April 22, 2024 • 38 mins
Nat Cummings has been doing cosplay for half their life. From appearing at C2E2 as Fiona from Adventure Time in 2016, to creating a themed mini-collection for their fashion class at Whitney Young Magnet High School, Nat has taken their love for costumes and clothing to bold new realms. In this episode, Nat joins Elle to talk about their internship at the Chicago Public Library Teen Gamer’s Guild, their excitement for the upcoming conventions, and how all this time with their hobbies and classes fits in to next year’s college plans.
Links to the Chicago Teen Gamer’s Guild, and to event information for Gamer’s Universe at the Harold Washington Library are in the full show notes at hoorfpodcast.com
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Elle Billing (00:00):
Hi, my name is Elle Billing. I am a chronically
(00:02):
ill queer femme, and I'm tired.
I'm here this episode and everyepisode to dig at the roots of
our collective fatigue, exploreways to direct our care in
compassionate and sustainableways, and harness creative
expression to heal ourselves andour world. And welcome to
Hoorf-- Radical care in a latecapitalist heckscape.
(00:47):
My guest on this episode is NatCummings. Nat is a cosplayer
soon to be high school graduatein Chicago who has also worked
in various theater, fashion andfilm projects, and they are also
part of a teen cosplayinternship at the Harold
Washington Library. They plan onpursuing a film degree after
graduation. I'm really excitedto have Nat on the podcast with
(01:07):
me today. Welcome to Hoorf Hi,Nat, welcome to Hoorf
Nat Cummings (01:13):
Oh, hello.
Elle Billing (01:14):
Hello. I'm so excited to get you here today.
Nat Cummings (01:17):
Yay. Yay. I am also
Elle Billing (01:19):
Yay. I'm excited that you're excited. I have to
ask do you actually listen tothe podcast?
Nat Cummings (01:27):
Um, no. And I can't I kind of forget that it
exists until dad's editing it.
Elle Billing (01:35):
Yeah, that makes sense. You have a lot going on.
You're busy kid. Teen. You'renot a kid. You're a teen. Yeah.
Your birthday is I think the dayafter this episode comes out.
Nat Cummings (01:44):
So I'll be an adult then.
Elle Billing (01:47):
How do you feel about that?
Nat Cummings (01:49):
Umm haha.
Elle Billing (01:53):
Right? We kind of feel that way about you turning
18
Nat Cummings (01:58):
Yeah.
Elle Billing (01:59):
You know, you're you're graduating this year. Oh,
my god daughter is graduatingthis year. And it's just a lot
of like, we're not ready forpeople to be getting done with
school.
Nat Cummings (02:09):
I'm not either.
Elle Billing (02:12):
Yeah, I remember.
I remember being your age and bereally, really excited. I had
senioritis starting in my junioryear. And now I look back and
I'm like, you fool.
Unknown (02:23):
I have too much going on. In these next couple of
months to fall victim tosenioritis.
Elle Billing (02:30):
That's probably okay. Although the world is a
lot different now than it was 20years ago to
Nat Cummings (02:35):
Yeah,
Elle Billing (02:36):
I'm sure you hear us grumpy, geriatric Millennials
saying that all the time.
Nat Cummings (02:42):
A little bit,
Elle Billing (02:43):
maybe a little bit in here. But you have a pretty
good sense of humor about us, Ithink. So anyway, I'm excited to
have you here. For those whohaven't picked up on it in the
last, just a little bit ofbanter. Nat is the almost adult
(03:05):
teenager of my partner and co-producer Ricki who has been on
the podcast it is works behindthe scenes for this. And I'm
really excited to have them onthe podcast today. So I'm gonna
just kick off with the firstquestion, which is how have you
received care this week?
Nat Cummings (03:21):
I had therapy on Sunday.
Elle Billing (03:24):
Yeah, that's cool.
That's good.
Nat Cummings (03:28):
I still don't know how to answer this question.
Elle Billing (03:30):
Oh, that's okay.
All right. I started therapywhen I was 17. So, yeah, I get
that.
Nat Cummings (03:39):
A lot of recently has just been like kind of
chilling out after theater'sended because we just closed our
show. And we like tore down theset and everything like that.
And I suddenly have much morefree time.
Elle Billing (03:52):
Oh, I suppose that was the last show of this of the
season.
Nat Cummings (03:55):
That's the last show I'll ever have in high
school at least.
Elle Billing (03:59):
Yeah.
Nat Cummings (04:00):
Basically, I've just been like trying to like,
chill out since then. There's alot going on during that show,
just because of like theaterstuff. You know?
Elle Billing (04:11):
Yeah. Because theater.
Nat Cummings (04:14):
But yeah, I've been it's been I've been like
chilling lately, just because Ihave to lock in on a lot of
stuff soon. And work on a lot.
So like savoring the free timethat I have right now.
Elle Billing (04:29):
Right. So what was the show that you did? What was
the last one of the
Nat Cummings (04:33):
it was called failure love story.
Elle Billing (04:35):
Okay,
Nat Cummings (04:36):
which is set in Chicago in the 20s. And it's
about this family, the Failfamily. Their family owns and
like has a clock shop and stuffthat they run. And there's this
guy named Mortimer Mortimer,okay. He falls in love with each
of the sisters in this family,like one by one and as he does
(05:00):
that they all die by variousmeans,
Elle Billing (05:04):
oh goodness.
Nat Cummings (05:06):
The youngest one, which is the first one that he
falls in love with, has like astatue fall on her, on the day
that they're gonna get married,
Elle Billing (05:15):
oh my god,
Nat Cummings (05:16):
the second one dies because she tried to swim
across Lake Michigan, toIndiana, and basically falls,
like under the boat that'sfollowing her. And then the last
one dies of consumption.
Elle Billing (05:32):
Okay.
Nat Cummings (05:34):
It's like, mostly, it's a pretty light hearted show
until like, the the, towards theend, starts talking about a lot
grief and handling that andstuff. And like enjoying the
time that you had, like theexperience that you had. Very
fitting for a senior show.
Elle Billing (05:55):
It is that does sound really fitting. So you go
to an arts high school. Right?
Nat Cummings (06:01):
Well, it's, it's, I mean, kind of like there's a
good art program, but it's notjust arts, It's, it's there's
a very strong like, stem stuff
Elle Billing (06:07):
okay.
as well. It's a selectiveenrollment school, which, in
this school system, like youhave to take a test to get in
and to have like a good GPA inmiddle school and stuff like
that. I don't know, they'vechanged some of the requirements
(06:28):
to get into selective enrollmentschools. But I got to go see
one of your shows overThanksgiving when I was there.
And I was super impressed withlike the quality of the
production,
Nat Cummings (06:41):
which one is that?
Elle Billing (06:43):
Wait Until Dark?
Nat Cummings (06:44):
Oh, yeah!
Elle Billing (06:46):
Yeah. Well, it was really neat.
Nat Cummings (06:47):
That was a good show.
Elle Billing (06:48):
And I'd seen that one done professionally before.
And so like, I was trying totemper my expectations, because
I'd seen it done professionallyin Idaho. And I was like, Okay,
this is a high school show.
Like, you've seen this before,but like, these are teenagers.
And it was so good. Yeah, thiswas really good. Like I-- the
fight choreography was-- I wasreally impressed by how they
(07:08):
handled it with high school kids
Nat Cummings (07:11):
for, like fight choreography and stuff, we have
like a professional come in andtrain us because we are just
teenagers.
Elle Billing (07:19):
Exactly. Yeah. And that. Wait Until Dark was pretty
intense. But I was like, soexcited. Because I knew what was
coming and your parents didn'tknow. It was like hehehhe this
is gonna be so good.
Nat Cummings (07:30):
It was really good. I really liked that show.
The run crew that run crew forit was fairly small, which was
disappointing. But that's okay.
I was on the run crew for thisshow. For Failure. I also
switched from props to scenicfor this one too.
Elle Billing (07:47):
Oh, so, you got to do a little bit of a lot of the
crew.
Nat Cummings (07:50):
I also worked on puppets.
Elle Billing (07:51):
Oh, you'd worked on puppets? Yeah,
Nat Cummings (07:53):
I worked on the puppets for failure as well. So
like I was kind of doing propsand scenic.
Elle Billing (07:58):
Have you done costumes?
Nat Cummings (07:59):
I haven't worked on costumes. I'm friends with
people who are on our costumescrew. But I whenever I have to
like so for something --Iironically, I tend to get burned
out of it really quickly.
Elle Billing (08:15):
Now I understand what that's like.
Nat Cummings (08:18):
Yeah, I would have gotten so sick of costumes
honestly.
Elle Billing (08:22):
I understand. But that kind of brings me to what
we were going to talk about. Youknow, also today is you didn't
do costumes for for The YoungCompany, but you do a lot of
cosplay. So you have experiencewith putting together characters
(08:42):
and developing costume designs.
