#Comic-ConatHomeMasquerade

[vivsai]

Comic-Con@Home Masquerade Entry: VivSai 

Costume Title: Lady Loki in Armor

Costume Description: Original design

[comicconathome]

Comic-Con@Home announces the 2021 Masquerade Costume Competition Winners

Best in Show: "Valkyrie (Jane Foster)", crafted by The Queen’s Armory. Beautiful and with extensive hand-leather work that wowed the judges, it lights up, too! A stunning interpretation from the Marvel universe.

-as well as-

Winner: Frank and Son Collectible Show Award of $1,000.

Winner: The Costume Designers' Guild Spotlight Award, to include a costume design book, a $100 Amazon card, and more.

* The Judges' Choice Award resulted in a TIE of two very different costumes! *

Judges' Choice: "Obsidian Desert Queen Zagara", Broodmother of the Swarm from Heroes of the Storm, crafted by international Korean cosplayer MyBoo Cosplay

Judges' Choice: "Snow White", an original imagining of the joyful Queen's Happily Ever After, with exceptionally embellished historical design by Mandy Pursley / Be The Spark Cosplay

Best Re-Creation: "Arachne". Japanese artist and illustrator Sakizou's character cleverly and skillfully translated from 2-dimensional artist canvas to real life by Nina London Cosplay

Best Original Design: "Goodbye Beach City", a beautiful homage to Steven Universe, any way she turns, there’s a detailed story sewn into her dress! From Moria Magre/MinesOfMoriaCosplays

Best Workmanship: "Carlotta, from Phantom of the Opera", a highly detailed re-creation of Carlotta's Hannibal dress of the Broadway show, crafted wonderfully by Canadian Devon Baker / Komickrazi Studios

Most Beautiful: "Lady Loki in Armor", a striking original interpretation of the character in resplendent battle armor and impressive weapon too, designed and crafted by VivSai

Most Humorous: "Yo, Ho, Yo, Ho, A Batman's Life for Me". Perhaps in some alternate universe, Batman and Robin could be partying pirates? A jovial imagining by Jeanie Lopez, plus Lucas and Joe Queen

Best Group: "Lord Captain America and Iron Lady", an Avengers Masquerade, cleverly imagining two Marvel heroes in refined and elegant period costuming, as crafted by Miguel and Lucy Capuchino / Capuchino Cosplay

And some Honorable Mentions: Here’s a few entries just as loved by the judges that nearly won trophies. Even though they scored slightly lower than the top choices, they still deserve recognition for achievement:

Honorable Mention: "Gonk (gonk guh gonk gonk gonk)" a fun re-created screen-accurate Star Wars GNK power droid with moving parts, constructed by Kaiweevil

-as well as-

Winner: The David C. Copley Award for Most Innovative Costume: $500 in Amazon cards from UCLA’s Copley Center for the Study of Costume Design.

Honorable Mentions:

"Edgar Markov", (lower left) an armored character from the terror-rife gothic plane of Innistrad in the Magic the Gathering game universe, brought to you wonderfully by Kensadi / Kensadi Cosplay

"Varian Wrynn", (lower right) World of Warcraft's King of Stormwind and High King of the Alliance in amazingly constructed armor, from international Korean cosplayer Sin_Moon

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San Diego Comic-Con gives a big "Thank You" to the contestants for all their work and talent,

to the guest judges Jennifer May Nickel, Dr. Deborah Nadoolman Landis PhD, Garnet Filo, Allan Lavigne and Gigi Bannister for their time and expertise,

to Phil and Kaja Foglio for being our Masters of Ceremonies,

to the Frank and Son Collectible Show, the UCLA David C. Copley Center For the Study of Costume Design, and the Costume Designers' Guild IATSE 892 for their generous support of the event,

and to our convention friends & family both near and far for joining us online- until we meet again!

Learn more about our Guest Judges, Sponsors and 2021 Awards here!

[kaiweevil]

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GONK!

The GNK power droids, also known as gonk droids, are walking batteries found in the Star Wars universe. You know there’s a gonk droid coming when you hear the “gonk” sounds they make. They slowly trundle along and power vehicles and machinery as needed, sometimes picking up little hitchhikers along the way!

