Able Sisters Fan Crafts is a crafting/fanart team based in and around Pittsburgh, PA. This is one of our hobbies, albeit an incredibly time-consuming and expensive hobby. The concept was formed after Otakon 2005, when Sarah couldn't find any otaku-style coffee mugs, and thought that someone ought to try making some. Ironically, we started to make everything but coffee mugs, and after a few more years coffee mugs started to appear on the market anyway. But by then, we were knee deep in fluffy things.
The team is named after Mable and Sable Able, the tailors in the Animal Crossing games. We are sisters, but not hedgehogs.
Contact: ablesisters@gmail.com
* Age: 30
* Day Job: Graphic Designer for Etched in Glass in Gibsonia, PA - www.etchedinglass.com (shameless plug...)
* Education: BA in Studio Art from Duquesne University. I can draw and paint great but not in an anime style to save my life.
* Crafting: Starting sewing often after working for a bit at JoAnn Fabrics, but have always been crafty since I can remember. Cross-stitching is probably my favorite, and I'm especially proud of an Eye of Sauron from LOTR that took me a year to finish. I also enjoy beading, painting, cardmaking, et al.
* Secret Weapon: I are the 1337 painter...erm, I mean I can paint I guess.
* Most Hated Task: Alphonse Bear's foam spikes (but they're so damn cute...) Collars!!
* Fandom: Favorite Anime: Cowboy Bebop, Eureka Seven; Favorite Manga: Death Note, Yotsuba&!; Favorite Games: Animal Crossing, Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life, Katamari games, Cooking Mama games, Little Big Planet, Rhythm Heaven, and unrelated to that, but I also play Magic: The Gathering and Warhammer 40K.
* Age: 33
* Day Job: Office peon / Voice On Phone
* Crafting: Started sewing at age 17, making costumed but comparatively non-nerdy stuffed animals and puppets. Started taking cosplay commissions in 1999.
* Secret weapon: machine appliqué. With a regular machine; I just abuse the zigzag stitch.
* Most hated task: Blazer collars, buttonholes. Also, I tend to draw and cut crooked lines.
* Fandom: Favorite anime: Revolutionary Girl Utena, Kino's Journey; Favorite manga: Flower of Life, Fruits Basket; Favorite video games: The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, Eternal Darkness, Final Fantasy Tactics A2, Dance Dance Revolution; Other nerdnesses: AMV editing, reading old science fiction short stories.
* Age: 31
* Day Job: Cubicle monkey
* Crafting: Puppet design and various Odds, Ends, and Miscellanea.
* Secret weapons/powers: Gofer, Sounding board, Fandom observer, & Coffee summoner.
* Fandom: Favorite anime: El-Hazard: The Magnificent World, Read or Die (ROD), Beck: Mongolian Chop Squad; Favorite manga: KareKano, Kodocha; Favorite video games: Rock Band Series, Fallout 3, Bioshock Series, PuyoPop Fever; Other nerdnesses: AMV collaboration & editing, occasional cosplay, yinzer sports nerd (Pittsburgh Penguins & Steelers N'@), Novice Bassist.
Our first juried show, and our first non-convention (i.e. more conventional) craft market.
This is when we switched to a two-table setup, which gave us some much-needed breathing room.
Vast improvement. Here's where we start realizing that we've been forgetting to write con notes for a year.
Somehow we forgot to write up con notes for this one. But we had a good time, and thanks to all the staff and con-goers.
...We were there. Yep.
Em's Comments
Whee, taking the show on the road! Our first convention with an Alley table that was out of town and our first Tsubasacon was a success! Though the deer-riddled I-79 made us take longer than expected to arrive, we were surprised at what a nice little town Huntington was. Not that we expected anything bad, I honestly didn't know what to expect.
The con as a whole I thought went well, though I didn't do much but sit in AA and watch the Spoony Bards concert (dude, they are GREAT!!) It would have been nice if the hall were just a tad wider, only because we only had about 8" of space behind the table to move around in. Okay, maybe 10"....
The staff was very helpful everywhere we went, and the other artists were great! A big thanks to the Blue Squid guy who let us check the hockey and football scores all weekend on his laptop. I believe we established a pretty symbiotic existence with the guy, and surprisingly we didn't want to kill him for writing rap all weekend. Good luck with it, man!
Bigbig thanks to everyone who bought our wares and stopped to look. I hope whomever won the bear Sarah made that was given out for the cosplay prize likes it! And of course congrats to Sarah and Jay for their winning AMV. I enjoyed Award Pocky very much! Hope to see everyone again next year!
Sarah's Comments
...And we hit the road. I found this con to be a relaxing experience overall, even if I did stress about the costume. Maybe because it's smallish, maybe because it's out of town (as Tomo says in Azumanga Daioh, "shame on the road is written off!"), who knows. It had a laid-back theme all around.
