern through actually making the object of interest. This is probably a more advanced technique and you may need help from a friend, an artist, or both.*

For the wings, I literally lay down and had my partner trace from my hip to my arm. Then I drew out the wing, using the concept art I posted earlier.

Measure twice, cut once.

This rule is insanely true. I pinned up the parts I was thinking about trimming, then held it up, tried it out, pinned more, then trimmed. I repeated this 3-4 times before coming up with the final design.

Oh, and yeah, the fur can be super messy. There are ways to reduce shedding, like cutting with an exacto knife, but they are more liable to damage my floor, so I just scissor away.

Once I had a wing done, I had to make the other side. Which brings us to the second rule:

Make sure the sides are correctly facing.

One will be the opposite of the other. Be sure that both wrong sides are facing each other when tracing the final pattern onto the fabric. Double check, using the first rule. Then cut.

Tada!~ A pair of snuggly huggly wings!

*I HIGHLY recommend that if you try this, you buy very cheap fabric, and use it as the test subject. When you know the final shape, you can trace it onto the real fabric.*

[riftwingdesigns]

Making a kigurumi: Steps 3-4 - Step 3 - Choose fabrics for each part of the design. I got a lightweight black fabric with a leathery look for the body, fuzzy green for the wings for super snuggy hugs, and red with dimples for the inside of the hood, which will be his mouth. I bought 5 yards of the black, 3 yards of the green, and 1/2 yard of the red. It is probably way too much, but it’s always better to have too much than too little. Also, all the fabric was 40%-65% off from coupons (Joann) and store closing discounts (Hancock T_T). 

Step 4 is to wash the fabric before use. But back to step 3... You’ll also have to think about miscellaneous materials that you will need. These are based on my sewing background, so I know I’ll also need:

White fleece for the teeth

White, yellow and black fleece for the eyes (unless I get my embroidery friend to make some for me, or go for painted... we shall see!)

Zipper for the front closure (some use snap buttons)

Closure clasp for the neck area

green horn material (wondering if I use sculpey, pipe cleaners, or more of the fuzzy fur?)

interfacing for the wings and hood

pocket zippers (I want access to my pants!)

Velcro for the leg cuffs (I want to be able to pull it off without taking off my boots, so thinking maybe velcro closures. If this fails, we can try elastic!

black thread (lots of it!)

sharp sewing scissors

a sewing machine (!) and I’ll probably use the serger on the seams

I’m probably forgetting a few things... we’ll find out as I progress! That’s the fun of doing your own pattern, you get to figure out how everything fits together. There will likely be mistakes and failures, but that’s part of learning.

[riftwingdesigns]

New year, new tech! I invested in a digital scale, which will help to lower shipping costs and make shipping faster and easier to track via Etsy! I am really hyped.