My gonk’s name is JNI-4. For some reason, I thought this costume was gonna be a quick and easy build. The main body of the costume was two large containers. The middle part is a 4 inch strip of aluminum that is riveted onto the top container. The two halves are held together by nuts and bolts and are able to separate for ease of transportation. The legs are aluminum ducting and the feet are 3D printed.

Everything else is 3D printed or scraps such as bottle caps and jar lids that are glued or screwed onto the body. There are several lights on the front and one on the side. On the front is a moving holographic projector that lights up in different colors. There is a little trap door where JNI-4 can give anyone that comes a little too close a shock! It’s also great for administering stickers and trinkets to kids. The left side has a moving gear, modified from a battery powered car toy. On the top you can see a moving antennae and an exhaust pipe that spews out smoke.

Everything was painted with the look of years of use in the deserts of Tatooine in mind. If you look on the back corner, you can see where JNI-4 got hit by a stray blaster shot. Poor little guy!

When it was all said and done, it certainly wasn’t a quick nor an easy build, LOL! I am glad how everything turned out and I look forward to making people smile at conventions and events with my little droid.

Credit to @miled._  for the awesome photos and video!

[shelliecutiepie]

“Raya and the Last Dragon”

Michelle Joy Princess Marimon Hedmond @ShellieCutiePie on Instagram

Re-Creation - Disney’s Raya and the Last Dragon

Hey! My name is actually Michelle and I’m from Nevada! I am Filipino and my family is from the Visayas islands. I used to live in The Philippines for high school and a year of college. I learned so much with working with our indigenous materials back then! From huge palm tree leaves, banana leaves, sticks, dried flowers, coconut husks, and more! I fell in love with working with what I have and what’s out in nature, it made me even more creative.

I hope you love my take on recreating Raya’s full outfit! I made my own hat with dead palm leaves straight from my own backyard. It was my first time making a foam sword and handling a dremel tool. The arm pieces are made of foam, thick shoe laces, twine, and puffy paint. I bought some boots that costed $13 and I cut it and made the tip of it sloping up, painted it, added foam for the center part. I painted all the props and boots all at the same time while each was drying, puffy painted details on my cape & blazer, and even made my own foam stamp for the blazer. I even made my own patterns. 

Faith is big in The Philippines. My parents raised me to learn the ways of our Lord, our God. I prayed to God that I could make and finish this costume and it was a fun and amazing experience overall! I’ve made and done things that I’ve never before! I spent less than $125 on this cosplay because I started with whatever I had at home first. My belt is made out of a handwoven wine gift bag that I cut up and puffy painted the designs. My pants I made from scratch with light green vibrant fabric that I already had at home, I dyed with brown and black rye dye in a bucket and hot water, dried in my backyard in this perfect summer heat to dry it up quick, and splattered it with water and spray to get that perfect Raya pants color! My top is sewn on the machine for the base part and then I draped and hand-sewn the pleats. By hand, I clay molded the dragon piece on my sword! Did embroidery for the first time too for the tip of my cape collar!

Raya And The Last Dragon was such a delight to see because I finally got to see a strong woman character who is Southeast Asian like me! Can’t wait for my future kids to watch it! 

Making this cosplay was definitely the most special one I’ve ever made. It is everything to me. That I put all of my talents, my faith, and my love into this, in a crunch of 8 days straight. I owe it all to God & I hope that little girls and boys who love Raya can look at this and know that with keeping our Faith and having it strong, Nothing is impossible. 

Photos and Video taken by my Husband, Robert <3 

All photo edits, video editing, hair styling my real hair, directing by me. 

I want to thank my Husband so much for motivating me to always do everything I love all at once and for believing in me. I love you forever!

I also wanna thank @nammai​ for inspiring me to make this & all the tips he gave me to start. I applaud his talents in costuming (and how fast he works) and hearing his podcast episode with @asiansewistcollective gave me that push to really go for my dream to make this cosplay.