And so is it okay, if we talkabout that for a little bit?
Nat Cummings (08:51):
Yeah.
Elle Billing (08:51):
Okay, cool. So do, do you remember your first con?
Nat Cummings (08:57):
I-- Not really. I remember going to like C2E2
like, relatively every year as akid, but I also don't remember
the first time because all ofthose years kind of jumbled
together. Jumble Together. Ireally I think the only one that
I really remember is that one isthe the-- I think is the one
(09:20):
that you were there for-- whereI was dressed as Fiona from
Adventure Time and like thevoice actor for you were there
for that right?
Elle Billing (09:29):
Yeah, yep, that's one
Nat Cummings (09:31):
the voice actor for Finn and Princess Bubblegum
were both there. And I don'tthink it was my first time going
to C2E2. Because the first timeI had gone I probably hadn't
even considered, I didn't evenknow cosplay was a thing I don't
think, and I probably wasn'tvery aware of what was going on
around me because it was the conconventions are very
(09:55):
overwhelming.
Elle Billing (09:57):
But the one were you dressed as-- What was the
character again? Sorry, Fiona.
Nat Cummings (10:03):
Fiona.
Elle Billing (10:03):
Yeah, that was my first Con was when we went to
C2E2. And I was alsooverwhelmed. It was so exciting,
like just the energy and youwere so excited to dress up. And
I was so disappointed that Ididn't have a costume because
like I hadn't planned for it.
But it was just really inspiringto be around all these people
(10:27):
who were dressed up. And Iheard-- I just got so many ideas
and wanted to go back and Idon't --have I gone back to
C2E2? I don't think I have--I've been to Denver Comic Con.
But I don't think I ever made itback to Chicago.
Nat Cummings (10:42):
Yeah, I really like going to Cons like they're
super overwhelming. But it'snice. Like the community is
nice. Just knowing thatcommunity exists. Like a super
nerdy community.
Elle Billing (10:55):
Yeah. So do you want to tell me a little bit
about, like some of yourfavorite? Some of your favorite,
like characters or costumes thatyou've done? Since you got--
because you're pretty. I mean,that was, you were like nine I
think when we went to C2E2together. And you're going to be
18 next week.
Nat Cummings (11:15):
Yeah,
Elle Billing (11:16):
this week, I guess when once this releases, so
you've had several years ofexperience.
Nat Cummings (11:22):
Tomorrow once this releases, so what were
Elle Billing (11:25):
some of your favorites that you've done over
the last half your life?
Nat Cummings (11:28):
Um, most of the time when I've gone to cons in
cosplay. It's been ones that momhas helped me work on. Because,
you know, I didn't know how tosew yet. Or like I knew how to
sew, I was just scared of sewingmachine. And I started-- that's
(11:48):
that basically ended once Istarted taking my fashion class.
But I haven't actually like madeall that many full ones of my
own. Just because like the thetime that I started getting that
skill was also quarantine andconventions aren't really like
that, you know,quarantine-friendly places.
Elle Billing (12:11):
True.
Nat Cummings (12:12):
Like people barely wear deodorant there, man. You
think they're gonna wear masks?
Elle Billing (12:17):
No, they're not.
Nat Cummings (12:18):
They're not unless it's part of the character then
they will.
Elle Billing (12:21):
Yeah.
Nat Cummings (12:22):
But I remember.
Obviously the Fiona one. I wasreally memorable. I really
enjoyed that one.
Elle Billing (12:29):
Oh, the hat was so cute I couldn't handle it
Nat Cummings (12:31):
I still I still have it. It still fits. I think
I also really enjoyed dressingup as Link. It was a Halloween
costume for me originally. Andthen I just rewore for a
convention in Fort Wayne. Ithink it was Fort Wayne. I
remember seeing another personwho was also dressed up as Link,
(12:55):
all grown up and we got apicture together and it was so
nice. And I don't actually knowwhat that picture is anymore.
But it was fun. I was very happy
Elle Billing (13:01):
that that happened when I was in Denver and I was
dressed as Holtzman fromGhostbusters and I would see
another Holtzman and there wasalways like that hey, moment of
like [??]
Nat Cummings (13:10):
It's always like the Spider Man meme. Whenever
you see someone dressed up asthe same character that you're
dressed as
Elle Billing (13:15):
Yep,
Nat Cummings (13:16):
Spider Man cosplayers themselves always do
that. If because there's alwayslike a billion SpiderMan.
Elle Billing (13:21):
Yep.
Nat Cummings (13:22):
And they always do that at cons, especially if
there's a meetup. I really likedthat Link one though. Because
when I dressed as Link forHalloween, like barely anybody,
like I went trick or treating,barely anybody got the
character. And some people justconfused me for Peter Pan.
Because of the hat.
Elle Billing (13:42):
Oh, I can see that.
Nat Cummings (13:44):
Like, we went to this one guy's house. And like
this older guy was like, Are youPeter Pan and this younger guy
who was clearly his son waslike, No, dude, it's Link from
Legend of Zelda. But that didnot happen at at that one
convention. It was a very corememory that I think that was a
point where I knew that I wantedto do cosplay as a hobby more.
(14:05):
And then I think the first onethat I tried to make completely
by myself was a character calledParty Poison. Which is like it
was like a My Chemical Romancething. Because the there was
there's this concept that-- Imean, they all have their albums
are concept albums-- but theit's this concept album called
(14:27):
Danger Days, which is like, it'slike post apocalyptic and it's
set in like a desert inCalifornia. And like, there's
this main city where dystopianstuff happens and then there's
the desert outside where likecool stuff happens.
Elle Billing (14:42):
Okay,
Nat Cummings (14:43):
and all of the people like all of the people in
this desert are like, try to besuper colorful and like as what
is it called? When everything'slike the same?
Elle Billing (14:54):
When everything's the same like hegemonic? Are you
looking for a big fancy word orlike Just a really easy word.
Nat Cummings (15:01):
I don't know what I'm looking for, but like their
Elle Billing (15:03):
conformity?
Nat Cummings (15:04):
Yes. Okay. Yeah.
Elle Billing (15:06):
So like anti conformist.
Nat Cummings (15:08):
Yeah. And so they all they make up these like,
really cool names and they havelike really bright colors and
stuff and Party Poison is theone that Gerard Way was. And he
has like red hair and stuff likethat and a cool motorcycle
jacket.
Elle Billing (15:23):
Okay, that would have been the year you were
asking for brightly colored wigsfor Christmas. Probably,
Nat Cummings (15:30):
I don't remember.
But I remember that one. It waskind of like haphazardly put
together because I didn't reallyknow what I was doing. But I
still enjoyed it.
Elle Billing (15:39):
Yeah, that's really cool.
Nat Cummings (15:41):
That was also like, the month before
quarantine started. So it waslike, my first time making my
own little costume. And then Icouldn't really make any more of
them for like, you know, a fewyears. Yeah. And since then, I
haven't really made like a fullfull costume. I mean, I had
(16:01):
like, like, I was Crowley forHalloween --Crowley from Good
Omens for Halloween. And thatwas like a full costume. And I I
really liked that one. But Ihaven't really made a full one.
Or, like, completely tried tomake a full one until pretty
recently, actually. I mean,there was some little like
costumey stuff that I had doneover quarantine, and like I
(16:22):
would like I would have like,TikTok and stuff. And I would
like post stuff on TikTok. WhichI have now deleted. I have
deleted the app. Because, man,
Elle Billing (16:37):
it's easy to get sucked into that stuff.
Nat Cummings (16:39):
Yeah, there's like a huge cosplay community on like
Tiktok and Instagram reels andall that stuff.
Elle Billing (16:51):
Okay, so you have this internship at the Harold
Washington Library. And I knowit has something to do with like
their teen makerspace. But Idon't really know much else
beyond that.
Nat Cummings (17:04):
So it's, it's called the intern. Like the
internship itself is like thisthing called the Chicago Teen
Gamers Guild.
Elle Billing (17:12):
There we go.
Nat Cummings (17:13):
And the area that we work in is called YOUmedia,
which is like the teen, likehigh school teen area in the
library. It's got like gamingstuff, it's got a ton of manga.
And there's like sewing machinesand stuff in there. And like
it's, you know, library stuff. Ifirst found out about the
internship, because one of myfriends was part of it, my
(17:34):
friend Ren. And I would tagalong with them, sometimes the
library just because like I hadnothing better to do, the
library is cool. I just go tothe library. And I ended up kind
of sitting in a little bit onone of their like sessions or
like meetings. And basically,they would, they were working on
(17:57):
a bunch of cosplays of theirown. And all of them were like,
super chill. And I ended uphelping Ren out with their
cosplay a little bit, and justkind of hanging out. And, and
then their boss told me toapply. And so late last year, I
applied to it. And now Ren'sboss is also my boss. And I, I
(18:23):
actually told her about this,and she told me that I should
send it to her when it comesout.
