Renegade fursuiting is BEST fursuiting: chat with Sakura Fox – Part 3

by Patch O'Furr

Continued from Part 1 and Part 2: Sakura fox tells more about “renegade fursuiting” in public. I’ve previously written about “Street fursuiting”. Sakura’s convention panels and journals about it are recommended reading (see bottom.)

Patch:
I think public suiting is way better for candid photos than conventions, because it’s outside of predictable space. I love seeing surprised bystanders, or people drawn into furriness for the first time! Do you end up with a lot of photos afterward? Do you get photos taken by people you bring, or find them from searching randomly on the web? Do you have a favorite photo moment?

Has media ever picked you as an attraction to highlight? (It seems to happen to our meets a lot when San Francisco furries do street fairs. Even just to add incidental color to a story.)

Sakura:
Agreed! Photos from public events are always very dynamic and full of surprise.

When we have a kind spotter to accompany us, we can take home loads of photos.

One of my favorite such moments is from Union Square Park in San Francisco, of myself and Tigerpawatl. There’s such silliness and innocence in the costuming and delight of random onlookers.

Pic by Steeleheart

Otherwise, we’ll check Internet photo sites a few days afterwards and usually come up with one or two cute photos. Flickr, Twitter, Google News, and Tumblr are good places to find random photos after an afternoon of renegade fursuiting.

Recently, I’ve been taking my GoPro-on-a-stick, set to take one photo per second. From these, I’ve gotten some of my favorite photos! The contraption has other convenient uses, such as feeling out steps and leaning against when I’m resting.

One of my favorite GoPro selfies is from a parade in Austin called Honk! TX. It’s me and Mercury (wearing my suit Sugar) after we slipped in the parade!

I’ve never hit big with the news, but we’re sneaky and fox-like and don’t stay still very much 🙂

Patch:
San Francisco has a season for street fairs. They’re on a level apart from ones you can find elsewhere. There’s things that are weird and permissive in ways that no uptight communities would support, especially for Burning Man and rave culture, or even Fetish fairs where everyone dresses like the biker from the Village People. Even so, our furry crews draw special notice. What’s your local area like for public events with suiting potential? Do you know of other places in the world with potential for furry invasion?

Sakura:
San Francisco is a magical place indeed, and I’ve had good luck to suit there several times!

Austin is friendly in a similar way, very permissive and artsy. New York was surprisingly successful but we had good local support. I intend on exploring Portland, Seattle, and Minneapolis some day. Some places in Japan south of Tokyo would be very fun, such as Nara, Kyoto, or some places in Kyuushu. Some cities in Germany and France could be great fun too, but I don’t have a lot of ideas there yet.

Patch:
Do you know my suit maker in Texas (Megumibish)? Want to give shout outs to anyone?

Sakura:
We met Megumibish while suiting at San Japan in San Antonio, Texas last year 🙂 I saw a picture of you in her folder in the dealer’s room!

I want to give a shout out to Mercury for being so brave and adorable, Kinney for introducing me to fursuiting and giving me so many valuable lessons, Blondefoxy and Skuffcoyote and those at Donthugcacti for building great suits for me, patchpackrat for writing such cool articles 🙂 .. too many to list and everyone has been so nice!

Patch:
Thanks foxy!

Sakura:
Stay cute Patch!

_______________________

Sakura’s journals:

After the questions, Sakura added final comments…

A whole world of topics extend to those of us who are commissioning, traveling with, and performing in costumes. I will be doing some journals soon about spotters… fursuit design choices (White feet? bad idea for longevity. Weird colored paws? Good luck getting replacements when they wear out.) More types of cooling gear (water circulating shirts, fans)… how to logistically change in locations without a changing room (we have some techniques with the car that work well).

My goal with the Fursuiting Tips journals was to start outlining panel ideas and actually outline what could become chapters some day. With some time, there is a lot more to be said about those topics and more.

Further reading on Reddit: What places would be safe for public suiting? – (My #1 tip is: watch out for drunk people.)

See also my previous article responding to Sakura’s journal – Fursuiting and copyright: an important issue for fandom.

Me, Sakura, and Mercury at Biggest Little Fur Con 2013.

Dogpatch Press