#Comic-ConAtHome

#Comic-ConAtHome2021

#Comic-ConAtHomeMasquerade

[komickrazi]

2021 Comic-Con@Home virtual Masquerade

Devon Baker (Komickrazi Studios)

Costume Name: Carlotta

Costume Description: Phantom of the Opera Musical, Hannibal Scene (Re-creation)

This costume is a recreation of Carlotta’s Dress from the Phantom of the Opera’s Hannibal Scene.  It contains a Multiple layered skirt on a steel hoop frame.  Each Tab on the skirt was carefully embroidered with embroidery floss, sequins, and seed and bugle beads over the course of 4 months.  The bodice is fully boned and contains 4 layers of fabric (a satin liner, duck cloth, velvet and gold lace netting).  It was trimmed and beaded with an assortment of sequins, gems and plastic and glass beads.  The costume took approximately 300 hours of work to complete.

Creator Bio:

Devon Baker is a cosplayer from Canada.  She has been making costumes for over 20 years.  She loves nothing more than a spooky horror movie, a good cup of tea and maybe a musical soundtrack or two to sew to.

[masquerade-at-home]

Welcome to the Comic-Con@Home 2021 Masquerade!

Distinguished artists, writers, and publishers Phil and Kaja Foglio, Master and Mistress of Ceremonies for Comic-Con's and WonderCon's in-person Masquerades for many years, give you an introduction to our virtual contest in this short video before you enjoy the amazing costumes.

Don't miss any of the videos the contestants have included, some have important information and music. Anytime you see an arrow on a photo, click on it, and be sure your sound is turned on. Enjoy!

Learn more about our Categories, Prizes and Judges here

[julieta-ravencrest]

Julieta Ravencrest - Miss Ravencrest

- Costume Entry Title: Judgement Paladin

- Costume Description: Re-creation: Art by Weis 2008 World of Warcraft Judgement Blood Elf Paladin

- Bio: Hello! I am a cosplayer in British Columbia Canada! I do a game, anime, and art cosplay. Armor and props are what bring me joy. My husband is my amazing photographer!

The individual strands from the waist piece, each of the gold lining were initially hand stitched on and then sewn over to create a smooth look and avoid stretching.

This cosplay was made in two countries! When I lived down in California USA and finished after the move up to Canada.

[ninalondoncosplay]

Comic-Con@Home Masquerade Entry: Nina London Cosplay

Costume Title: Arachne by Sakizou

Costume Description: Re-Creation (from manga artist Sakizou)

This costume is entirely handmade.  

Starting at the top, the wig is actually three wigs cobbled together.  The fifth photo in this post shows the basic process: one wig forms the bottom layer, the middle is stuffed with pillow batting, and the remaining wigs have been styled around the batting in curls and tendrils.  The entire thing was sealed off with Mod Podge to endure many wearings.  All trim (ribbons, etc) were hand-styled and are permanently attached.  

As for the ruff, the third photo depicts the basic frame, which is made of 16 gauge wire covered in fabric, lace, and beads.  The ruff stays attached to the costume through wires that run down the front of the corset.  

The corset is the only piece of the costume for which I used a pre-made pattern, and I layered various pieces of lace and ribbon over the front to achieve the detailed effect.  

The bustle is actually two layers.  The base layer is simply there to give it that “pumpkin” shape.  Once I had that in place, I took several small pieces of satin and hand-sewed them directly onto the pumpkin to make the layered, bustly look.  

The train is delicate mesh, which I reinforced with water-soluble interfacing while I hand-stitched hundreds of beads into spiderweb shapes.  The bottom of the skirt is also cut with pinking shears and stained with arcyllic paint thinned out with vinegar for aging. 

#Comic-ConAtHome

#Comic-ConAtHome2021

[geekygirlfashions]

[capuchinocosplay]

Comic-Con@Home Masquerade Entry:

Capuchino Cosplay- Miguel and Lucy Capuchino

Costume Title:

Lord Captain America and Iron Lady in “Avengers Masquerade”

Costume Description:

Original Design by Lucy Capuchino

Photographer: Susana Clark ~ IG- susanavestige

Bio:

We are a married couple who have enjoyed designing and creating costumes together for at least 30 years. We love to come up with mash up designs and creations for conventions. However, our passion is mostly dressing up in various characters from different fandoms like; Star Wars, DC, Marvel, Disney and Peanuts; for children’s charity organizations and events.

[busterfett]

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Joe Queen

Yo Ho, Yo Ho, a Batman’s Life for Me!

Original Design

USA, Costumes worn and created by Jeanie Lopez; and Lucas and Joe Queen.  Video completed by Jessalyn Queen

Music by Tim Beek (timbeek.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

[child-of-irony]

In the days before Raava, the spirit of light and peace, met Wan, the man who was to become the first Avatar, she spent her days in the wilds, joyful and carefree.