Elle Billing (18:28):
Cool.
Nat Cummings (18:28):
So what I actually do is the Chicago Teen Gamers
Guild is like there's sub guildsin it. And all of those sub
guilds work together to put on agaming convention in June at the
end of June at the library. Andso there's like a bunch of
different sub guilds, the oneI'm part of is the cosplay sub
guild. But there's also one forcon planning. There's one for
(18:52):
like, there's a bunch of gamedesign ones that are scattered
all across the city at variouslibraries there. And they have
been working on like,interactive games and escape
rooms and stuff like that. Lastyear, they made board games.
This year, they're making escaperooms. So that's cool. There's
another one for Esports and theyorganize tournaments and stuff.
(19:14):
What the cosplay sub guild doesis we organize a cosplay
competition at the con. And weare the ones who are emceeing
it. We're not judging it oranything we have, like actual
judges.
Elle Billing (19:27):
That's good.
Nat Cummings (19:28):
We're also like, organizing a couple panels for
it. I think we're running one ofthem. That's like all about
cosplay. And like what we'velearned as we've worked on it,
and one of the requirements forthe cosplay sub guild is that we
have to make our own. And thenice thing about it is that I
get paid for it.
Elle Billing (19:47):
That's pretty rad.
Nat Cummings (19:49):
It is, because usually when you're a cosplayer,
you pay large amounts of moneyto do it all yourself.
Elle Billing (19:56):
It's a very expensive hobby.
Nat Cummings (19:58):
Yes, but for This one we were allocated a budget.
So some of stuff can getcovered. And I mean, we still
have to be careful with thebudgeting and stuff like that.
Because again, expensive hobby.
All the materials get prettyexpensive. But we have like, we
have our own 3d printers, wehave our own, like, we have a
(20:18):
Cricut machine, a bunch of thatstuff. We have sewing machines.
So we have ultimate, like thetools that we need to make
stuff. And then we also get ourmaterials and all of us make our
own cosplay. Which is, which ispretty cool.
Elle Billing (20:35):
That is pretty cool.
Nat Cummings (20:36):
Pretty rad. And then we have like two adults
there. Who makes sure everythinggoes smoothly.
Elle Billing (20:42):
I was just going to ask. So all of the guilds
just to clarify this, these areall teen, teen guilds.
Nat Cummings (20:49):
Yes,
Elle Billing (20:49):
these are all like high school students.
Nat Cummings (20:51):
Yes.
Elle Billing (20:52):
Putting on this entire game convention,
Nat Cummings (20:55):
led by adults
Elle Billing (20:57):
led by
Nat Cummings (20:58):
like guided, guided,
Elle Billing (20:59):
guided, like guided by adult
Nat Cummings (21:01):
kinda in a similar way that the young company is
student run, and stuff likethat. We'd still have adults who
make sure we don't like do wrongstuff,
Elle Billing (21:12):
break the law or burn down the school
Nat Cummings (21:15):
or not organized correctly and stuff like that.
Elle Billing (21:18):
Right. That that too. meet your deadlines.
Nat Cummings (21:20):
Yeah, yeah. So I basically have two bosses, one
of them's Amy, who actually likeworks at YOUmedia and is like a
librarian there and stuff likethat. And then the other one,
coincidentally, also named Ren.
That's the one that I that askedto listen to this. She is like,
gives a lot more of the advicefor making this stuff. Because
(21:43):
she's experienced, like runningpanels at conventions and
volunteering and making cosplaysof her own and stuff like that.
And so she, like, guides us andstuff with that. Yeah, it's
pretty neat.
Elle Billing (22:01):
That is neat.
Nat Cummings (22:02):
And all the people that I'm working with are like,
very nerdy, because it'scosplay.
Elle Billing (22:08):
Yeah, it's a certain it's a niche hobbyist
group, for sure.
Nat Cummings (22:12):
Yeah, it's it's very fun. I choose a very
Elle Billing (22:13):
If you're gonna go, go big.
ambitious character, that I'mcosplaying, but it's a character
from Genshin impact, which is ait's it's a gacha video game.
His name is Kobe, and thecharacter designs in Ginshin are
very complicated. And I'vemildly regret picking it.
Nat Cummings (22:31):
Yeah. I mean, it's a lot to work on. But it's it's
fun to work on. And also,because that's the hobby.
Elle Billing (22:37):
Yeah. When I was in Idaho, I had a friend at the
time who ran a, who had aphotography business. And he was
looking to expand his portfolio.
And he said, Hey, I'm gettingsome people together to do a
steampunk photo shoot.
Nat Cummings (22:55):
Oh, that's cool.
Elle Billing (22:56):
For free. I just need people in their costumes. I
need bodies and costumes. Andthen you will, you'll you'll get
the photos. I was like, ah, heckyeah. I mean, a free photo
shoot, and I get to bring my owncostumes. The problem was, I did
not at that point in time ownany steampunk costumes. That's
(23:20):
not a problem. I can sew. I'vebeen sewing since I was seven.
Okay, you know how much moneythis free photoshoot cost me.
Nat Cummings (23:29):
Large amounts of it
Elle Billing (23:31):
several hundred dollars invested in building
costumes. Because I was like,oooo I wanna go play.
Nat Cummings (23:40):
Yeah,
Elle Billing (23:41):
I made like two full costumes. Like,
Nat Cummings (23:45):
oh my god. And
Elle Billing (23:46):
then I get home at the end and I realized that I am
single. I live alone. Andsomebody else had laced me into
my corset. I couldn't get out ofit.
Nat Cummings (23:59):
Oh, no.
Elle Billing (24:00):
Oh, man. It was funny. Yeah, obviously I got out
of it because I'm not stillwearing it. Yeah, that would be
10 years is really a long timeto wear a corset
Nat Cummings (24:10):
and uncomfortable.
I'm sure I'm sure a lot of like,that's that's probably a very
universal experience withcosplayers, a lot of a lot of
them will use corsets and stuff.
Yeah.
Elle Billing (24:25):
So C2E2 is in just a couple of weeks.
Nat Cummings (24:28):
it's in one week,
Elle Billing (24:29):
in one week.
Nat Cummings (24:30):
It is next week.
Elle Billing (24:31):
Are you all like are all the gamers guild? The
team? What is it the teengaming, Chicago teen gamers
guild? Do--
Nat Cummings (24:40):
you can just say Interns?
Elle Billing (24:42):
Interns. Sorry. I wanted to be, wanted to be nice.
Nat Cummings (24:45):
It's ok, We call ourselves interns.
Elle Billing (24:47):
Okay. Are you all involved at C to E to this year?
Nat Cummings (24:51):
The nice thing about the internship is like
there's a like, there's a coupleof cons going on at like, in the
first half of the year that wehave field trips to, and we get
to go for free, which is likereally cool because oh my god,
these are expensive.
Elle Billing (25:06):
Yeah, free field trip. Yay. It's like being in
school when school was fun.
Nat Cummings (25:13):
I have fun in school. It's just like a lot to
do.
Elle Billing (25:17):
There's just a lot to do. Yeah.
Nat Cummings (25:18):
But there's, we have a table set up for the
library. And it's mainly theadults that are in charge of
running that. And then the restof us are kind of set loose to
experience being at a con. Likethe, depending on like, what,
like sub guild you're part of.
There's like different thingsthat they tell us to like, check
(25:40):
out and stuff like that. Thoseof us who were cosplaying were
meant to like talk to acosplayer. Ask them how they
made it, like take a picturewith someone, things like that.
And also, like get theconvention experience.
Elle Billing (25:55):
Yeah,
Nat Cummings (25:56):
our con is considerably smaller than C2E2.
Elle Billing (25:59):
Yeah.
Nat Cummings (26:00):
Because you know, library, but it's nice having
the experience of it and beingable to go for free. There's
also like a couple people, acouple interns who are part of a
panel I think, I don't actuallyknow everything that's going on
about that, because I missedthat week, because I was in
theater. Oops. Um, but there's,there's some people who are
(26:22):
doing running like a panel orbeing part of a panel. If the
cosplay competition washappening on Saturday, we would
probably be asked to go to thecosplay competition. But the
main portion of it is on Sunday,I think. And we're going on
Saturday. But yeah, it's it'sit's fun. I'm looking forward to
it.
Elle Billing (26:40):
That's good.
Nat Cummings (26:41):
I am not looking forward to the days leading up
to it, because I have a lot thatI need to work on.
Elle Billing (26:46):
Right. Before we hit record, you were talking
about con crunch. And thatwasn't a phrase that I'd heard
before. Is that what you'rereferring to? You're not looking
forward to the time before?
Nat Cummings (26:58):
Yeah.
Elle Billing (26:59):
Is it con crunch?
Can you tell us a bit aboutthat.
