2024 CanGames (and Felting) Convention
1) Sign outside of CanGames with a gnome smoking a pipe and carrying a big axe and short sword
May 18-20th was the Victoria Day long weekend. It is a federal holiday, on the last Monday preceding May 25, to celebrate Queen Victoria’s Birthday, which was on May 25th. It is also the long weekend that CanGames happens! The first CanGames was in 1977. I am told, it is the longest-running gaming convention in Canada. The website says, that this year there will be over 300 different games spread over the convention’s 8 time slots (https://cangames.ca/events/ ). As well as an open gaming area, and shopping options (although there was a horrible lack of fibre sellers present!) there was also a second-hand game sale to check out Saturday morning. (Don’t worry there will be felting in this post too.)
I have attended quite a few CanGames and expanded the scope of their convention a bit, into a Gaming and Spinning or Gaming and Felting convention! One year I even ran pick-up games of “spin the golden fleece”. They had to make a Turkish spindle, were given some nice golden combed top, and then had to spin a length of yarn with it.
The convention was at the Rideau Curling Club, in downtown Ottawa. It ran Friday: Noon – 11 pm, Saturday: 8 am – 11 pm, and Sunday: 8 am – 11 pm. Knowing that parking is very limited at the curling club and the city lots are a good hike away, we arrived early to make sure we could find parking. Good thing we came early, the reserved handicapped parking was no longer there, but we found a spot that would work.
The Rideau Curling Club was started in 1888, they moved a few times and in 1949 they built the present location, replacing a coal yard and blacksmith shop on the block (Glenn will not be pleased to learn that!). In 1965, a second storey was added, including a kitchen, dining room, and meeting room. To reach the second story is a wide, turning staircase, with a Scottish tartan display (sorry I was sure I had a shot of that! I will get it next year). Unfortunately, in 1964, although it is a lovely addition, the thought of adding an elevator was not a consideration. So unless I could get someone to carry the walker up the long stairway I was staying on the ground floor and iceless rink. (There were ramps to get to both of those!)
Now that you know where I have wandered off to, let’s get back to the felting!
I had brought two of the chickadee bodies that I had made for the workshop. I still needed to take photos to add to my notes. I also brought 12g aluminium and 26g steel wire to start the next moose bag. I was being optimistic I would have the chickadee photo shoot done reasonably quickly.
By a little after 12 noon, Glenn had me set up by the “games library” run by the Kanata Games Club.
2) Chickadee armature with extra crimpy Shetland locks drafted to about half an inch wide. The background is a wooden table that the games are about to need.
Some years there is an extra table and I can work there, this year it was busy, luckily we had not taken the small folding table out of the car. Glenn went to the car to get it and I switched to that. I found a nicespot at the edge of the curling rink and set up there.
3) Setup for a weekend of felting, note 2 bottles of Mountain Dew (sugar and caffeine pop) not in the picture is my walker which I will be using as my chair.
I got myself sorted out for felting, with a small table, basket and moose bags, Glenn wondered upstairs where the games he was interested in were going to play.
4) upstairs in the curling Club
The curling rink (without ice for the summer season) is a large two-story space with lots of echo-y sounds of happy gaming. I started the afternoon with headphones and a good audiobook, while I wrapped legs and tiny toes with crimpy Shetland locks. I moved on to adding strips of the core carded roving from World of Wool to the body. By about 5 pm the crowd had grown and it was getting hard to hear the audiobook!
Time for a quick break to look aground, I am starting to get hungry and I should stretch my legs a moment.
6.1) this is the games library that I am sitting beside. The shelves were labelled with how many players were needed for the game. The tables in this section were all in use most of the convention.
6.2) This is the second-hand games section that will be open for shopping at 10 am Saturday. There are already large piles of games coming in and there will be more dropped off tonight. 6.3) another angle of the second-hand games area
All afternoon and into the evening more boxes of games arrived for the sale starting at 10 am Saturday. While Glenn dropped off games he was going to try to sell, he said he spotted a Napoleonic board game for 10.00 that he would like, but he has a game he is signed up for on Saturday morning. He said he would go look after his game was done and see if it was still there.
Ok back to work time to add colour!! (I keep getting distracted and should show you more of the felting component of the convention). I pulled out the reference photos to check the colours and placements.
7.1) consult the reference photos 7.2) Consider the colours to make the colour I want 7.3) Use the tiny pet brushes to blend the fibres 7.4) Check with the photo to see if I have the colour close 7.5) Add the colour to the body and then blend and add the next colour.