Young Raava enjoyed the sunlight.

She delighted in the warm breeze.

She took in all nature had to offer.

 But what’s this? A dragonfly bunny spirit!

 Raava made a friend!

 These good times may not have lasted...But they were golden while they were to be had.

*this story is purely fictional and is not Avatar the Last Airbender/Legend of Korra canon.

   Comic-Con@Home Masquerade Entry: Kathryn Henzlere

 Costume Title: Raava’s Day Out

 Costume Description: Re-creation, The Legend of Korra (part of the Avatar The Last Airbender universe)

 The Raava costume/puppet is a combination of a wood, plastic, and wire frame, with a hand-painted fabric overlay which has a mesh panel for visibility by the wearer. The overlay has an outer layer of chiffon to add a ghost-like affect, with curling tendrils along the edges. When worn by a person instead of being used as a puppet, the costume includes a skirt, leggings, and split-toe shoes (the only part not made by hand). The Bumju plushie is made of fleece, felt, cotton batting, and faux fur, with wire and embroidered chiffon ears, button eyes, and a hook at the back for using it also as a puppet.

 Bio: Kathryn Henzler is an award-winning designer and creator of theatrical costumes, cosplay, skating costumes, and geek couture. She has exhibited at conventions and art museums and is a four-time Her Universe Fashion Show contestant. In her day-to-day, she is also a Japanese-English translator, composer/musician/audio engineer, actress, activist, archer, and adult figure skater.

 Direction: Kathryn Henzler

 Photo Credit: Elizabeth Emmert

[kensadicosplay]

Kensadi Cosplay Cosplay: Edgar Markov Costume Description: Character is from Magic the Gathering and is from the gothic plane of Innistrad which is rife with terrors, only some of which happen to be vampires. This cosplay took me roughly 8 months. It's difficult to really figure out how many hours because I worked on it off and on. 95% of the armor is EVA foam of varying thicknesses. The gauntlets are made of worbla's black art and is backed by worbla's fine art. The sword has a wooden ruler and foamboard as the base and is wrapped in worbla's black art. The chest piece is a heavily modified pattern by Cyreah Cosplay and the gauntlet pattern is by Guyton Armor. The rest I patterned myself. The skirt is made of a red velveteen. The cape is fully lined and made of an jacquard upholstery fabric remnant.

I'm from the US and I have been cosplaying for seven years now. Most of my cosplays are from Magic the Gathering. The artwork inspires me like no other franchise.

[horrorqueencosplay]

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- Horror Queen Cosplay

- Costume Entry Title: Winnie the Pooh

- Costume Description: This is a human redesign of Winnie the Pooh, based off of 1890′s women cycling/athletic garments. The costume is made out of wool, linen, and cotton. The purse, shoes, and base for the hat were the only things purchased. This costume includes hand embroidery, baby yoda fabric for lining, and my first attempt at a Victorian updo hairstyle!

- Bio: I am a United States/New Jersey based cosplayer since 2008. I adore late Victorian fashion too! In quarantine, it has been a delight diving into making my own garments based off them. As someone who has put together over 200 costumes, it is a dream come true to blend a childhood favorite/comfort with something that has inspired me as an adult!

[masquerade-at-home]

2021 Masquerade Awards and Judges

San Diego Comic-Con Category Awards

Graciously awarded by:

Our 2021 Masquerade Judges

Will be selecting a winner for each of the following categories: Best in Show, Judges’ Choice, Best Re-Creation, Best Original Design, Best Workmanship, Most Beautiful, Most Humorous, and Best Group.

All winners receive 2021 Masquerade Winners Medallions and complimentary tickets to San Diego Comic-Con 2022

Frank and Son Award for Most Outstanding Costume

$1,000 Cash Prize

Graciously awarded by:

The Frank & Son Collectible Show, of the City of Industry, California.  Frank and Sons is a giant one-stop show for all things collectible at their bi-weekly mini-cons and has supported fan costuming at our conventions with generous cash prizes for many years.

The David C. Copley Award for Most Innovative Costume

$500 in Amazon Gift Cards

Graciously awarded by:

The UCLA David C. Copley Center for The Study of Costume Design, judged and awarded by Copley Center Director Deborah Nadoolman Landis.

