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WonderCon@Home announces the winners of the 2021 Masquerade Costume Competition

Note that some winners are credited only by Tumblr accounts:

Best In Show: “Astra: Queen of the Frostborn”, a light-enhanced original design crafted by The Queen’s Armory.

Judges’ Choice: “Elphaba Act II Gown” from the Broadway musical Wicked, re-created in every detail by Shane Chandler (ShaneChandlerCostume).

Best Re-Creation: “The Ugly Stepsisters” A 2-person historical re-creation from Disney’s animated Cinderella, crafted by Devon Baker and Carrie-Lea Hoch (Komickrazi).

Best Original Design: “Cheshire Cat”, an original design inspired by Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland, designed and made by Nina London Cosplay.

Best Workmanship: “The Ur-Dragon” inspired by card art of the Magic: The Gathering game. Crafted by Kensadi Cosplay.

Best Presentation: “This Is Quarantine” a 2-person re-creation from The Nightmare Before Christmas, imitating famous paintings, crafted by Perditas Wardrobe.

Most Humorous: “The Infinity Gauntlet” An original design inspired by Avengers: Endgame, crafted by Adolfo “Ariel” Estandarte, (Ariel004).

The above winners will receive WonderCon@Home trophies, plus free attendee badges to WonderCon Anaheim 2022.  Also, the Best in Show winner Astra: Queen of the Frostborn will receive $500 in cash from Frank and Son Collectible Show, of the City of Industry, California.

Honorable Mentions:

Each of the 3 judges had a costume they liked very much but did not win.  Here then they are:

“Oscar François de Jarjayes from The Rose of Versailles”, a re-creation from a Japanese shōjo manga series, and crafted by Yugiri315.

“Elizabeth Swann from Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End”, re-created by Emily G. (GeekyGirlFashions).

“End Game Ironman” re-created from Avengers: Endgame, crafted by Capt Cash.

WonderCon gives a big thank-you to the contestants for all their work, to the guest judges for their time and expertise, to the Foglio’s for being our Masters of Ceremonies, and to Frank and Son Collectible Show for their generous support of the event!

Meet your 2021 WonderCon@Home Masquerade Judges:

Jennifer May Nickel

"What makes the art of Costume Design so thrilling is the opportunity to help tell a story and bring characters to life."

Jennifer May Nickel is a Costume Designer for Television and Film.  For television, Jennifer’s 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.

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 more extensive bio can be found on IMDb.

Gigi “Fast Elk” Bannister

SFX Artist, Director, Producer, Actor, Director, Gigi "Fast Elk" Bannister (formerly Porter) has been in the film industry for over 35 years.  Better known for her practical special effects and production work, Gigi is comfortable on both sides of the camera. She's 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's appeared in "Bloody Bloody Bible Camp" (2011), "Carnies" (2009), in "Small Town Saturday Night" (2009) (with Chris Pine, John Hawkes, Reggie Bannister, and Perry Anzilotti), and again in Don Coscarelli's "Bubba Ho-Tep" (2002) (Bruce Campbell, Reggie Bannister and Ozzie Davis), and many more. 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.

Allan Lavigne

Costumer, make-up special effects artist, sculptor, and [MJ1] painter with 40+years with credits from Lucasfilm, Sony Pictures, Disney, and more, his costume fabrication work has been exhibited around the world in museums, film premieres and numerous conventions.  His Bronze Armory studio is in the San Francisco Bay Area where he creates, lectures, and teaches.  His newest exhibit of screen-accurate motion picture and television costume reproductions “The Batman Armory” will be re-opening soon 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. Formerly a top winner for many years in fan costuming at many conventions, including San Diego Comic-Con, he brings with him great insight from having learned and honed his costume skills as a contestant himself.

Additional information about Allan’s work can be found at https://thebronzearmory.com

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Start here!  The Fogilo team, our usual Masters of Ceremonies for our Masquerade events, Phil Foglio, Kaja Foglio, and the invisible Victor Foglio, award-winning artists and writers from Studio Foglio, welcome you to the 2021 WonderCon@Home Masquerade!  Listen to them explain the show before you continue on!