Nat Cummings (27:03):
So con crunch is basically it's a term that's
basically used to refer to like,like you you working on all of
the everything last minutebecause you might have
procrastinated it or somethinglike that. And you basically run
yourself like as close up to thedeadline as possible. Which I
(27:25):
have a lot going on, like Ithere's like a school event that
I'm going to the Friday before.
So like I obviously won't beworking like right up until the
night before. But for me, I havea lot of my life has been taken
up by theater in the past, liketwo months. So I haven't had a
(27:45):
lot of time to like work on thecostume that I'm going to have
for C2E2, who is different fromthe one that I'm working on for
the internship. Like the the onethat I'm working on right now is
like purely for the hobby. It'sen from Pokemon Black and White.
And thankfully, he has a verysimple outfit. There's just like
(28:06):
some alterations that he needsto make. And there's a lot of
stuff going on with his wig thatI need to work on. Thankfully, I
have free time again. So that's,I'm gonna end up working on
that, like, this week, up and upuntil C2E2. I mean, you know how
procrastination works?
Elle Billing (28:29):
I'm well aware, personally and with teenagers
because I was a high schoolteacher.
Nat Cummings (28:34):
Yeah.
Elle Billing (28:35):
And I used to be I and I was a teenager. What am I
talking about? You taught, youmentioned con crunch. And then I
was like so similar to Hell Weekwith theater, like the week
before opening but
Nat Cummings (28:46):
yeah,
Elle Billing (28:47):
when I was your age and younger, I was doing a
lot of 4H and other like, sewingcompetitions. And fair week,
like the week before, the Fairwas always frantic around our
house and talk about last minutethere were times where mom was
driving to the fair and we weresewing buttons on in the car.
Nat Cummings (29:10):
I have seen a lot of I've heard of a lot of
stories of cosplayers doingstuff like that, like a lot of
them will like a lot of peoplewill travel to go to a
convention, right and so they'llbook a hotel room. And because
we're all broke, it'll be like abunch of people in one hotel
room and there's like, I'venever experienced this. People
(29:33):
have had like, a bunch ofmiscellaneous crap supplies kind
of everywhere, like last minutesewing something together. Last
minute styling a wig literallylike the evening before, which
is that seems awful.
Elle Billing (29:49):
I think one of the things that's really different
or difficult too like cosplay,and like theater costuming, like
it just has to hold together andlook good from the outside. I
had, like when I worked in thecostume shop in college, or
like, they would get after mebecause I would take too long
because I was worried aboutlike, the quality of my
workmanship. And like, just ifyou can't see it from the back
(30:12):
of a galloping horse like, it's,it's from, you see it from a
distance, like, no one looks atthe inside of what you made and
just the outside. But like whenwe were driving to the fair, we,
like someone's gonna be lookingat the inside of this. They're
gonna be looking at how well Isewed on that button. I better
trim all my little threads. Makesure I did a good job. I mean,
(30:35):
imagine trying to put togetherYeah, I mean, it's it's similar
types of stress. Like yeah, Iwould have much rather have been
doing it the like the littlemore slapdash. Just make it look
good. Have fun doing it.
Nat Cummings (30:52):
I think craftsmanship wise, I most
people I think that's more oflike a bigger concern.
Specifically, if someone isentering in a costume like a
cosplay competition. Yeah.
Elle Billing (31:05):
And that's not to downplay the craftsmanship.
Sorry. Yeah. The of, of, of,like, really dedicated
cosplayers. Yeah, I've seen someincredible, incredible work at
the couple conventions I've beento. Yeah,
Nat Cummings (31:17):
it's of, I cannot.
It's so it's, it's cool.
Elle Billing (31:23):
It's just a completely different type of, of
making, yeah, than what I wasused to.
Nat Cummings (31:29):
And especially with, like, having ADHD at the
same time, makes that like, abillion times worse.
Elle Billing (31:36):
I am aware.
Nat Cummings (31:37):
You never know how long something's gonna take to
make. Or you just kind of ignorehow long it takes to make
something. And then surprise,it's stressful. It is.
Elle Billing (31:54):
So you you've done cosplay, you were part of The
Young Company and you did youdid scenic and props. You were
in, you took film class andfashion classes in high school.
How is all of this sort ofplaying into your future plans?
Nat Cummings (32:11):
I am planning on getting a degree for film, I've
actually made a decision now.
I'm going to DePaul for film atDePaul University. And so a lot
of that kind of like ties into,like visually designing a film,
I guess. Because like when itcomes to my fashion class, we
(32:32):
have to make a mini collectionand like that all has to be
cohesive visually in some way.
Or they have to tell a story orsomething like that. With
cosplay. It's like thecraftsmanship aspect. And like,
all these little details andstuff, or like being creative
with it like cosplay, whateveryou want it to be. The fun thing
(32:55):
about cosplay for it is you likekind of break down how things
get put together and stuff,which is helpful in that regard.
props for theater, I'm going tobe honest, did not enjoy that
very much. Just because it was alot of sitting and looking at
(33:16):
Amazon on the floor in thecorner of the back of the Arts
Building at my school, I gotkind of sick of it, especially
for our fall show or last fallshow. And that's part of why I
switched to scenic. Because Iwanted something that was a
little more hands on. I stillenjoy making props and stuff
like that. But I get moreenjoyment out of it when I'm the
(33:39):
one that's making it. And I'mmaking it for myself and things
like that. It's a little bitmore difficult when you kind of
have to figure out somethingfrom text, I guess, like the
skills that I learned prop wisein theater are helpful. I just I
(33:59):
love not doing that. And thenscenic was helpful in the way
that you learn like constructionand stuff like that you know how
things get built and puttogether. My fashion class also
helped a lot with learning howto actually construct things and
like so and not be scared of asewing machine and know how
different tools work and stufflike that. And it's a basically
(34:21):
I've just done a ton of visualstuff.
Elle Billing (34:26):
And all of it's part of that whole storytelling
package.
Nat Cummings (34:29):
Yeah. When it comes to film, like there's a
ton of things that you can do dowith film. Honestly, no idea
what I'm planning on doing.
Elle Billing (34:38):
You have time to decide.
Nat Cummings (34:40):
Well, yeah, and I can always probably jump between
things too. I've jumped througha lot in my film class of like
doing production design for onefilm, I've done cinematography
for another and the the filmthat I'm currently working on.
I'm the director for which iskind of like a little bit of
everything. thing and also likebeing in charge of it, which is
(35:03):
a little stressful. Um, it helpsa lot with like the practical
aspects, I suppose. And I'll belearning a lot more about the, I
guess less practical aspects. Idon't-- Well, practical as in
like physically like non digitalstuff. And then I'll be learning
more about the digital stuff incollege. Yeah, it's okay. It's
(35:29):
good hobby. And also, I just,I'm probably going to have, keep
cosplay as just a regular hobbyto do because it's fun to work
on. It's fun to dress up asthese characters from really
nerdy thing like shows and, andmovies and stuff. And even more
fun like with friends.
Elle Billing (35:49):
Yeah. Well, thank you for sharing all of that. And
thank you for being here.
Nat Cummings (35:52):
Yeah,
Elle Billing (35:53):
I for one, I'm excited to see what you do. And
be able to say that I knew youwhen, okay, know what I said, I
wasn't going to embarrass youand like do that thing where
like, I was going to treat youlike a regular guest and not
like family and now like, andnow I'm like, wanting to say I
knew you back when you were akid. And that's exactly what I
would say to somebody in myfamily. I'm sorry, I lied. I
(36:18):
tried. I really did. Well, let'ssee. We had cat barf. We had me
being embarrassing. Anythingelse. Anything else? I think
we're good. Thanks for beinghere. Nat. It was great.
Nat Cummings (36:34):
It's good to good as well.
Elle Billing (36:38):
Thank you for joining us on this episode of
Hoorf. To view the complete shownotes and all the links
mentioned in today's episode, orto get a full transcript of the
episode, visit Hoorfpodcast.com. That's H O O R F
podcast.com. Before you go, makesure you subscribe to the
podcast so you can receive newepisodes right when they're
(36:59):
released. And if you're enjoyingour podcast, I'd love to have
you leave us a review in Applepodcasts. Reviews are one of the
major ways that Apple rankstheir podcasts. So even though
it only takes you a few seconds,it really does make a difference
for us. Become a patron for $3 amonth you can support the
creation of this podcast, pay myeditor and join a community of
(37:22):
fellow caregivers out here justdoing our best. Thank you again
for joining me Elle Billing inthis episode of Hoorf. Until
next time, be excellent to eachother.
(37:48):
Hoorf is hosted by Elle Billing@elleandwink audio editing by
Ricki Cummings @rickiep00h musiccomposed by Ricki Cummings, who
are for the production of Elle &Wink Art Studio all rights
reserved. Hoorf Podcast can befound on social media channels
@hoorfpodcast at H O O R Fpodcast
Nat Cummings (38:13):
Oh! Bao!