The David C. Copley Center serves UCLA TFT students, the university, the international community of historians, filmmakers and professional costume designers. The Center provides a home for the study of costume design history, genre research, costume illustration as an art form, and the influence of costume design on fashion and popular culture.

Costume Designers Guild Spotlight Award

Costume Design Book, a copy of  CDG Magazine, and a $100 gift card to Mood Fabrics, the largest online fabric store for designers and anyone who sews.

Graciously awarded by:

The Costume Designers Guild IATSE Local 892, representing Hollywood costume designers, assistant costume designers, and costume illustrators working at the highest levels of expertise in motion pictures, TV, commercials, music videos, and new media.

The CDG is part of the International Alliance of Theatrical and Stage Employees (I.A.T.S.E.)

Meet Our 2021 Masquerade Judges

Jennifer May Nickel

Is a Costume Designer for Television and Film.  Classically trained in theatre, Jennifer holds an MFA in Costume Design from Carnegie Mellon University and also studied in England at Oxford University (St. Edmund’s College: Myth and Ritual in Theatre). A proud member of the Costume Designers’ Guild Jennifer has won the Elizabeth Schrader Kimberly Costume Design Award, The Cecilia Cohen Award for Excellence in Theatre and The WCDAC Achievement Award

Her Television Costume Design credits include Neflix’s Cabin with Bert Kreischer and Taylor Tomlinson: Quarter-Life Crisis, the CW’s Containment, Fox’s What Just Happened??! with Fred Savage, Syfy’s TV movie Miami Magma, the History Channel’s Legend of the Superstition Mountains, TLC’s TV movie The Secret Santa and Nickelodeon’s The Massively Mixed-Up Middle School Mystery.   Jennifer has Costume Designed various CollegeHumor Originals, SMBC Theater’s hit web series Starpocalypse and pilots for E!, Nickelodeon, Relativity TV and CrisisLab.

——————————–

Deborah Nadoolman Landis, PhD

Costume designer, historian and endowed chair at UCLA’s School of Theater, Film and Television Landis is the Founding Director of the David C. Copley Center for Costume Design. Landis received an M.F.A. in costume design from UCLA and a Ph.D. in the history of design from the Royal College of Art, London. Her distinguished career includes Animal House (1978), The Blues Brothers (1980), An American Werewolf in London (1981), Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), Trading Places (1983), The Three Amigos (1987), Coming to America (1988), for which she was nominated for an Academy Award, and the groundbreaking music video Michael Jackson’s Thriller (1983). Now considered ‘classic,’ characters she has designed, like Indiana Jones, have become international cultural icons. Her costume designs are found in the collections of museums including the Smithsonian Museum of American History (Raiders of the Lost Ark, Indiana Jones), the Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame (Michael Jackson’s Thriller) and most recently, the National Museum of African American History and Culture (Coming to America).

A two-term past president of the Costume Designers Guild, Local 892, and a past-Governor of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences (2013-2018), Landis sits on the Board of the National Film Preservation Foundation. She is the author of six books including Dressed: A Century of Hollywood Costume Design, FilmCraft: Costume Design, Hollywood Sketchbook: A Century of Costume Illustration and the catalogue for her landmark exhibition, Hollywood Costume, which she curated at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London in 2012. The exhibition, a celebration of one hundred years of costume design history while showcasing the designers’ contribution and process, open just three months, with an attendance of more than 265,000 visitors, became the most successful exhibition in the long history of that museum. The show then traveled to Melbourne, Australia, Phoenix, Arizona and Los Angeles. Landis is the editor-in-chief of the upcoming three-volume Bloomsbury Encyclopedia of Film and Television Costume Design (2021).

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Garnet Filo

Is a Costume Designer with more than 40 projects under her belt. Recently she’s Costume Design assisted on several sci-fi series including The Orville and The Mandalorian; further developing her skills by working closely with their Costume Designers. Garnet has always been fascinated by the futuristic and the fantastic and her passion to bring these to life only continues to grow. She is the chairperson for the Costume Designers Guild I.A.T.S.E. local 892 Comic-Con committee.

