For those in the Ghostbusters community that don't know me or only as Do_Ray_Egons on Instagram / Etsy I thought I should give a quick intro in to how all this started. I hate writing about myself so I'll try & keep this as short & interesting as possible!
I'm from Shropshire in the UK which is famed mostly for being the home to the worlds first bridge made of Iron which spans the River Severn and inspired the Shropshire Ghostbusters logo that I use. No river of slime passing under it now though thankfully!
I've always been a massive film fan thanks to my Dad (He also gave me a fascination into the psychology of serial killers but maybe that's for another time) but I think the era you grew up in is always going to be the best era to you personally. I was just lucky I grew up in the 80's & who can argue that wasn't a great decade for film? Batman, Robocop, Big Trouble in Little China, Goonies, Beetlejuice, The 'Burbs & anything with John Candy but Ghostbusters was always my film! God knows how many times I watched that old VHS tape before school! Was just something about the characters that resonated. They wasn't your regular hero's. They were just normal & geeky before being geeky was cool! They were also very funny even though I didn't get all the jokes until I was older.
Fast forward about 30 years (that's depressing!) & the running club I was in entered a team to do a 24 hour relay race at Belvoir Castle with the caveat we all had to do one lap as a super hero. Obviously I chose a Ghostbuster which I thought would be easy. That's when I started going down the rabbit hole! I managed to find a CWU/27P flight suit & ordered some patches from the Calgary Ghostbusters then cobbled together my own key fobs & belt gizmo. Come the race day it put so many smiles on peoples faces that despite attempting to run 10k cross country in British army boots I'd got the bug!
That's when I started going to cons & always looking to develop my equipment but the one thing I loved in particular was the leatherwork. Just something about being in the workshop listening to music & creating something from scratch & with that leather smell. After a few people asking where I got my fobs & holsters from I thought id try putting a few out on eBay & surprisingly they started selling. Knowing I was making things that were going on other peoples Ghostbusters cosplays around the world & getting good feedback gave me an even bigger sense of joy. So from a kid making the Firehouse mooglie sign for his bedroom wall out of an old cornflakes packet to that race to where we are today with this website!
Thanks to everyone I've ever met at a con or on social media or if you've bought something from me. I really do appreciate it. What a great community this is to be a part of! I love this Town!
