News

Time flies when you're having fun, or if you are busy like the proverbial beaver.  This year, this is being brought home even harder by virtue of having more conventions, and more work than ever before.  Summer after A-Kon has been a bit of a break, but it looks like there will be a ton happening in the not too distant future.

Pan-Gaia Designs will be at three conventions at the end of the summer:

ArmadilloCon - August 27-29 - http://www.armadillocon.org/
AnimeFest - September 3-6 - http://animefest.org/
FenCon - September 17-19 - http://www.fencon.org/

In addition to this, I'm working to see if I can get into OniCon, a local event in Houston.  It's pretty much right up the street from me, so I probably should be there if I can be. 

There is a place here in Houston, the City Centre that is holding their Spring Market this upcoming weekend. 

 On the weekend of March 27 and 28 I will be there, hawking my wares and generally making a crazy fool of myself.  Come and see new designs, old designs, and some interesting surprises. 

There is a person that helps me out periodically, by doing the sewing that I ask him to do.  His name is Ralph, and I have slighted him.

For this I apologize.  Ralph often does very good work for me.  He understands the concepts of rolled hems and french seams and understands the need to keep things in line and not allow any fray to show.  It is not fair not to mention him, and it is doubly not fair to take credit from him.

This is, therefore, my retraction about the Cetagandan Funeral garb.  He did the base line work on it - rolling hems and straight assembly.  I did to all the hand work on it as well as the cutting (and that took forever), but he put the basics together.  This is doubly appreciated as he did it during a time when I had several things happening at once and all of them came together so that I would not have been able to meet all of the obligations without his work. 

I hope that this helps.

The Emperor's Passing pictures are finally starting to be edited and posted.  If you go to the link, http://www.pan-gaia.com/node/56,   you will be able to see the costume and the lovely model that wore it at FenCon.

Posting the pictures is going to be a bit slow.  Because they were taken in front of a backdrop, I'm softening the backgrounds so that the focus stays on the costume.  Personally, I love the look.

It is also now time to get more pictures going of the various items that are available.  I'm hoping to get a photoshoot in the next couple of weeks, too, so that I can get more kimono posted.

FenCon (www.fencon.org) was a blast and a half.  The people at the show were friendly (as usual), and wonderful to talk to, the setup was very smooth for the most part, and while my own personal participation was small, I still did enjoy the heck out of it.

We set up most of the display on Thursday, after the usual long drive into Dallas.  I swear, after the work that we did to load the car, and how full it was, I am going to get a used mail truck to convert to the official PGD vehicle. 

We stayed with Starrydance (www.starrydance.com), and Stephen and I played cats with her and her husband.  Basically, we saw each other for about 12 seconds each day because our schedules were offset to each others.  That's OK though.  There is something to be said for the kind of friendship where you can pretty much ignore each other for a weekend and still get along. 

A little over a year ago, I did the 2008 A-Kon and ran the AA of the show at the same time.  It was a rip roaring success on both parts, so I did it again for 2009.  Well, the economy made the system a little weird, and 2009 was not as good but it was still a good show.  Needless to say, 2010 is definitely on the list.

There are a lot of changes happening in our nation.  People are spending less, saving more, and looking for better value for their dollars.  Unemployment rates are higher, and people worry about all kinds of stuff.  You only have to turn on the news and it's all doom and gloom. 

Pan-Gaia went to A-Kon and did the selling thing in the Artist Alley, where we got to have a wonderful time, made many customers happy, and generally were impressed with the show. 

The arrival was simple.  We came in on Thursday, picked up our packet with our membership badges in it and went to set up.  Interestingly enough, we made about 10% of the sales for the weekend that evening, while setting up, Needless to say, Thursday setup is where it's at.

The people at the tables were wonderful, especially Jenn and Caitlin.  Jenn is a delight to have at the table, as she is always bouncy and cheerful, and Cait is a joy because she's mischievous and fun.  Customers loved them, and they had fun with the running of things.

There will have to be many, many more costumes and such made soon, to replenish the stock.  I'm definitely looking forward to it!

Thank you to everyone, for making the A-Kon show the most successful one yet!

Songwood Renaissance Festival - www.songwoodrenfest.com

Turns out that this is a first time ren fest and that there is a pretty impressive list of people who will be out there - entertainers, artisans, etc.  Pan-Gaia Designs is adding themselves to the ranks of vendors out there, so look for our work at the festival.

Welcome to the new and improved pages for Pan-Gaia Designs.  To the lady who did this at Lori Of Pandora, THANK YOU LORI.