2021 Nissan FURsa (Versa)

Been a hot minute since my last post I guess, Life Happens!

I have had a burst of finshing loose ends and among them is the interior of my car. The dash and the rear deck I finished about 2 years ago. Now I have finally finished the seat covers and shifter boot to match. I rarely do the seat bottoms but I may do these, I have a lot of fur left over. They still need a good brushing to pull fur out of the seams but the worst is over now.

I need to finish vacuuming it out and do an oil change, then I guess the car is ready for CanFURence next month!  
 

Latest Art Commission

 I never thought I would land a commission from the talented Kim Jones (Slasher12 on Deviant art).

Relic had always hoped to bump into Reynard someday and just happens to run into him at the elevator while at a recent Furry Con. 

Nissan FURSA (VERSA) 2021

 

After the ordeal with the TRAFURSE I have returned to a more reliable Japanese car.  A 5 speed manual was a huge selling point for me and the 40 + MPG is so much better. 

Of course I had to correct the spelling !

And the dash gets the proper treatment!  The seat covers will get done in time as well, but for now I am happy with how it is looking. 

R.I.P. TRAFURSE

 Yep! After replacing the engine in the TRAFURSE and having the second engine destroy itself in exactly the same way that the first one did I remember fully why I have a distrust of GM vehicles in particular and US made cars in general.    What a waste of money and time.   

TraFURse Theme is coming together!

Finally got time to get into the shop and transfer the patterns for my seat covers to the material. My seat covers are now completed and in place!  

I have decided not to do the seat bottoms this time around as I am using a much longer fur pile. I think I have a good balance that is tasteful and not overdone. 

Absent Days

Wow, where to start?  I've been pouring my time into North Country Anthropomorphics and this poor blog has suffered greatly. I am still here! I had to give in and get a newer car, the old Matrix was needing a lot of TLC to keep it on the road so I figured it was time. Picked up a 2010 Chevy Traverse and am now in the process of "theme-ing" it. The fur I chose was "Fire Wolf" and so far... It is looking great!

Oh! By the way, I corrected a spelling error that the factory made.

Keeping The Hatred Alive

 I really get wound up when I keep seeing these preposterous claims that school districts across the country are allowing litter boxes in their school for "Furries" as if any school board is going to allow this to happen. The sole purpose behind these stories (and that is all they are) is to keep hatred sparked toward Furries because so many people fail to educate themselves as to what "Furrry" is. 

These stories are nothing new and sparked to life in the Western reaches of the US from my understanding a number of years ago now. They have slowly made their way East and have just recently surfaced in my area or Rural Northern NY. 

Again there is no basis in reality of the claims yet some people with failed education seem to think the story is some kind of gospel, it truly is amazing what some people will fall for without committing a bit of common sense investigation about something they know absolutely NOTHING about. 

With this case so very close to home I felt a need to reply to the article in the local News Paper, and although the local School Board certainly aimed at putting the misinformation down, some of the actual terminology and reference in the article was not exactly correct either but that was most;y due to missing knowledge, of which I corrected the article in my letter to the editor:

Tuesday, March 29, 2022 - 12:13 pm

To the Editor:

In regards to the article in North Country Now March 23,2022 “’Furries’ rumors at Massena school have no basis says superintendent”

It is no news to me as a Furry that people continue to accept “misinformation” as truth when it comes to the Furry Fandom. The lack of most people to do a little bit of practical research before agreeing with the masses tends to add to the frenzy of the misinformation, and the continuation of a story that started even much farther back than the incident cited in Michigan by a good number of years, which has been kept in circulation by ‘trolls’ that have nothing better to do with their time than perpetuate hatred and misinformation.

First off to explain that ‘Furry’ is a lazy-tongue way of saying ‘Furry Fan’ and to correct the definition given:

A Furry is a person who is a fan of Anthropomorphic Art (animals with human characteristics) if you need a little help most certainly you can think Disney! Movies like ‘Robin Hood’ (1973) or ‘Zootopia’ (2016) and a whole mess of other Disney Characters as well that walk, talk, stand upright, work, play.