Elle Billing (38:14):
is my cat being a dork?
Nat Cummings (38:16):
Yeah, I'm gonna go pick her up, one second. She
didn't want to be picked up; shejust kind of ran off.
Elle Billing (38:23):
She just wants to create mayhem.
Nat Cummings (38:26):
Yeah
Hi, my name is Elle Billing. I am a chronically
(00:02):
ill queer femme, and I'm tired.
I'm here this episode and everyepisode to dig at the roots of
our collective fatigue, exploreways to direct our care in
compassionate and sustainableways, and harness creative
expression to heal ourselves andour world. And welcome to
Hoorf-- Radical care in a latecapitalist heckscape.
(00:47):
My guest on this episode is NatCummings. Nat is a cosplayer
soon to be high school graduatein Chicago who has also worked
in various theater, fashion andfilm projects, and they are also
part of a teen cosplayinternship at the Harold
Washington Library. They plan onpursuing a film degree after
graduation. I'm really excitedto have Nat on the podcast with
(01:07):
me today. Welcome to Hoorf Hi,Nat, welcome to Hoorf
Nat Cummings (01:13):
Oh, hello.
Elle Billing (01:14):
Hello. I'm so excited to get you here today.
Nat Cummings (01:17):
Yay. Yay. I am also
Elle Billing (01:19):
Yay. I'm excited that you're excited. I have to
ask do you actually listen tothe podcast?
Nat Cummings (01:27):
Um, no. And I can't I kind of forget that it
exists until dad's editing it.
Elle Billing (01:35):
Yeah, that makes sense. You have a lot going on.
You're busy kid. Teen. You'renot a kid. You're a teen. Yeah.
Your birthday is I think the dayafter this episode comes out.
Nat Cummings (01:44):
So I'll be an adult then.
Elle Billing (01:47):
How do you feel about that?
Nat Cummings (01:49):
Umm haha.
Elle Billing (01:53):
Right? We kind of feel that way about you turning
18
Nat Cummings (01:58):
Yeah.
Elle Billing (01:59):
You know, you're you're graduating this year. Oh,
my god daughter is graduatingthis year. And it's just a lot
of like, we're not ready forpeople to be getting done with
school.
Nat Cummings (02:09):
I'm not either.
Elle Billing (02:12):
Yeah, I remember.
I remember being your age and bereally, really excited. I had
senioritis starting in my junioryear. And now I look back and
I'm like, you fool.
Unknown (02:23):
I have too much going on. In these next couple of
months to fall victim tosenioritis.
Elle Billing (02:30):
That's probably okay. Although the world is a
lot different now than it was 20years ago to
Nat Cummings (02:35):
Yeah,
Elle Billing (02:36):
I'm sure you hear us grumpy, geriatric Millennials
saying that all the time.
Nat Cummings (02:42):
A little bit,
Elle Billing (02:43):
maybe a little bit in here. But you have a pretty
good sense of humor about us, Ithink. So anyway, I'm excited to
have you here. For those whohaven't picked up on it in the
last, just a little bit ofbanter. Nat is the almost adult
(03:05):
teenager of my partner and co-producer Ricki who has been on
the podcast it is works behindthe scenes for this. And I'm
really excited to have them onthe podcast today. So I'm gonna
just kick off with the firstquestion, which is how have you
received care this week?
Nat Cummings (03:21):
I had therapy on Sunday.
Elle Billing (03:24):
Yeah, that's cool.
That's good.
Nat Cummings (03:28):
I still don't know how to answer this question.
Elle Billing (03:30):
Oh, that's okay.
All right. I started therapywhen I was 17. So, yeah, I get
that.
Nat Cummings (03:39):
A lot of recently has just been like kind of
chilling out after theater'sended because we just closed our
show. And we like tore down theset and everything like that.
And I suddenly have much morefree time.
Elle Billing (03:52):
Oh, I suppose that was the last show of this of the
season.
Nat Cummings (03:55):
That's the last show I'll ever have in high
school at least.
Elle Billing (03:59):
Yeah.
Nat Cummings (04:00):
Basically, I've just been like trying to like,
chill out since then. There's alot going on during that show,
just because of like theaterstuff. You know?
Elle Billing (04:11):
Yeah. Because theater.
Nat Cummings (04:14):
But yeah, I've been it's been I've been like
chilling lately, just because Ihave to lock in on a lot of
stuff soon. And work on a lot.
So like savoring the free timethat I have right now.
Elle Billing (04:29):
Right. So what was the show that you did? What was
the last one of the
Nat Cummings (04:33):
it was called failure love story.
Elle Billing (04:35):
Okay,
Nat Cummings (04:36):
which is set in Chicago in the 20s. And it's
about this family, the Failfamily. Their family owns and
like has a clock shop and stuffthat they run. And there's this
guy named Mortimer Mortimer,okay. He falls in love with each
of the sisters in this family,like one by one and as he does
(05:00):
that they all die by variousmeans,
Elle Billing (05:04):
oh goodness.
Nat Cummings (05:06):
The youngest one, which is the first one that he
falls in love with, has like astatue fall on her, on the day
that they're gonna get married,
Elle Billing (05:15):
oh my god,
Nat Cummings (05:16):
the second one dies because she tried to swim
across Lake Michigan, toIndiana, and basically falls,
like under the boat that'sfollowing her. And then the last
one dies of consumption.
Elle Billing (05:32):
Okay.
Nat Cummings (05:34):
It's like, mostly, it's a pretty light hearted show
until like, the the, towards theend, starts talking about a lot
grief and handling that andstuff. And like enjoying the
time that you had, like theexperience that you had. Very
fitting for a senior show.
Elle Billing (05:55):
It is that does sound really fitting. So you go
to an arts high school. Right?
Nat Cummings (06:01):
Well, it's, it's, I mean, kind of like there's a
good art program, but it's notjust arts, It's, it's there's
a very strong like, stem stuff
Elle Billing (06:07):
okay.
as well. It's a selectiveenrollment school, which, in
this school system, like youhave to take a test to get in
and to have like a good GPA inmiddle school and stuff like
that. I don't know, they'vechanged some of the requirements
(06:28):
to get into selective enrollmentschools. But I got to go see
one of your shows overThanksgiving when I was there.
And I was super impressed withlike the quality of the
production,
Nat Cummings (06:41):
which one is that?
Elle Billing (06:43):
Wait Until Dark?
Nat Cummings (06:44):
Oh, yeah!
Elle Billing (06:46):
Yeah. Well, it was really neat.
Nat Cummings (06:47):
That was a good show.
Elle Billing (06:48):
And I'd seen that one done professionally before.
And so like, I was trying totemper my expectations, because
I'd seen it done professionallyin Idaho. And I was like, Okay,
this is a high school show.
Like, you've seen this before,but like, these are teenagers.
And it was so good. Yeah, thiswas really good. Like I-- the
fight choreography was-- I wasreally impressed by how they
(07:08):
handled it with high school kids
Nat Cummings (07:11):
for, like fight choreography and stuff, we have
like a professional come in andtrain us because we are just
teenagers.
Elle Billing (07:19):
Exactly. Yeah. And that. Wait Until Dark was pretty
intense. But I was like, soexcited. Because I knew what was
coming and your parents didn'tknow. It was like hehehhe this
is gonna be so good.
Nat Cummings (07:30):
It was really good. I really liked that show.
The run crew that run crew forit was fairly small, which was
disappointing. But that's okay.
I was on the run crew for thisshow. For Failure. I also
switched from props to scenicfor this one too.
Elle Billing (07:47):
Oh, so, you got to do a little bit of a lot of the
crew.
Nat Cummings (07:50):
I also worked on puppets.
Elle Billing (07:51):
Oh, you'd worked on puppets? Yeah,
Nat Cummings (07:53):
I worked on the puppets for failure as well. So
like I was kind of doing propsand scenic.
Elle Billing (07:58):
Have you done costumes?
Nat Cummings (07:59):
I haven't worked on costumes. I'm friends with
people who are on our costumescrew. But I whenever I have to
like so for something --Iironically, I tend to get burned
out of it really quickly.
Elle Billing (08:15):
Now I understand what that's like.
Nat Cummings (08:18):
Yeah, I would have gotten so sick of costumes
honestly.
Elle Billing (08:22):
I understand. But that kind of brings me to what
we were going to talk about. Youknow, also today is you didn't
do costumes for for The YoungCompany, but you do a lot of
cosplay. So you have experiencewith putting together characters
(08:42):
and developing costume designs.
And so is it okay, if we talkabout that for a little bit?
Nat Cummings (08:51):
Yeah.
Elle Billing (08:51):
Okay, cool. So do, do you remember your first con?