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Allan Lavigne

Is a self-taught costumer, make-up special effects artist, sculptor, and [MJ1] painter with 40 years’ experience in costume fabrication Formerly a top costume winner for many years at fan conventions around the USA, including many San Diego Comic-Cons, he brings with him great insight from having honed his costume skills as an on-stage contestant himself. Since then, he has gone on to do work for Disney, Lucasfilm, Sony Pictures, and more. In his Bronze Armory studio, in the San Francisco Bay Area, he creates, lectures, and teaches.

His costume work has been exhibited in museums, at film premieres and at numerous conventions.   His current exhibit of screen-accurate motion picture and television costume reproductions “The Batman Armory” is featured at the San Francisco Cartoon Museum, requested by Warner Brothers to promote the new Batman encyclopedia: Batman: The Definitive History of the Dark Knight in Comics, Films and Beyond which Allan was technical advisor for. In a second gallery of the museum, his Wonder Woman costume re-creations accompany the featured exhibit about that character.

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Gigi “Fast Elk” Bannister (formerly Porter)

has been in the film industry for over 35 years as a SFX Artist, Director, Producer, and actor. Better known for her practical special effects and production work, Gigi is experienced on both sides of the camera. She has appeared in over a dozen films and television shows, and is a popular guest at horror conventions, film festivals, workshops, and seminars. For several years she has donated time at San Diego Comic-Cons to assist Masquerade contestants with their special effects make-up needs.

Gigi is credited as a Producer on Don Coscarelli and David Hartman’s “Phantasm V: Ravager” (2016) and Steve King’s “One For the Road” (2011) (Night Shift Anthology). As a character actor, she appeared in “Bloody Bloody Bible Camp” (2011), “Carnies” (2009), in “Small Town Saturday Night” (2009) (with Chris Pine, and John Hawkes), and again in Don Coscarelli’s “Bubba Ho-Tep” (2002) (Bruce Campbell, Reggie Bannister and Ozzie Davis). She has produced and directed on numerous projects including dozens of live events, fundraisers and seminars, six independent feature films, and six shows for television. More information on Gigi can be found on IMDb.

[perditaswardrobe]

10th Century Fantastic Beasts

by Ken Hazlett and Nat Lawson

Costume Description: Original design of the Hogwarts Founders from the Wizarding World of Harry Potter

Bio: We are cosplayers from Southern California who occasionally combine our cosplaying with our other pastime- surfing. 

The Case of the Missing Founder (CLOSED)

By Epiphelia Holmes

Abstract: Circa 1010 common era (CE), Salazar Slytherin, learned magicker, scholar, world traveler, and basilisk breeder, disappeared. All wizarding histories, including the penultimate source on Hogwarts, Hogwarts, A History (Bagshot, 1905), note that Slytherin disagreed with the other three Founders on the teaching of magic to the Muggle-born, and thus, left Hogwarts, angry and disillusioned. Through dogged research and exhaustive detective work, the author of this paper reveals the true fate of Salazar Slytherin, and surprisingly, the fate of Rowen Ravenclaw, utilizing the early enchanted and startlingly lifelike paintings of Grimhilde of Bingen and Hildegard of Bingen, as well as accounts from Slytherin’s own newly discovered journal for Year 1032, 33, revealing the magicker as an avid naturalist of Fantastic Beasts, who extensively traveled the various routes of the Silk Road with Rowen Ravenclaw, after Ravenclaw’s ‘death’. Additionally, this article presents new evidence regarding a second Ravenclaw diadem, created after the infamous theft of the original artefact.

Excerpt from Section 1.3 History of the Artists:

Note: Artist history is primarily sourced from Vasari, 1569, unless otherwise noted. 

Grimhilde of Bingen (b. 964 d. 1138), a most misunderstood woman of her time, largely due to an ungrateful stepdaughter widely known primarily for her snow white skin, was, in actuality, a writer, composer, mystic, and artist of the 10th century. Forced to leave her homeland, in the Rhine, due to the aforementioned stepdaughter and an unfortunate incident involving a huntsman and several angry miners, Grimhilde settled in the region of what is now Cornwall in England. Her many interests and skills led her to the creation of an enchanted paintbrush, which created paintings, so lifelike, they are nearly indistinguishable from the photographs of today. 

