I’m the mother of a young gamer, coder and artist. A girl who regularly constructs fantastical and realistic pieces out of foam mats and wooden skewers. She has battle scars on her hands from glue guns, exacto knives and the dremel, and she has been known to stay up all night to perfect a paint job on a homemade robot.

I am support staff. I work the household budget to encompass wigs and contact cement. I know every thrift shop in town, and what their stock is at any time. I schlep huge suitcases’ worth of costumes to hotels all over the region and stock the room with just enough sustenance to keep cosplay daughter (and best friend) going during sf, gaming and anime conventions.

As a cosplay Mom, I confess:

1. I don’t have a guest room any more. I have a craft room covered in foam, petrified hot glue and scraps of fabric.

1a. Glue, ink stains, fabric and accessories are not always confined to the craft room.

2. Yes, I do want your old and broken jewelry.

3. On my last business trip, I confounded the housekeeping staff by leaving a trail of tiny steampunk gears every day in my hotel room.

4. I once sent out an email at work asking for “a pair of legs to borrow.”

5. Sometimes, I wear elf ears.

6. A red-faced, horned demon and two stormtroopers attended my daughter’s last birthday.

7. I have, in the past, melted plastics in my gourmet gas oven.

8. I know what Hettalians are and I find them charming.

9. Half the time, I don’t know what my daughter and her best friend are talking about.

9a. They’ll be happy to explain, if I ask, but it usually doesn’t help.

10. I love being a cosplay Mom.