The Furry Fandom differs from other fandoms in the fact that nearly all of the characters that you will find in the Furry Fandom are created by its individual members, they are all (or nearly all) Original Characters (OC’s).

To correct a misconception, not all Furries are interested in dressing up as their character. In fact ‘Fursuiters’ make up only 20 to 25 percent of the Furry Fandom. It is an art form that does not appeal to a good portion of the Furry Fandom although the Fursuits are the most outwardly visible side of the Furry Fandom. Cost is also very inhibitive as the cost of a ‘full’ fursuit can run well up past $4,800 in many cases and sometimes much more.

Another misconception is that all Furries think they are animals. Wrong! No, Furries Do Not think they are animals. This misconception may well come from the definitions of Therians and/or Otherkin (of which there are some cases that someone who is a Therian or Otherkin may be a Furry as well but it is not a high percentage). This is where a little research can go a long way, as from within the Fandom when a Furry such as myself sees people actually believing these preposterous stories of litter-boxes in schools for furries (which by the way would not even actually manifest at a Furry Convention!) gives us reason to believe that person has failed in their education at the very least.

Anyone is welcome to educate themselves on the Furry Fandom if they choose to perhaps lessen the likelihood of putting their proverbial ‘foot-in-their-mouth’ like so many do when jumping to conclusions over something that sounds so totally ridiculous (even to a Furry).

There has been scientific research done on the Furry Fandom for well over a decade by the team of Doctors at FurScience and they have the correct answers! Check out what is fact and what is false.

https://furscience.com/

Andrew Kelley (Relic)
President & CEO
North Country Anthropomorphics
Lisbon

Another Convention For The History Books

CanFURence 2019 has now passed. It was a great time and my "home convention" continues to grow, this year saw nearly 25% growth... amazing!  We had 186 fursuiters attend to get into the group photo and parade around the Brookstreet hotel. 

Relic meets a scaly friend. (Chuckzilla)

Relic continues to grow and find his friends in the fandom, it is a wonderful experience and I would not want to give this up now for any reason... the friends we make mean so much to me. 

Relic & RKNiner

As the CanFURence continues to grow our 5th year will see us back in the Downtown area of Ottawa at The Westin.  We will certainly miss The Brookstreet Hotel as they have a terrific team that was fully supportive of our convention in every way.  Our new venue will be amazing for our fursuiters and foodies alike as we are steps away from the Byward Market and other great downtown areas for prowling around. 

Of course as usual my car seems to get the first attention for some reason... (which evades me). 

 

See you all next year at CanFURence !!  Canada's Capitol Furry Convention July31st - August 2nd 2020 !

On With The Show!

Next major event is CanFURence. This will be the first trip to my home convention with Relic 2.0.  We made our debute at Anthro NewEngland in Boston this past February and had a blast meeting new friends and prowling the city. 

A Furry Trapped In Time "Since Before It Was"

As I Challenge others in my group to write a short story about how they found the fandom I submit one of two stories that detail my finding the fandom. As I have never been one to hide the fact that I am a Furry I post these publicly for anyone that wants to read them.