On Friday night, there is traditionally a game of Chariot racing (7-11 pm). There are a large number of chariots (24), at the start line 2 deep, across 12 lanes. The lanes quickly narrow down to four, before you reach the first corner. Each player writes down how fast and the number of squares they will go that turn (the faster you go the more damage you can take). The players are selected randomly for the order they start each round. This means a chariot from the back row may start before the ones in the front row, squeezing through and causing and taking damage (they keep track of that on their page for speeds). I watched through the first turn.
8.1 set up and the first 2 chariots art out on the track! 8.2 deciding which chariots to try to slip between (hoping not to take too much damage) 8.3) 2 chariots trying to occupy the same square, they will roll for damage in a moment.
Starting the chariot race!
I will come back and see how they are doing later. Now back to work on the chickadee. It’s now time to add the tail colour! Blending a charcoal grey, to match the photos, then adding it to the very thin tail. This is where the angle of needle use is important if you want the underside to stay white!
9.1) blending colours for the tail 9.2 carefully adding the tail colour to only the top. (This would have been easier with a crown needle) 9.3) adding feather details over the black
Oh, the charioteers are getting low better take a look! The leaders are now past the second corner but the carnage left behind is already heavy!
10.1 heavy carnage before the first turn! 10.2 Close-up of chariot wreckage!! Note the headless charioteer is still driving!!
Ok, I better get back to work, the tail is looking good, now, on to the wings. I have made chickadee wings in multiple ways. This time, I want to do the wings as a single shape and then add the details before adding them to the little bird. I could do this faster if I started with a piece of felt or pre-felt of a medium charcoal colour. Unfortunately, I did not have premade felt but I did have wool and can make my own! I started to create felt with the wing tip end, which are darker than the shoulder end of the wing. I used the Clover multi-needle tool to felt faster. I also started to add a suggestion of the details of the felted edges.
11.1 wing tip end starting to form, using both the single needle and the clover multi tool 11.2 adding feather edge detail, the lines are still a bit too bright for what I wanted. 11.3) note the areas that will be covered by the wings do not need to be covered in colour but it’s better to allow a bit of overlap in case you need to move, or adjust, the wing placement slightly.
Check the shape by using pins and look from various angles. Humm, getting closer but not quite right yet.
12) Checking the wing position, consult the photo reference.
Ah, Glenn’s game has ended, time to pack up and we will be back tomorrow morning, Early!
Saturday, 8 am to 11 pm. We again found parking, Glenn got me set up with the little table in the same spot as yesterday and headed off upstairs to his game. My goal today was to finish the wings and attach them. I was also going to try to find the mysterious “Napoleonic war game for $10.00” and kept an eye out for a lineup to start to go in and buy the second-hand games. But first, back to the chickadee!
I used the sewing pins to try the wings out to see how the wings fit. I like the shape but the shoulder colour needs work. The first thing to do is add whisps of the grey/green from the colour I used on the back to the top and front edge of the wings.
13) I add the wisps of green/grey at the wing shoulder. I also toned down the whiteness of the feather edges, by used the clover tool, which worked very well.
14) using the clover tool to soften and lighten the shoulder edges of the wings
Yes much better, now before I add the wings to the body, I can trim any stray fibres from the back with the curved embroidery scissors.
15.1 Using curved blade scissors on chickadee’s back (the spot that will be between the wings and hard to trim later. 15.2 Close up of the curved blade on the embroidery scissors (got them off aliexpress) 15.3) The flat and curved embroidery scissors and other felting tools on the wool felting mat (bat on a stick is also here)
Next, the wings need to be attached. Make sure you don’t flatten the wing too much, or it will not look like it is sitting above the body.
16) Adding the wings to the body
17.1 Then adding beads for eyes 17.2 Chickadee with his new beady eyes, standing on my needle picking up tool, ready to supervise my work
Oh look there are 2 people starting the line for the games! Back in a moment! I asked one of the organizers and the 2 nice guys in line before me, if they had any idea what game Glenn had been talking about. I would end up having a number of gamers trying to help me find the mysterious game. We did find one but it didn’t match all the criteria (it was only 5.00) so I kept it and kept looking. Another gamer picked up the one I was looking for but decided not to buy it (Thank you!!) so I now had 2 board games about Napoleon, one of which was listed for 10 dollars!
18.1 I was #3 in line waiting for the curtains to open so we could start to shop 18.2 some of the games 18.3 af few more games 18.4 just one of the piles of games being purchased!
I picked up a couple of games that looked interesting, including a Settlers of Catan board that held the pieces in place, since I remember Glenn mumbling about the annoyance of moving tiles. (More on that later). It was very crowded and there were a lot of games being scooped up and sold. I took my selection and hid them under my basket. Save Doctor Lucky, Napoleonic wars, War of 1812, a couple for the cottage. OH!, I almost forgot I found Exploding Kittens.