Although Grimhilde’s paintings and writings became well known in the Wizarding world, her scholarly pursuits were not her only passion and she married and bore one daughter, also an artist, composer, and mystic. Grimhilde’s granddaughter, however, was born a Squib, which may have been what drove her to successes even beyond her mother and grandmother. Hildegard of Bingen (b. 1098 d. 1179) returned to her grandmother’s homeland as a young adult and became a German Benedictine abbess, a writer, a composer, a philosopher, a mystic, a visionary, a polymath, an artist, and is considered among Wizards and Muggles alike, to be the founder of scientific natural history in the Germanic region.

Among their many accomplishments, Grimhilde and Hildegard painted several important wizarding figures of their day, most notably, Salazar Slytherin and Rowen Ravenclaw. Grimhilde completed a series of paintings of the pair between 1026 and 1028. Hildegard, who inherited the enchanted brush, also painted Slytherin and Ravenclaw, circa 1132. These paintings, which show the two Founders, reunited, after Slytherin’s disappearance and Ravenclaw’s death as the witch, Rowena Ravenclaw, are masterfully created and provide a number of interesting facts regarding Slytherin’s mysterious disappearance from the school and Ravenclaw’s supposed death of a broken heart. The series of paintings of Slytherin and Ravenclaw by the two artists is known in the Wizarding art world as the dual Bingen series.

Excerpt from 2.1 Archival Research:

[…] No one in the Kavalier family possessed an ounce of magic any longer and thus, no one over the ages was able to decipher the ancient text, largely written in a combination of Middle Irish, Old Norse, Latin, and a code, possibly based on spoken Parseltongue. The journal, a simple leather book labeled “MXXXII, MXXXIII, A.D.”, containing sketches of strange beasts, was an unreadable text among nearly two dozen aged tomes, and almost universally ignored by the family over time. Indeed, until the late 1980s, when Mr. Clay Kavalier, a graphic novel artist, discovered the sketches of the Fantastic Beasts in the journal and used them as an inspiration for his drawings, the book was almost never opened. Mr. Kavalier’s highly accurate depictions of various Fantastic Beasts, found in a Muggle ‘comic book’, led the author of this article to the Slytherin journal, carefully stored and preserved by the Kavalier family, now, of Orange, California, USA. The authenticity of the journal was verified by the Historical Records Department, Ministry of Magic, in 2020.

[…] The depiction of the diadem in the dual Bingen series has long puzzled wizarding scholars, as it is widely known and accepted that Ravenclaw’s diadem was stolen by Helena Ravenclaw and hidden, only surfacing during the reign of He Who Must Not Be Named in the modern era. The original diadem possessed an oval blue jewel and “was said to grant wisdom to the wearer” (Bagshot, 1905).  A description of the dual Bingen series diadem is included in Section 3.1; it is noted here, however, that the two artefacts are different. Considering the possibility that Ravenclaw crafted a second diadem, the author of this article researched Wizarding metalworkers of the 10th century, finally discovering among the preserved papers of Lillith Helmschmied, the most famous female Wizarding metalworker of the 10th and 11th centuries, a sketch of the diadem depicted in the dual Bingen series. Unfortunately, Helmschmied does not indicate if the new diadem possessed the same abilities as the original. If, as many scholars opine, Ravenclaw enchanted the jewel herself (Bagshot, 1905), it seems likely that the second jewel was also enchanted.

Excerpt from 3.1 Description of the Garb:

The dual Bingen series may be the most important depiction of any of the Founders completed to date. Not only is the garb consistent with 10th century fashions, and thus, likely representing one of the more accurate portrayals of the Founders, there are accents to the garb which offer insight into the Founders themselves. The paintings in the series were created nearly 100 years apart. Neither Founder appears to have aged between the sessions and both are garbed identically in all paintings in the dual series. There is agreement among experts that Hildegard likely created her paintings from sketches completed by Grimhilde. 