A Furry Trapped In Time
“Since Before It Was.”        By: Relic B. Furry®

Blame always has to land somewhere, right? In this case I guess one could lay the ultimate blame on the Internet and the rise of social media … Go Figure. Honestly, before I connected my first computer to what they called the “Internet” I was clueless to the existence of the Furry Fandom, I had never heard the term, nor did I have a clue as to what it was all about.
Browsing the web was interesting and I soon found out that it was an excellent source for finding artwork that I enjoyed seeing, photography at that point was centered in my sights more than anything else. Within a year or two I began to take interest in what was coined “Anthro-art” or artwork that featured anthropomorphic characters.
I had seen this before, although at the time (this was back in the mid to late 1970’s mind you) I was ignorant to its significance, a good friend and I (Harold “Floyd” Brozzo that grew up next door to me) were always doodling and creating jokes and scenes with dogs of anthropomorphic nature using their two German Shepherds as models, we would all laugh at these comical creations for hours and even days later.
Although we tragically lost Floyd in 1992 to suicide, I started connecting our artwork from so many years ago to what I was now finding on the Internet and to what the Fandom was about. I was intrigued by the diversity of the characters and the myriad of ways other artists were creating characters of their very own, seemingly having a totally separate life on-line through these characters.
I began to single out one particular artists work that I could identify without even trying, “Tani DaReal” moved into my spotlight and became the first “Furry Artist” that I began to follow. Her abilities to capture thought and emotion in her work was astonishing to me. It was also through Tani that I first learned of “Anthrocon” and the entire world of Fursuiters although at this point and for many years yet this “Fursuiting” aspect of the Fandom had no real draw to me but the artwork that was being produced certainly did! I began to dabble around doodling different characters but always tossing them away as I just couldn’t seem to capture on paper what I was modeling in my head.
They say practice makes perfect and Tani reminded me of this many times but that is one thing that I have never realized as far as the anthropomorphic scene is concerned and I was always making sure my artwork remained private and much that I have done over the years is now lost forever.
My artwork to this day remains very private, unless it is something I have deemed worthy, even then it usually takes more than just months … in most cases YEARS for them to emerge from the “Closet” so to speak, and then my character Relic B. Furry as I have developed him has been the only publicly viewed anthropomorphic work released into the open in 2014 after 4 years of painfully slow progress.
I had finally developed a character to let loose in the wild on the Internet and that seemed like enough. By this time I was all ready immersed in the Furry Fandom beyond any point of retrieval. I was following 7 or 8 artists I had found on DeviantArt and then found a wonderful thing called Twitter! I began chatting with those artists world wide and soon became intrigued with the Conventions that were created by a sub-culture of people dedicated to Anthro-Art.
It would be a couple years later that I ran into Barry Verville whom would say the right things & spark my interest in Fursuiting, although even at that time it really didn’t interest me, the argument he made was compelling.
Mostly portrayed poorly in the news and public media in general, Furries have not had a fair introduction into the common culture. News is bad … period! If it isn’t BAD NEWS it simply is not worthy of any time on the air so it seems. In the early years during the emergence of the Furry Fandom it was pummeled by the media for its shock factor. The few bad things that the Media and series writers have published are totally one sided and are nowhere near the truth of what the Furry Fandom truly encompasses.
One of the most common beliefs is that all “Furries” are fursuiters … it is simply not true. On average the number of fursuiters number only about 20 to 25% of the fandom in total. The furries that are sometimes focused on as being BAD are a mere 1/10th of one percent of the numbers that make up the entire Fandom. Get over it all ready, there are bad people in every culture and we all have to deal with them, its no different for the Furry Fandom.
Moving slowly, I now look forward to stretching out with my character Relic to get involved deeper in the Fandom and hopefully educate others as to the fun of being in character and the many contributions the Fandom has made to so many charities throughout its existence. Contributions are not trivial either, with dollar amounts reaching into the thousands and 10’s of thousands of dollars (Anthrocon 2017 raised $35,000 for the Hope Haven Farm Sanctuary) during the conventions that are held all over the world with the auctioning of fantastic artwork of all kinds.
The Fandom has spread into every conceivable demographic, with every age group having membership in this growing sub-culture, with Fursuiters as young as 5 years old attending conventions and their competitions. Open-mindedness flourishes within the Furry culture with people of all walks of life co-mingling with no bias towards any one particular background, vice, or preference, which makes membership and interaction easy and mostly a rewarding experience.
In reflection I look back over the years and realize that I was a Furry long before it was existing as a known phenomenon, yet in all the known scientific facts now, I still fit into the the fandom under the same statistics as the majority that are part of it today. I was in my young teen years and loved the art with a passion, I was not part of the “In Crowd” through my school years, I often would seek to be alone or with my only true friends than to be bothered by others.
I simply had no access to any form of communication that I could participate with others that had the same passions. I was a furry trapped in time if you want to look at it that way, until the Internet opened up this fabulous fandom to me, I was lost.
Since the age of 48, which at the time of this writing is only 4 years ago, I have had a sense of urgency for participation in the Fandom that is fully age related I believe. I was introduced into this fandom so late in life that I honestly feel there is so much to catch up on and at my age I know all to well that I have far fewer days ahead than are behind me now. So many wonderful friends to meet and so little time left to do so.
I find that one very common question that so many people ask “How long have you been in the fandom?” a rather strange question to answer, as the only real answer that makes any sense to me is “Since before it was.”