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Astra, Queen of the Frostborn

WonderCon Masquerade Contest:  The Queen’s Armory

Costume Name:  Astra, Queen of the Frostborn

Costume Description:

Character Design and Concept

The idea for Frostborn came to me much like every other character I have designed– fully formed and in great detail, so complete that I struggled to sketch it down before it vanished.  All of my designs happen like this.  I can not force it. If I try to sit down and sketch something, I will accomplish nothing but a wasted afternoon.  But if I close my eyes and allow my mind to wander, I realize that a part of me I am not consciously aware of is constantly creating.  This is something I think all artists share.  We just can’t shut it off.

The idea of the Frostborn came to me fully formed on a cold morning.   I stepped out of my house at dawn on my way to work and was struck with the beauty the night had left behind.  It had been wet, a heavy fog that lingered to the dawn where the chill of night dressed the world in sparkling white frost.  The air was entirely still and the fog clung to the earth.  I gazed out in wonder.

I love fog.  It has a sort of magic, veiling the world we know, dressing it in mystery.  If you look hard enough, anything could be out there.  Castles, dragons, creatures made of ice and snow.  

A whole other world just beyond what can be seen.  

The Frostborn are a people, beings made of that frost, that fog, that cold and mystery.  Their queen is strong as ice, and just as beautiful.  Astra.  As her story came to me, playing out in my head, I knew that I had to make her real.  

She wore an armament of ice.  Solid plates, enchanted ice windows where magic glowed from within; a cold, shimmering blue save for her heart which shone a warmer hue.  Her crown was made of spires, shining with the glory of morning light on crystal icicles.  In her hands was a sword, Ice Breaker, which she held in reverence, for swords are made for war and are worthy of respect.  A cape made of ice crystals floated in the air behind her as she walked; snow unyielding, she made no footprints.

The design for Astra is entirely my own.  When I sketch (rarely doing justice to what I see in my head), I do it without any reference or outside influence.  What I create I want to be entirely my own.   I have more original designs than I will ever have time or money to make.  I am an armor nut.  I have studied medieval plate armor extensively (15th century Gothic Germanic is my kryptonite).  I have emailed museums for better photos so I could understand how it was constructed.  I know armor.  To me, armor is a beautiful, wearable art that is as deadly as it is fascinating.   I was so obsessed as a kid, I created scale models of plate armor out of sheet metal.  My passion has grown from models to designing full costumes for actual people to wear.

When I design a harness (suit of armor), I want it to be beautiful, but also practical, especially when designing for women.  Many modern interpretations of female armor, while beautiful in their own right, would be disastrous in battle.  

I wanted Astra, Queen of the Frostborn to wear a suit of armor that would actually do what armor is supposed to do– protect the wearer in battle.  For Astra, I wanted a design that was sharp, but harmonious.  The lines flow from one panel to the next, the points echo the sharp crystalline structure of ice.  

The Process of Bringing Astra to Life

It took approximately 1500 hours, spread over three years, to complete this armor.  As I write this, I am still adding to the design because, yeah, I can’t shut it off.  Some of my original sketches have seen better days, their corners torn and tattered, the pencil marks nearly worn away.  They show the passage of time in a way that is almost beautiful.  This character took everything.   I was obsessed and am somewhat hesitant to admit that I sometimes spent 18 hours or more on the weekends working on this.  My house was filled with the steady, staccato snap of a hammer hitting a metal tool as I hand-tooled the leather pieces.

Patterning

Patterning is extremely important.  Armor has to fit the wearer perfectly and move or it is useless in battle.  I create my patterns to fit my body precisely. Even ¼” off can make a difference.  That, coupled with leather’s annoying tendency to warp and stretch in unpredictable ways, can make for a frustrating endeavor.  Each piece has to be checked before and after tooling to see if it has warped outside of the pattern.  If it has, since the piece is already tooled, there is no way to “trim” it back as that would ruin the overall design and the meticulously crafted border.  I have a box of “rejects” that stretched too much.  There are ways to minimize this; proper casing helps, but the more traditional methods such as temporarily gluing a piece down to something stiff requires intense glue (that gives off pretty strong fumes) and really isn’t practical for larger pieces.