Nat Cummings (08:57):
I-- Not really. I remember going to like C2E2
like, relatively every year as akid, but I also don't remember
the first time because all ofthose years kind of jumbled
together. Jumble Together. Ireally I think the only one that
I really remember is that one isthe the-- I think is the one
(09:20):
that you were there for-- whereI was dressed as Fiona from
Adventure Time and like thevoice actor for you were there
for that right?
Elle Billing (09:29):
Yeah, yep, that's one
Nat Cummings (09:31):
the voice actor for Finn and Princess Bubblegum
were both there. And I don'tthink it was my first time going
to C2E2. Because the first timeI had gone I probably hadn't
even considered, I didn't evenknow cosplay was a thing I don't
think, and I probably wasn'tvery aware of what was going on
around me because it was the conconventions are very
(09:55):
overwhelming.
Elle Billing (09:57):
But the one were you dressed as-- What was the
character again? Sorry, Fiona.
Nat Cummings (10:03):
Fiona.
Elle Billing (10:03):
Yeah, that was my first Con was when we went to
C2E2. And I was alsooverwhelmed. It was so exciting,
like just the energy and youwere so excited to dress up. And
I was so disappointed that Ididn't have a costume because
like I hadn't planned for it.
But it was just really inspiringto be around all these people
(10:27):
who were dressed up. And Iheard-- I just got so many ideas
and wanted to go back and Idon't --have I gone back to
C2E2? I don't think I have--I've been to Denver Comic Con.
But I don't think I ever made itback to Chicago.
Nat Cummings (10:42):
Yeah, I really like going to Cons like they're
super overwhelming. But it'snice. Like the community is
nice. Just knowing thatcommunity exists. Like a super
nerdy community.
Elle Billing (10:55):
Yeah. So do you want to tell me a little bit
about, like some of yourfavorite? Some of your favorite,
like characters or costumes thatyou've done? Since you got--
because you're pretty. I mean,that was, you were like nine I
think when we went to C2E2together. And you're going to be
18 next week.
Nat Cummings (11:15):
Yeah,
Elle Billing (11:16):
this week, I guess when once this releases, so
you've had several years ofexperience.
Nat Cummings (11:22):
Tomorrow once this releases, so what were
Elle Billing (11:25):
some of your favorites that you've done over
the last half your life?
Nat Cummings (11:28):
Um, most of the time when I've gone to cons in
cosplay. It's been ones that momhas helped me work on. Because,
you know, I didn't know how tosew yet. Or like I knew how to
sew, I was just scared of sewingmachine. And I started-- that's
(11:48):
that basically ended once Istarted taking my fashion class.
But I haven't actually like madeall that many full ones of my
own. Just because like the thetime that I started getting that
skill was also quarantine andconventions aren't really like
that, you know,quarantine-friendly places.
Elle Billing (12:11):
True.
Nat Cummings (12:12):
Like people barely wear deodorant there, man. You
think they're gonna wear masks?
Elle Billing (12:17):
No, they're not.
Nat Cummings (12:18):
They're not unless it's part of the character then
they will.
Elle Billing (12:21):
Yeah.
Nat Cummings (12:22):
But I remember.
Obviously the Fiona one. I wasreally memorable. I really
enjoyed that one.
Elle Billing (12:29):
Oh, the hat was so cute I couldn't handle it
Nat Cummings (12:31):
I still I still have it. It still fits. I think
I also really enjoyed dressingup as Link. It was a Halloween
costume for me originally. Andthen I just rewore for a
convention in Fort Wayne. Ithink it was Fort Wayne. I
remember seeing another personwho was also dressed up as Link,
(12:55):
all grown up and we got apicture together and it was so
nice. And I don't actually knowwhat that picture is anymore.
But it was fun. I was very happy
Elle Billing (13:01):
that that happened when I was in Denver and I was
dressed as Holtzman fromGhostbusters and I would see
another Holtzman and there wasalways like that hey, moment of
like [??]
Nat Cummings (13:10):
It's always like the Spider Man meme. Whenever
you see someone dressed up asthe same character that you're
dressed as
Elle Billing (13:15):
Yep,
Nat Cummings (13:16):
Spider Man cosplayers themselves always do
that. If because there's alwayslike a billion SpiderMan.
Elle Billing (13:21):
Yep.
Nat Cummings (13:22):
And they always do that at cons, especially if
there's a meetup. I really likedthat Link one though. Because
when I dressed as Link forHalloween, like barely anybody,
like I went trick or treating,barely anybody got the
character. And some people justconfused me for Peter Pan.
Because of the hat.
Elle Billing (13:42):
Oh, I can see that.
Nat Cummings (13:44):
Like, we went to this one guy's house. And like
this older guy was like, Are youPeter Pan and this younger guy
who was clearly his son waslike, No, dude, it's Link from
Legend of Zelda. But that didnot happen at at that one
convention. It was a very corememory that I think that was a
point where I knew that I wantedto do cosplay as a hobby more.
(14:05):
And then I think the first onethat I tried to make completely
by myself was a character calledParty Poison. Which is like it
was like a My Chemical Romancething. Because the there was
there's this concept that-- Imean, they all have their albums
are concept albums-- but theit's this concept album called
(14:27):
Danger Days, which is like, it'slike post apocalyptic and it's
set in like a desert inCalifornia. And like, there's
this main city where dystopianstuff happens and then there's
the desert outside where likecool stuff happens.
Elle Billing (14:42):
Okay,
Nat Cummings (14:43):
and all of the people like all of the people in
this desert are like, try to besuper colorful and like as what
is it called? When everything'slike the same?
Elle Billing (14:54):
When everything's the same like hegemonic? Are you
looking for a big fancy word orlike Just a really easy word.
Nat Cummings (15:01):
I don't know what I'm looking for, but like their
Elle Billing (15:03):
conformity?
Nat Cummings (15:04):
Yes. Okay. Yeah.
Elle Billing (15:06):
So like anti conformist.
Nat Cummings (15:08):
Yeah. And so they all they make up these like,
really cool names and they havelike really bright colors and
stuff and Party Poison is theone that Gerard Way was. And he
has like red hair and stuff likethat and a cool motorcycle
jacket.
Elle Billing (15:23):
Okay, that would have been the year you were
asking for brightly colored wigsfor Christmas. Probably,
Nat Cummings (15:30):
I don't remember.
But I remember that one. It waskind of like haphazardly put
together because I didn't reallyknow what I was doing. But I
still enjoyed it.
Elle Billing (15:39):
Yeah, that's really cool.
Nat Cummings (15:41):
That was also like, the month before
quarantine started. So it waslike, my first time making my
own little costume. And then Icouldn't really make any more of
them for like, you know, a fewyears. Yeah. And since then, I
haven't really made like a fullfull costume. I mean, I had
(16:01):
like, like, I was Crowley forHalloween --Crowley from Good
Omens for Halloween. And thatwas like a full costume. And I I
really liked that one. But Ihaven't really made a full one.
Or, like, completely tried tomake a full one until pretty
recently, actually. I mean,there was some little like
costumey stuff that I had doneover quarantine, and like I
(16:22):
would like I would have like,TikTok and stuff. And I would
like post stuff on TikTok. WhichI have now deleted. I have
deleted the app. Because, man,
Elle Billing (16:37):
it's easy to get sucked into that stuff.
Nat Cummings (16:39):
Yeah, there's like a huge cosplay community on like
Tiktok and Instagram reels andall that stuff.
Elle Billing (16:51):
Okay, so you have this internship at the Harold
Washington Library. And I knowit has something to do with like
their teen makerspace. But Idon't really know much else
beyond that.
Nat Cummings (17:04):
So it's, it's called the intern. Like the
internship itself is like thisthing called the Chicago Teen
Gamers Guild.
Elle Billing (17:12):
There we go.
Nat Cummings (17:13):
And the area that we work in is called YOUmedia,
which is like the teen, likehigh school teen area in the
library. It's got like gamingstuff, it's got a ton of manga.
And there's like sewing machinesand stuff in there. And like
it's, you know, library stuff. Ifirst found out about the
internship, because one of myfriends was part of it, my
(17:34):
friend Ren. And I would tagalong with them, sometimes the
library just because like I hadnothing better to do, the
library is cool. I just go tothe library. And I ended up kind
of sitting in a little bit onone of their like sessions or
like meetings. And basically,they would, they were working on
(17:57):
a bunch of cosplays of theirown. And all of them were like,
super chill. And I ended uphelping Ren out with their
cosplay a little bit, and justkind of hanging out. And, and
then their boss told me toapply. And so late last year, I
applied to it. And now Ren'sboss is also my boss. And I, I
(18:23):
actually told her about this,and she told me that I should
send it to her when it comesout.
Elle Billing (18:28):
Cool.