Overload!

Wow! I have fallen so far behind on this project.  So much has been happening so quickly in the past 4 or 5 months I have not had time to get around to posting to all of my social media. I will endeavor to correct that . Needless to say when I do have some time to visit this blog again I will have a couple rather large posts to put up.   Say tuned.

How Tani DaReal Inspired My Creation of Relic

I have been asked... I must tell.

Absolutely the "High-point" of my visit to Anthrocon in 2017 was meeting Tani DaReal in person. As a long time follower of her artwork, she was undoubtedly the single most influential force behind my creation of Relic. 

If I had experienced nothing else at Anthrocon that year, I would have still walked away extremely happy that I had finally met her in person. 











How has Tani DaReal inspired my creation of Relic?  

Wow!  There's a subject that is in all practical purposes in the Furry Fandom a bit of ancient history... I can Try.


The gist of the story is... Tani was the first furry artist that i came to back in the day of the early internet... this was back when more than 50% of internet use was still "dial up"... at least in my secluded area of nowhere USA. She was a young up and coming artist back then, I was following her art work with great admiration and tried to learn some of her technique of portraying expression in her art. Needless to say I never was able to capture any amount of her talent, she had more talent in he pinky finger than I had in both of my hands. But I faithfully followed her artwork for many years (and still do) and when she began the process of creating her own fursuit I was even more captivated and watched it take shape eagerly. I was impressed by the process, although at this point in time was not even close to ever considering doing anything like this. It was still many years off, before I was to bitten by the Fursuiting Flea. It was while following her early artwork that I made the connection between what was now considered furry art and what I had been doing so many years before, long before the internet had even been truly thought of when I was only around 12 or 13 and just starting Jr.High (1978 ish... gads that puts a date stamp on me for sure) My friends and I used to doodle comics at their kitchen table using their German Shepherds as models for our "Anthropomorphic" characters in the mornings as we waited for the bus. Without Tani I would likely never made that connection... once I did... there was no turning back, I was hooked... line and sinker all. Once I had decided that I was going to use my Husky as the basis of my fursonas appearance (which happened only about 7 years ago) the rest of the process followed suit (perhaps a pun intended there) mainly because of a dare and having watched the process… I knew it had to happen.

Cape Crusading

After nearly 5 hours of work, Relic 2.0 has a cape that is almost finished.

There will be adjustments that will need to be made to fit it to my shoulders but the worst of the process is nearly behind us now. 

So looking forward to his debut at Anthro New England in February!  The excitement is REAL! 

Vision Quest

First time I have put it on since getting the fur around the eyes finished and the eyes back in place. The vision is better than I had hoped for, far better than that with Relic 1.0 

The details around the mouth are next. This is always the step that I find most intimidating... why I can't say for certain... just is. 

The first side finished for the most part until the other side is at this point as well.

Getting really psyched now as the end is in sight. I will be starting work on the cape next (neck) probably next week.  then it will be a matter of detail work, painting, final trimming, brushing... etc.

Moving Ahead In Small Steps

I am to the point now where any tiny amount of work is very noticeable for the most part. 

Have finished getting the white around the eyes done and placed the eyes back in his noggin... makes him look much better again. Still some fuss-work trimming to be done and I have to fix the eyelids into place but in all, solidly on track for the debut in Boston at Anthro New England in February!




Looks so much better with his eyes back in place. Have a wild Hair up the...muzz... I may just leave that there, an unplanned trimming error that actually looks ok. 