Joints and sliding plates have to be carefully constructed, and I went through many, many hours of trial and error before landing on a solid, functional design.

The gauntlets were the most challenging as they have over 100 individual sliding plates.  I am extremely happy with them though, as they are fully articulated and move easily.  The knees, elbows and shoulders are of a similar design and I can climb stairs and move freely.

Materials

I have asthma and am extremely sensitive to chemicals.  Basically, if it has a strong odor or gives off fumes, I can’t safely work with it.  Foam (heated), Worbla, contact cement, spray paint, pretty much everything traditionally used in cosplay is off limits to me unless I want to wear a respirator for however many hours it takes to complete the project.

That’s what got me started in leatherworking.

I can not honestly recommend it (but I do all the time because I have come to love it so much).  If done right, it is one of the most temperamental, time consuming things that you can do.  Yet the results are gorgeous and unlike anything created with other materials.  Tooling leather is expensive and one hide (being a natural product) is never consistent to the next.  One hide may tool beautifully, another may leave you weeping because it will not tool at all.  It is picky.  

The leather must be wetted down to the exact moisture level (referred to as “casing”) and kept there for however many hours it takes to tool that piece, and it can take all day to complete tooling on a larger piece.  Too wet and your impressions will be sloppy and may not take, too dry and you won’t leave any impression at all but will most definitely ruin your leather.  There is no “forgiveness” in leather.  If you cut wrong or put a line where it shouldn’t be, it’s there forever.  Still, I absolutely love working with leather.

There are 307 individual pieces that make up this armor.

Tooling

There are literally thousands of scales on Astra’s armor, and every scale was stamped individually by hand with a tiny tool and a hammer.  To put that in perspective, I used about two whole hides or around 92 square feet of leather.   My stamps were about ¼” at the smallest and about ½” at the largest.  This process is mind numbingly repetitive but must be done carefully as each scale has to line up exactly to the next.  If you mess up, there is no way to erase it.  If one scale tilts to the side, this creates a compounding effect so that when you reach the bottom of your piece, all the scales have gone wildly off center (remember the box of “rejects”; yes, it is very full).  

I had custom stamps made by a metalsmith  so I could tailor the size of the stamp to the size of the plate.  Note how the tiny scales on the gauntlets are the same design as the larger ones on the cuirass (chest armor).

To make a border, you must first case your leather, scribe your line, then cut it with a swivel knife.  Then comes the fun part– beveling.  Beveling is my enemy, but much like income taxes, it must be done.  To bevel an edge, you take your beveling tool and your hammer and strike the tool…and strike the tool, and strike the tool, moving along your cut line in tiny ⅛ to ¼ inch increments.  This process takes literally forever and sometimes I cry, like you know, determined cry, but still cry.  My Fitbit thinks I’m riding a bike when I do beveling.  

I then go around each border with a tiny texture tool to blend it out, then again with a larger texture tool to create the effect of frost reaching inward from the edges.

Finishing the edges

To create a nice, smooth rounded edge, you must use a tool that cuts a tiny amount of leather called an edge beveller (not to be confused with a line beveller, totally different tool).  You run this around the outside of both sides of the leather, cutting little strings off to round the sharp edges.  There is some danger in this because it is really easy to cut too deep and end up ruining your edge altogether.  The edges are then dressed in a burnishing compound (it’s made out of bean gum, believe it or not) before you use a little slotted wooden tool to rub all along the edge vigorously until the raw edge polishes and rounds nicely.  There are a lot of edges!