Nat Cummings (18:28):
So what I actually do is the Chicago Teen Gamers
Guild is like there's sub guildsin it. And all of those sub
guilds work together to put on agaming convention in June at the
end of June at the library. Andso there's like a bunch of
different sub guilds, the oneI'm part of is the cosplay sub
guild. But there's also one forcon planning. There's one for
(18:52):
like, there's a bunch of gamedesign ones that are scattered
all across the city at variouslibraries there. And they have
been working on like,interactive games and escape
rooms and stuff like that. Lastyear, they made board games.
This year, they're making escaperooms. So that's cool. There's
another one for Esports and theyorganize tournaments and stuff.
(19:14):
What the cosplay sub guild doesis we organize a cosplay
competition at the con. And weare the ones who are emceeing
it. We're not judging it oranything we have, like actual
judges.
Elle Billing (19:27):
That's good.
Nat Cummings (19:28):
We're also like, organizing a couple panels for
it. I think we're running one ofthem. That's like all about
cosplay. And like what we'velearned as we've worked on it,
and one of the requirements forthe cosplay sub guild is that we
have to make our own. And thenice thing about it is that I
get paid for it.
Elle Billing (19:47):
That's pretty rad.
Nat Cummings (19:49):
It is, because usually when you're a cosplayer,
you pay large amounts of moneyto do it all yourself.
Elle Billing (19:56):
It's a very expensive hobby.
Nat Cummings (19:58):
Yes, but for This one we were allocated a budget.
So some of stuff can getcovered. And I mean, we still
have to be careful with thebudgeting and stuff like that.
Because again, expensive hobby.
All the materials get prettyexpensive. But we have like, we
have our own 3d printers, wehave our own, like, we have a
(20:18):
Cricut machine, a bunch of thatstuff. We have sewing machines.
So we have ultimate, like thetools that we need to make
stuff. And then we also get ourmaterials and all of us make our
own cosplay. Which is, which ispretty cool.
Elle Billing (20:35):
That is pretty cool.
Nat Cummings (20:36):
Pretty rad. And then we have like two adults
there. Who makes sure everythinggoes smoothly.
Elle Billing (20:42):
I was just going to ask. So all of the guilds
just to clarify this, these areall teen, teen guilds.
Nat Cummings (20:49):
Yes,
Elle Billing (20:49):
these are all like high school students.
Nat Cummings (20:51):
Yes.
Elle Billing (20:52):
Putting on this entire game convention,
Nat Cummings (20:55):
led by adults
Elle Billing (20:57):
led by
Nat Cummings (20:58):
like guided, guided,
Elle Billing (20:59):
guided, like guided by adult
Nat Cummings (21:01):
kinda in a similar way that the young company is
student run, and stuff likethat. We'd still have adults who
make sure we don't like do wrongstuff,
Elle Billing (21:12):
break the law or burn down the school
Nat Cummings (21:15):
or not organized correctly and stuff like that.
Elle Billing (21:18):
Right. That that too. meet your deadlines.
Nat Cummings (21:20):
Yeah, yeah. So I basically have two bosses, one
of them's Amy, who actually likeworks at YOUmedia and is like a
librarian there and stuff likethat. And then the other one,
coincidentally, also named Ren.
That's the one that I that askedto listen to this. She is like,
gives a lot more of the advicefor making this stuff. Because
(21:43):
she's experienced, like runningpanels at conventions and
volunteering and making cosplaysof her own and stuff like that.
And so she, like, guides us andstuff with that. Yeah, it's
pretty neat.
Elle Billing (22:01):
That is neat.
Nat Cummings (22:02):
And all the people that I'm working with are like,
very nerdy, because it'scosplay.
Elle Billing (22:08):
Yeah, it's a certain it's a niche hobbyist
group, for sure.
Nat Cummings (22:12):
Yeah, it's it's very fun. I choose a very
Elle Billing (22:13):
If you're gonna go, go big.
ambitious character, that I'mcosplaying, but it's a character
from Genshin impact, which is ait's it's a gacha video game.
His name is Kobe, and thecharacter designs in Ginshin are
very complicated. And I'vemildly regret picking it.
Nat Cummings (22:31):
Yeah. I mean, it's a lot to work on. But it's it's
fun to work on. And also,because that's the hobby.
Elle Billing (22:37):
Yeah. When I was in Idaho, I had a friend at the
time who ran a, who had aphotography business. And he was
looking to expand his portfolio.
And he said, Hey, I'm gettingsome people together to do a
steampunk photo shoot.
Nat Cummings (22:55):
Oh, that's cool.
Elle Billing (22:56):
For free. I just need people in their costumes. I
need bodies and costumes. Andthen you will, you'll you'll get
the photos. I was like, ah, heckyeah. I mean, a free photo
shoot, and I get to bring my owncostumes. The problem was, I did
not at that point in time ownany steampunk costumes. That's
(23:20):
not a problem. I can sew. I'vebeen sewing since I was seven.
Okay, you know how much moneythis free photoshoot cost me.
Nat Cummings (23:29):
Large amounts of it
Elle Billing (23:31):
several hundred dollars invested in building
costumes. Because I was like,oooo I wanna go play.
Nat Cummings (23:40):
Yeah,
Elle Billing (23:41):
I made like two full costumes. Like,
Nat Cummings (23:45):
oh my god. And
Elle Billing (23:46):
then I get home at the end and I realized that I am
single. I live alone. Andsomebody else had laced me into
my corset. I couldn't get out ofit.
Nat Cummings (23:59):
Oh, no.
Elle Billing (24:00):
Oh, man. It was funny. Yeah, obviously I got out
of it because I'm not stillwearing it. Yeah, that would be
10 years is really a long timeto wear a corset
Nat Cummings (24:10):
and uncomfortable.
I'm sure I'm sure a lot of like,that's that's probably a very
universal experience withcosplayers, a lot of a lot of
them will use corsets and stuff.
Yeah.
Elle Billing (24:25):
So C2E2 is in just a couple of weeks.
Nat Cummings (24:28):
it's in one week,
Elle Billing (24:29):
in one week.
Nat Cummings (24:30):
It is next week.
Elle Billing (24:31):
Are you all like are all the gamers guild? The
team? What is it the teengaming, Chicago teen gamers
guild? Do--
Nat Cummings (24:40):
you can just say Interns?
Elle Billing (24:42):
Interns. Sorry. I wanted to be, wanted to be nice.
Nat Cummings (24:45):
It's ok, We call ourselves interns.
Elle Billing (24:47):
Okay. Are you all involved at C to E to this year?
Nat Cummings (24:51):
The nice thing about the internship is like
there's a like, there's a coupleof cons going on at like, in the
first half of the year that wehave field trips to, and we get
to go for free, which is likereally cool because oh my god,
these are expensive.
Elle Billing (25:06):
Yeah, free field trip. Yay. It's like being in
school when school was fun.
Nat Cummings (25:13):
I have fun in school. It's just like a lot to
do.
Elle Billing (25:17):
There's just a lot to do. Yeah.
Nat Cummings (25:18):
But there's, we have a table set up for the
library. And it's mainly theadults that are in charge of
running that. And then the restof us are kind of set loose to
experience being at a con. Likethe, depending on like, what,
like sub guild you're part of.
There's like different thingsthat they tell us to like, check
(25:40):
out and stuff like that. Thoseof us who were cosplaying were
meant to like talk to acosplayer. Ask them how they
made it, like take a picturewith someone, things like that.
And also, like get theconvention experience.
Elle Billing (25:55):
Yeah,
Nat Cummings (25:56):
our con is considerably smaller than C2E2.
Elle Billing (25:59):
Yeah.
Nat Cummings (26:00):
Because you know, library, but it's nice having
the experience of it and beingable to go for free. There's
also like a couple people, acouple interns who are part of a
panel I think, I don't actuallyknow everything that's going on
about that, because I missedthat week, because I was in
theater. Oops. Um, but there's,there's some people who are
(26:22):
doing running like a panel orbeing part of a panel. If the
cosplay competition washappening on Saturday, we would
probably be asked to go to thecosplay competition. But the
main portion of it is on Sunday,I think. And we're going on
Saturday. But yeah, it's it'sit's fun. I'm looking forward to
it.
Elle Billing (26:40):
That's good.
Nat Cummings (26:41):
I am not looking forward to the days leading up
to it, because I have a lot thatI need to work on.
Elle Billing (26:46):
Right. Before we hit record, you were talking
about con crunch. And thatwasn't a phrase that I'd heard
before. Is that what you'rereferring to? You're not looking
forward to the time before?
Nat Cummings (26:58):
Yeah.
Elle Billing (26:59):
Is it con crunch?
Can you tell us a bit aboutthat.
Nat Cummings (27:03):
So con crunch is basically it's a term that's
basically used to refer to like,like you you working on all of
the everything last minutebecause you might have
procrastinated it or somethinglike that. And you basically run
yourself like as close up to thedeadline as possible. Which I
(27:25):
have a lot going on, like Ithere's like a school event that
I'm going to the Friday before.