19) games hidden under my basket cover and basket! He will never think to look for games there.
Since I have the chickadee done and before I start on the next moose bag, I think I should take a look and see what’s being played at the moment.
20.1 my view of the convention from the back corner by the games library 20.2 Miniature soldiers and mounted troops in blue off to fight the little guys in grey in the background 20.3 Another battle in progress, the games are taking a brake. Unfortunately, I could not ask who was fighting 20.4 this was a new game that was being introduced. it had really cue miniatures and the rules allowed you to play as individuals or teams. 20.5 is another historical miniatures game being set up. The reference book was a nice touch. 20.6) this game, from the games library, ran a good chunk of the day, the gamers are taking a snack or shopping break
Glenn finally emerged from his game and went to see if he could find the Napoleonic war game….strangely he had No luck, but he was excited to find an expansion for a game he had. The title did not sound too appealing, too much water.
We had both watched for any type of sheep game but no luck this year. We will try again next year! Some day we will get Glenn to tell us about all the sheep-related board, card and stacking games he has found. It is quite the collection!
21) Expansion for underwater cities (sounds too wet for my liking)
Glenn was very pleased with the games hidden under my basket. Yes, I did get the correct game but I also bought one he was selling, OH well, he did like it enough to have bought it the first time!
I had people drop by Friday and again Saturday to see what I was doing and then how it was going. I think a couple will follow up and try needle felting.
With the chickadee done and now supervising from the needle-on-the-floor-collector-tool (magnet with extendable handle) I was ready to start project 2 of the weekend. But, I likely have distracted you with enough strange games for today. So let’s paws here, before going on to the next project, and the rest of Saturday and part of Sunday.
11 thoughts on “2024 CanGames (and Felting) Convention”
Ha-ha – well done on buying the game Glen was selling 🙂 It looks like a fun convention and very well organised.
The curved scissors are a good invention and just right for needle felters.
Your chickadee is so sweet – I wonder how many people thought that the little bird, with his head slightly cocked to one side and perched above your belongings, was real?
Yes it is a very well run convention, and very tollerent of mostly non-gameing spouce spinning or felting in a corner.
the curved bladed sissores are favulous but dont use your acual emboidery sissors the wool will dull the blades quicker than embroidery floss cutting. if we could get hair cutting blades but i the fine pointy curves of embroidery sisors we would be set!
re the chicadee; probubly only the ones that didnt see me makeing him!! he is still a robust little guy and is vary close to accual size (this one may have been into the sunflower seed bag!!) i will have to keep him out of the bird seen now!
What fun Jan. I didn’t realise just how many different board games there are. This convention looks a lot less stressful than the Cosplay ones I’ve seen a bit about. I do like their costumes though, they give all sorts of ideas for theatrical costumes and you can usually find out how they made them from YouTube.
And thanks for the tutorial on needle felting the chickadee. Very useful. I like the idea of adding the wings separately. (I’m wondering if you might graduate to adding the wings individually and on their own armatures so that you can have the bird flying.)
I’m looking forward to learning more about Moose making too.
Ann
there are an amazing amount of games. there were a few people running games that dressed up a bit for there games theam but most wore normal cloths. the Old SF/F conventions use to have a costumed ball that was a lot of fun.
i am glad you enjoyd the latest chickadee. i had been doing individual wings than adding them and had tryed an supplimental armature along the top and back of the wing to hold the wing tips away from the body.
this time i was trying to simplify the prosses to teach the basic concept and then give other oppions for students to try. for most thing there is more than one way to do something. a big rule for needle felting is the pointy end gose in the wool not the fingers, otherwise there are usualy options, some are easyer and some are harder. its finding the options that work best for you to create what you want to make.
i hope you will have fun making a chickadee or other small bird!
Love your chickadee. Very neat. And glad you managed to find Glenn some new games.
I do so love reading about your adventures, and of your makes during your attendance, and waiting about times at these adventures. The gathering looks huge, and the amount of board games there seems phenomenal.
I realised a little while ago, that there is a ‘board game’ group that has a meet up in our local pub, it is a very eclectic group though, and possibly not the most inviting!!
I love the chickadee.
Looks like you had fun 😊 Great chickadee!
I love that Chickadee! Your felt creatures always look so life-like!
Gorgeous chickadee. And very intriguing to see the gamers convention. I thought it was going to be video games so I was surprised and delighted to see all the board games.
The convention looks like a lot of fun and your chickadee is very sweet.
I love your chickadee Jan, so realistic. Great to get the inside story on the gamers’ convention. Looks like great fun!
Helene x