A Steady Pace Forward

As long as I keep putting a small amount of work into the process each day we should be good to go for the Debut of Relic 2.0 at Anthro New England in February. 



Now working on getting the white fur trimmed and fitted into place using pins... soon I will start gluing it into place permanently. 

Let The Fur Fly

Well, not really but the work of getting the fur into place is coming along nicely.

The grey is now solidly in place with the ears finally finished.






I am pleased with the way the ears turned out this time, the adage holds true "practice makes perfect" I guess.

Hard to see them (that is the point after all) but I have now got the exhaust ports for my two cooling blowers cut out from the inside of each ear, and the areas inside the head trimmed out for the blowers to be placed in the finishing stages. 

Progress Being Made

Wow been a while since my last post, so much has been happening.
I have taken an extreme amount of time getting the hinge points for the jaws placed just right and the effort has payed off, the movements are fluid and smooth. 

I always seem to have a difficult time getting myself started on doing facial fur when putting these together, but usually once I get started it goes well and I can finish in a reasonable amount of time. 

 cutting out the transferred markings is no big deal

I can accomplish that in little time.













Even getting the fur rough cut is no problem... BUT, from this point on is the really tough part for me, and I really need to be focused and in the right frame of mind to do the work from this point on... it lends itself to very few days. 

Sighs of Relief

I always seem to have a sense of relief when he is finally Washed, Dried, and brushed out after any fursuiting event.






Just knowing that there has been no damage done that needs to be tended to seems to make me believe that the event was a success! 

Safe and secure in his case ready for the next Great Furry Adventure.

Running Away With A Joke

The start of a JOKE that I decided to tear apart and run with… now it has become a “thing” all its own.

Relic, my Fursonna, is based on a Grey Wolf / Timber Wolf, and from the start was largely associated with being a Lumberjack in the region of New York I grew up in, in the Adirondack Mountains. Within the first year after creating my first fursuit of Relic or as I referred to the suit at the time “TIMBER” I realized that the Lumberjack side soon faded away in favor of a more refined Jazz Club loving character. I decided to move Relic more toward the Urban, Easy Jazz side of life that fits his mannerisms much more accurately, and that is where he has resided ever since... a real “Jazz Wolf”.

This side of Relic and I are virtually identical and we both, obviously, have a certain affinity for fur. That being said I have never been one to hold back or hide what I am interested in. I began to “swag out” my car adding first declarative stickers affirming my interest in and my belonging to the Furry Fandom. I soon wanted to add more of a statement and after some time and using some Snow Leopard fur that I had laying around collecting dust, I covered the dash, and I added a tail to the back of the car. It drew looks and attention to the car that I found totally hilarious and in time created a better version of the tail that was more easily removed in case removal was needed for any reasons (including tossing it in the wash). Now with more Snep (aka Snow Leopard) fur left sitting in the box I realized I had torn edges on one of my front seats in the car and went to work making covers for the two front seats, including the head rests.

It was at this time after posting several photos on my blog and to friends over Telegram that several puns returned to me about my character being a Timber Wolf and “Snepping out” my car made it seem that I might be “Species Confused”. OMG! I nearly died of laughter! Shortly after that I decided that instead of taking this as a Joke I would embrace the reference and make it my own “thing” (thank you to all those that pushed those buttons, you know who you are).

Behold the birth of “Sneppenwolf” A somewhat confused Timber Wolf that has a desire to become a Snow Leopard Fursuiter !

I continued to think of more ways to “Snep Out” the Vibe and added Snep Fur covering to the Door Panels, and have more ideas for the inside as well, likely to do Snep themed floor mats too (yes they are available as well).

During CanFURence 2018 I commissioned artwork from GNAW depicting my Vibe in the background with the door open and Relic frantically stepping into a Snep Fursuit. If this artwork turns out as well as I have expectations of it, I will likely seek the artists permission to use the piece as a vinyl wrap for either the car hood or one on each side of the car (to be determined later). I have also located vinyl automotive wrap that comes in the Grey Snow Leopard print as well (actually quite realistic looking too), so this car could wind up a virtual Snep Suit on wheels.