So like I obviously won't beworking like right up until the
night before. But for me, I havea lot of my life has been taken
up by theater in the past, liketwo months. So I haven't had a
(27:45):
lot of time to like work on thecostume that I'm going to have
for C2E2, who is different fromthe one that I'm working on for
the internship. Like the the onethat I'm working on right now is
like purely for the hobby. It'sen from Pokemon Black and White.
And thankfully, he has a verysimple outfit. There's just like
(28:06):
some alterations that he needsto make. And there's a lot of
stuff going on with his wig thatI need to work on. Thankfully, I
have free time again. So that's,I'm gonna end up working on
that, like, this week, up and upuntil C2E2. I mean, you know how
procrastination works?
Elle Billing (28:29):
I'm well aware, personally and with teenagers
because I was a high schoolteacher.
Nat Cummings (28:34):
Yeah.
Elle Billing (28:35):
And I used to be I and I was a teenager. What am I
talking about? You taught, youmentioned con crunch. And then I
was like so similar to Hell Weekwith theater, like the week
before opening but
Nat Cummings (28:46):
yeah,
Elle Billing (28:47):
when I was your age and younger, I was doing a
lot of 4H and other like, sewingcompetitions. And fair week,
like the week before, the Fairwas always frantic around our
house and talk about last minutethere were times where mom was
driving to the fair and we weresewing buttons on in the car.
Nat Cummings (29:10):
I have seen a lot of I've heard of a lot of
stories of cosplayers doingstuff like that, like a lot of
them will like a lot of peoplewill travel to go to a
convention, right and so they'llbook a hotel room. And because
we're all broke, it'll be like abunch of people in one hotel
room and there's like, I'venever experienced this. People
(29:33):
have had like, a bunch ofmiscellaneous crap supplies kind
of everywhere, like last minutesewing something together. Last
minute styling a wig literallylike the evening before, which
is that seems awful.
Elle Billing (29:49):
I think one of the things that's really different
or difficult too like cosplay,and like theater costuming, like
it just has to hold together andlook good from the outside. I
had, like when I worked in thecostume shop in college, or
like, they would get after mebecause I would take too long
because I was worried aboutlike, the quality of my
workmanship. And like, just ifyou can't see it from the back
(30:12):
of a galloping horse like, it's,it's from, you see it from a
distance, like, no one looks atthe inside of what you made and
just the outside. But like whenwe were driving to the fair, we,
like someone's gonna be lookingat the inside of this. They're
gonna be looking at how well Isewed on that button. I better
trim all my little threads. Makesure I did a good job. I mean,
(30:35):
imagine trying to put togetherYeah, I mean, it's it's similar
types of stress. Like yeah, Iwould have much rather have been
doing it the like the littlemore slapdash. Just make it look
good. Have fun doing it.
Nat Cummings (30:52):
I think craftsmanship wise, I most
people I think that's more oflike a bigger concern.
Specifically, if someone isentering in a costume like a
cosplay competition. Yeah.
Elle Billing (31:05):
And that's not to downplay the craftsmanship.
Sorry. Yeah. The of, of, of,like, really dedicated
cosplayers. Yeah, I've seen someincredible, incredible work at
the couple conventions I've beento. Yeah,
Nat Cummings (31:17):
it's of, I cannot.
It's so it's, it's cool.
Elle Billing (31:23):
It's just a completely different type of, of
making, yeah, than what I wasused to.
Nat Cummings (31:29):
And especially with, like, having ADHD at the
same time, makes that like, abillion times worse.
Elle Billing (31:36):
I am aware.
Nat Cummings (31:37):
You never know how long something's gonna take to
make. Or you just kind of ignorehow long it takes to make
something. And then surprise,it's stressful. It is.
Elle Billing (31:54):
So you you've done cosplay, you were part of The
Young Company and you did youdid scenic and props. You were
in, you took film class andfashion classes in high school.
How is all of this sort ofplaying into your future plans?
Nat Cummings (32:11):
I am planning on getting a degree for film, I've
actually made a decision now.
I'm going to DePaul for film atDePaul University. And so a lot
of that kind of like ties into,like visually designing a film,
I guess. Because like when itcomes to my fashion class, we
(32:32):
have to make a mini collectionand like that all has to be
cohesive visually in some way.
Or they have to tell a story orsomething like that. With
cosplay. It's like thecraftsmanship aspect. And like,
all these little details andstuff, or like being creative
with it like cosplay, whateveryou want it to be. The fun thing
(32:55):
about cosplay for it is you likekind of break down how things
get put together and stuff,which is helpful in that regard.
props for theater, I'm going tobe honest, did not enjoy that
very much. Just because it was alot of sitting and looking at
(33:16):
Amazon on the floor in thecorner of the back of the Arts
Building at my school, I gotkind of sick of it, especially
for our fall show or last fallshow. And that's part of why I
switched to scenic. Because Iwanted something that was a
little more hands on. I stillenjoy making props and stuff
like that. But I get moreenjoyment out of it when I'm the
(33:39):
one that's making it. And I'mmaking it for myself and things
like that. It's a little bitmore difficult when you kind of
have to figure out somethingfrom text, I guess, like the
skills that I learned prop wisein theater are helpful. I just I
(33:59):
love not doing that. And thenscenic was helpful in the way
that you learn like constructionand stuff like that you know how
things get built and puttogether. My fashion class also
helped a lot with learning howto actually construct things and
like so and not be scared of asewing machine and know how
different tools work and stufflike that. And it's a basically
(34:21):
I've just done a ton of visualstuff.
Elle Billing (34:26):
And all of it's part of that whole storytelling
package.
Nat Cummings (34:29):
Yeah. When it comes to film, like there's a
ton of things that you can do dowith film. Honestly, no idea
what I'm planning on doing.
Elle Billing (34:38):
You have time to decide.
Nat Cummings (34:40):
Well, yeah, and I can always probably jump between
things too. I've jumped througha lot in my film class of like
doing production design for onefilm, I've done cinematography
for another and the the filmthat I'm currently working on.
I'm the director for which iskind of like a little bit of
everything. thing and also likebeing in charge of it, which is
(35:03):
a little stressful. Um, it helpsa lot with like the practical
aspects, I suppose. And I'll belearning a lot more about the, I
guess less practical aspects. Idon't-- Well, practical as in
like physically like non digitalstuff. And then I'll be learning
more about the digital stuff incollege. Yeah, it's okay. It's
(35:29):
good hobby. And also, I just,I'm probably going to have, keep
cosplay as just a regular hobbyto do because it's fun to work
on. It's fun to dress up asthese characters from really
nerdy thing like shows and, andmovies and stuff. And even more
fun like with friends.
Elle Billing (35:49):
Yeah. Well, thank you for sharing all of that. And
thank you for being here.
Nat Cummings (35:52):
Yeah,
Elle Billing (35:53):
I for one, I'm excited to see what you do. And
be able to say that I knew youwhen, okay, know what I said, I
wasn't going to embarrass youand like do that thing where
like, I was going to treat youlike a regular guest and not
like family and now like, andnow I'm like, wanting to say I
knew you back when you were akid. And that's exactly what I
would say to somebody in myfamily. I'm sorry, I lied. I
(36:18):
tried. I really did. Well, let'ssee. We had cat barf. We had me
being embarrassing. Anythingelse. Anything else? I think
we're good. Thanks for beinghere. Nat. It was great.
Nat Cummings (36:34):
It's good to good as well.
Elle Billing (36:38):
Thank you for joining us on this episode of
Hoorf. To view the complete shownotes and all the links
mentioned in today's episode, orto get a full transcript of the
episode, visit Hoorfpodcast.com. That's H O O R F
podcast.com. Before you go, makesure you subscribe to the
podcast so you can receive newepisodes right when they're
(36:59):
released. And if you're enjoyingour podcast, I'd love to have
you leave us a review in Applepodcasts. Reviews are one of the
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it only takes you a few seconds,it really does make a difference
for us. Become a patron for $3 amonth you can support the
creation of this podcast, pay myeditor and join a community of
(37:22):
fellow caregivers out here justdoing our best. Thank you again
for joining me Elle Billing inthis episode of Hoorf. Until
next time, be excellent to eachother.
(37:48):
Hoorf is hosted by Elle Billing@elleandwink audio editing by
Ricki Cummings @rickiep00h musiccomposed by Ricki Cummings, who
are for the production of Elle &Wink Art Studio all rights
reserved. Hoorf Podcast can befound on social media channels
@hoorfpodcast at H O O R Fpodcast
Nat Cummings (38:13):
Oh! Bao!
Elle Billing (38:14):
is my cat being a dork?
Nat Cummings (38:16):
Yeah, I'm gonna go pick her up, one second. She
didn't want to be picked up; shejust kind of ran off.
Elle Billing (38:23):
She just wants to create mayhem.
Nat Cummings (38:26):
Yeah
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