Mostly I rambled around, buying small things, doing not much of anything, or kicked back at the table, making little felt things. That was pretty fun, and we'll have to do that again. Though I wasn't all that happy with my costume (I are hueg liek xbox), it was fun to try, and I'd like to try something more, ahem, appropriate next time.
Congrats to the con for launching their first AMV competition, and to all the brave souls who showed up at 9 a.m. to suffer through our videos in order to get to the good stuff. ;) I bet they felt dumb for voting for us after seeing "Euphoria"... but you can't take the Award Pocky back now, mwahahahahaha.
Everyone at this con was great to us, and I hope to be back next year.
Em's Comments
It's nice to watch Tekko grow as much as it has. Thinking back to the first in those few rooms in the corner of a hotel with its itty-bitty 5 table Dealer's Room, to the majority of the ExpoMart in only 5 years is impressive! Tekko 5 was the best so far, though speaking from an AA perspective. Though I didn't like that the tables were all in one big line, it was nice to have such a variety of artists and wares. The panel and workshop selection was much improved, and I was able to sneak away for 2 workshops I found quite enjoyable and informative.
Hooray for Sarah for a successful AMV submission! Time to get one done for Otakon, right?!?! (hahahhaaa)
Big thanks to everyone who stopped at our quite full table, and bigbig thanks to those who bought our humble wares. I think I speak for the both of us when I say we throughly enjoy making them. Sure, coming out in the black is nice, but we mostly do it for the whole experience involved.
I must rant though for just one tiny pet peeve. Sure, go ahead and ask for a discount or for free from an AA table, but if an artist says "no" have the respect to let it go and move on or drop it.
Hope to see you all at Tekko 6!
Sarah's Comments
Em hit the main points, I think. This was our second con with a table, and it was a lot of fun, with only a couple of minor annoyances / breaches in Good Con Behavior. Other than that and running out of Beelzenef puppets and a lot of pins (gah!), it went very well.
I have to thank Tekkoshocon's staff, volunteers, and fellow con attendees. Thanks to the Artists' Alley artists for being good sports about our slightly anomalous geekiness. Thanks to Em for putting up with my insane case of nerves. Though I've made close to 25 AMVs/live-action fanvideos at this point, this was the first time I had successfully sent an AMV in to a con; the only previous time, to another con in 2003, the file wouldn't work and the video was disqualified. Eek. So, for that I also have to thank Wendy for convincing me to give it another shot. :) Finally, thanks to Jay for pitching in on Saturday with an extra hand and Penguins updates.
The next goal is Otakon, a scary prospect. But I hope to be back at Tekko VI for another round in the "Artists' Turnpike." See you then!
Sarah's Comments
Our first table in an Artist's Alley. A learning experience. Random impressions: Aheheh... That's... Gundam Wing slang; don't ask. Actually I'm not Yomiko exactly um sorry wait I'm not making any sense am I. Cans of sugar-free No Fear drunk during the con: 4. Manga volumes read: 5.
Unexpected successes: perversion and evil. Hooray! Perversion and evil!
Valuable life lessons: It's not actually that boring to staff a table. People-watching can fill lots of time. It's hard to balance between "I am paying attention" and "I don't hear your side-conversation." Eep. Also, "Foamie" is a crafting-dork word - it's a brand name for craft foam - so the sign was confusing. Whoops.
Thanks to the con attendees and staff; just about everyone was really nice. Even as rank newbies everything went very smoothly.
Em's Comments
Tekko 2006 was my 4th Tekko and 7th con overall...not bad for someone who's only seen about 5 shows (maybe I shouldn't admit that...) At first I thought I wouldn't like being tied to a table too much, but I have to say I really liked it! I wandered a bit here and there, but every time wanted to get back to the table to see if anyone had gotten a bear or a foamie or anything really (WHY GOD WHY didn't anyone buy Toad??) People-watching has to be the best part of any con, even if I don't recognize some of the costumes. It amazes me to see how many people sew nowadays, and how creative otaku can be when they want to make themselves look 7 feet tall or how to make an umbrella look like a Metroid.
We were first-timers in Artist Alley, and I must say the environment was a very positive one. Everyone was more than willing to strike up a conversation about their table or the con in general. Of course, we had to buy something from fellow AA people (BUY LOCAL!!) We're already planning for Tekko 2007, and it'll be bear mania let me tell you...
And I finally got to try BAWLS...not bad :)
Able Sisters would like to thank:
* Our family for putting up with this insanity. Our dad, for all the display equipment. Our mom, for the scarves.
* The Fox Chapel JoAnn Fabrics, for existing really close to Sarah's house in the first place, then going out of business right when we needed a ton of stuff on sale. Though it is still sad to see it go.
* Tekkoshocon. Everyone at Tekkoshocon 2006 in particular. except that one Sasuke cosplayer. ...Kidding.
* All the people who made this stuff that entertains us. please don't sue. :)