2025 in review, what to expect in 2026
I don’t really do New Year’s resolutions anymore. Instead, I tend to pick a loose word to theme the year as a guide because I always find, when I break a resolution once, I write it off like “oh well, I failed, better luck next year” … but a theme is inescapable.
For 2025 I chose “Movement”, which led to a lot of travel, a lot of music, and a reasonable amount of exercise. Poi found its way back into my life, and karate training stepped up to the point I painstakingly achieved my 3rd Dan in December.
Now we’re at the point of the year when things usually slow down, and you can reflect on the past year, I thought I’d take the time to look back and see how full the year really was.
LARPcon bookended my festival season from March to November, and between those two points, work and play blurred together like I’m finally settling into a flow with my new business direction.
It can be difficult to keep up with projects while also building stock for conventions, and still find time to relax... because remembering the advice "if you don't take a break, your body will" and how ignoring that advice has negatively shaped previous years, I decided it's time for a new approach.
As a result, I still got my work done, but I was also able to be more present, relaxed, and genuinely excited for each event. It almost made them feel like holidays too.
For Confuzzled, I took some time to make bright, colourful UV masks to stand out from my more realistic work. It was fun getting the chance to play with colour like that, and I’ll definitely be doing it again next year.
Fantasy Forest, despite its size, carried the calm of a much smaller event. No rushing, no stress, just a steady flow of people and really good company. I did forget my tablecloth, though. Luckily, I had rugs in my van for some reason.
Pawsome was smaller, but it had a presence that belied its size. The anthro community has a knack for filling spaces with colour and warmth, and even on a modest scale it felt lively, welcoming, and quietly confident.
Over the year, my stand layout evolved as I designed and made custom displays to better show off the Awaykin masks. I also made some fun flyers for commission info to make it easier to answer questions.
Alongside all of this, there were many commissions. New characters took shape throughout the year, and I’m endlessly grateful to everyone who trusted me with their ideas. Here are just a few of them:
I also finished a couple of new mask designs, including the weasel, owl, and the most recent skull design.
One of the biggest shifts this year was letting myself attend festivals without vending, and that started with Rosa. It kicked off a summer spent in fields exposed to weather that couldn’t decide whether it wanted to cook or drown me, but it got me spinning poi again, something I hadn’t realised how much I’d missed. From there, Notsilly followed after Noisily was cancelled, a community-run response that felt slightly defiant and questionably legal in the best way.
By the time I reached Slipshod, I was fully in it, wearing my wild boar Awaykin mask, skanking to mad drum and bass with no agenda beyond having a good time. Taken together, those weekends were sweaty, loud, and grounding, and they reminded me why I keep coming back to these spaces.
I want to work on more companion pieces for the masks, including more tails and hooves.
I’d like to make a full costume for the forest spirit I started last year, which I have been refurbishing. I think It would be fun to make stilted hooves for them, particularly as I am so short the costume doesn't look very dramatic standing at 5ft nothing.
Mask-wise, I'm currently working on a few new designs. I can only say for certain that the Big Cat will be coming out the soonest, this will be a more Lionin feline to differ from the smaller feline I currently offer.
I do have plans of working on the following through the year, though:
- opossom
- Monkey
- Hare
- horse
- Goose
- Dinosaur / A new dragon design
If you'd like to see any of these sooner, I have a new page where you can sponsor the design.
One thing I’d like to introduce next year is a podcast. Nothing overly ambitious, likely monthly, but a space to talk through questions I get asked a lot, like how I got started and what that actually looks like in practice.
The idea really settled while talking to younger creatives and their parents at different events over the past couple of years, I often get asked about how I got started and what its like running a business like mine, but I don’t always remember my own starting points in a way that feels useful, so opening that conversation up feels worthwhile.
Overall, 2026 will be themed with the word "Form" as a progression from movement. It fits with the idea of building from a foundation and giving structure to what is already there: polishing and refining rather than expanding into too many new things.
I'm very grateful for the support of the LARP, furry, Therian, festival and theatre communities, as well as the family, friends and acquaintances that have made their mark on this wonderful and excitingly imperfect year. I hope that I have shown you enough appreciation this year.
areudirty
dededos
jacobvanloon
yousharknotpass
prguitarman
theartofmadeline
origamiaround
gummygunk
stormborns
romaincrisis
baratheonpilled