Salazar Slytherin left Viking occupied lands, in what is now Ireland, as a young adult, and the garb the Founder wears in the paintings reflects the Founder’s roots in Viking Age Ireland. Salazar is painted wearing a green dress over a léine; the dress is heavily embroidered with Fantastic Beasts, including a zouwu, a demiguise (both visible and invisible), a phoenix, a unicorn, a manticore, an occamy, and a basilisk, all done in the style of the Book of Kells. One of the embroidery designs shows a kelpie, which are known to live in Black Lake, at Hogwarts. Snakes are embroidered over a border of Celtic knot work that runs along the base of the dress. The top of the dress and the top of the léine are both decorated with lace that incorporates Book of Kells style snakes. Salazar also wears a green coat, adorned with still more snakes. The paintings indicate that the Founder preferred fancy Wizarding fabrics and possessed an almost excessive flair. The coat is pinned with metal brooches to show off the dress embroidery and like many items made at the time, the base of the coat is lined with fur. From the painting, it is not possible to definitively ascertain the type of fur, but magi-biologists generally agree that it is likely Bodmin Moorcat (Challenger, 1899, Mirza et al., 2018).

Rowen Ravenclaw, who originated from the Kingdom of Alba (now, approximately the lowlands of Scotland), is painted in traditional Anglo-Saxon garb. Like Salazar, Rowen also wears fancy wizarding fabric unavailable to the Muggles of the time. Celtic style ravens are embroidered on the sleeves and around the keyhole opening of the long tunica. Chain embroidery winds around the ravens. Celtic knot work is embroidered along the base of the tunic. Consistent with Anglo-Saxon fashions, Ravenclaw is wearing short pants tucked into high socks that are secured with ties. Ravenclaw’s simple silver band diadem is completely consistent with Muggle styles of the day and contains the Celtic phrase, “Cíall gan chiomhsa • Maoin mór duini”, in a version of Gaelic spoken in Alba. The phrase approximates “Wit without limit: great treasure of Men”. According to Helmschmied, the band is made of silver and the words are stamped into the band. The jewel is noted as a sapphire and it is also set in silver. Rowen’s rich cloak is decorated around the base with silver trim and it is worn draped, similar to a Roman toga. Generally, Rowen’s garb is less decorated than Salazar’s garb. It is thought among some scholars that the Founder of the Ravenclaw House was more reserved than his Slytherin counterpart. The dual Bingen series would counter this idea.

Excerpt from 3.2 Description of the Fantastic Beasts

There are few records regarding the Fantastic Beasts depicted in the paintings, which include an occamy and a basilisk. Salazar’s journal records the names of both beasts who appear in the dual Bingen series and notes that the basilisk was one of three successful hatchings. The occamy is called Ocarina and the basilisk is King George. The occamy could be of any age, as occamy will grow or shrink to whatever size to occupy space, an ability they possess immediately after hatching. The basilisk is clearly a youngster, as it is small and still has wings, as compared to the centuries old and massively huge wingless basilisk found in the Chamber of Secrets at Hogwarts in 1992. Salazar’s journal does not include any dates for the hatchings and says nothing about the other two successful hatchings. The journal also does not offer any information regarding how Slytherin, Ravenclaw, and Grimhilde of Bingen all lived beyond the sketching and painting sessions involving the basilisk. As breeding of basilisks is currently illegal and has been illegal for centuries, very little is known about them. Magi-biologists generally agree that the most likely scenario is that the beast had either not yet developed any of the paralyzing or killing abilities possessed by the Chamber of Secrets basilisk or he was able to control his abilities (Verne, 1863, Challenger, 1891). Opinion is split regarding whether the basilisk himself decided against rampaging during the sessions or whether Salazar was able to train the beast (Mirza, 2020).

Excerpt from Appendix 2, The Bingen Wizarding Collection

[…] and in 1947, Ginger Bingen, used the ragged and worn set of paintbrushes to create her own series of Wizard paintings of Slytherin and Ravenclaw. Ginger Bingen’s paintings incorporate the last of her many times removed Great Aunt Grimhilde’s sketches and notes of her sessions with the two Founders. Experts do not agree on whether the paintings accurately reflect the two Founders, as the paintings have only recently been made public. For one, many say, the Founders are speaking modern English. Although the paintings were rumored to exist, the Bingen Wizarding collection remained in private hands until 2017. That year, the four paintings below were stolen from the estate of the last Bingen by a self-styled modern-day Robin Hood and hung in the toilet of Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem (well known even among Muggles as the oldest pub in England), when the pub was closed for the night.  As there were no heirs to the estate and no will, and no one really owned the paintings or knew what to do with them, they were left in place at the pub and secured with heavy charms and curses.