I also cut all of my own straps for this armor as good ol’ metal tongue buckles and leather straps will never fail you.  Even if you sometimes wish they would at the end of the day when you are exhausted and sweaty and just “want it off”. (Thanks, Mom, for extracting me from so many costumes…)

Tooling is the most time consuming part of creating leather armor.  Tooling even a tiny piece takes hours; larger pieces require days of work.  Then there are occasional setbacks.  Just when you think you’re almost done, the leather dries out a little too much (because you forgot to mist the dang thing every ten minutes) and your stamp slips and leaves a hideous, malformed impression.

Oh, and you still have 250+ pieces to tool.  Fortunately, as I have become more skilled, mistakes have become much more rare!!

Painting

I wanted Astra’s armor to shimmer like snow on a cold morning.  I used around two liters of paint and countless bottles of sealant.  I am very fortunate to have found a company that manufactures low VOC water-based leather paints that I can safely work with.  Painting is a long, meticulous task that could be considered a form of torture.  300+ pieces.  Each finished with two coats of white (on the borders) two coats of light turquoise, one coat of blue shading, two coats of white shimmer and three coats of sealant.  That is over 3000 coats of paint/sealant applied to finish all the pieces of this armor.  With wee little brushes, tears and green tea fueled determination.

Are there paint splatters still on my ceiling?  Yes.  Yes there are.

It was all worth it.  Photos do not do the color justice. It glows in a chilly hue of turquoise that shimmers beneath a “frosting” of sheer white.

Lights

There are around 300 mini LED lights on Astra’s armor.  I went through a lot of design ideas to come up with the panels.  I wanted them to glow like enchanted ice, and you can see in the photos how that effect worked out. The lights refract behind a film that looks like shards of ice.  Also note how I suspended a snowflake in each “window” to help diffuse the light.  I am not an electrician, and these I struggled with, but the costume wouldn’t have been right without them.  I worked the switches and battery packs into the design.  Some of the snowflakes are actually switches that you turn.  I used all cool white LEDs except for the panel that covers the heart, because I wanted that to be warm.  She is a queen of cold, but she is still a queen and to rule you must do so with heart, even if that heart is made of ice.

Construction

Nothing is glued.  Glue is fast.  Glue is easy.  Glue will fail me at just the wrong moment.  I have learned the hard way that everything done in leather (being a heavy, stiff material) has to be either riveted or hand-sewn.  If you’ve never tried to hand sew 8oz tooling leather…actually, yeah, just don’t.  There’s a reason sewing machines designed for this cost thousands of dollars.  

Many pieces were painstakingly (heavy emphasis on pain) hand-sewn.  Rivets have to be placed in exactly the right spot to allow for pivoting and sliding of the plates.  There are over 500 rivets.

Clothing/Undergarments

I created the skirt using two layers of fabric, sewn and carefully hemmed for a finished look. Note how it’s silky blue on the outside and sparkling snowflakes on the inside.  The high/low design allows this effect to peek out subtly as I walk. The corset was also made with a silky blue fabric and a sheer, special effect overlay to give it a frosted look.  Beneath the corset, she wears a sheer blouse that I made from an icy white fabric to represent a garment of frost.

The cape pattern was made entirely by me.  It is sewn of two different colored fabrics in cascading panels to create a wispy, color changing effect.  I also hung snowflake crystals off of the upper layer for some sparkle.

Lining

Originally I lined select pieces for comfort but over the winter I took the entire armor apart, rivet by rivet, and added a full lining.  I chose a metallic reflective material that echoes the icy theme.

Props

Astra wields a sword, Ice Breaker, which is another original design, carved and constructed from Plexiglas with hundreds of translucent, hand cut scales to detail the dragons. It is lit with LEDs to create the appearance of enchanted ice. Many, many hours went into the sword with most of the work done with powertools. Her backup is a morning star, created out of a clear tube, resin ice shards, LEDs and snowflakes for the chain and ball. I wanted it to look both beautiful and deadly.

Her belt has a flask of glowing, magic water (blue Gatorade, because yeah, cons are hot), a pouch for snacks, and a pouch for a music speaker because it feels really good to be walking with epic music playing.  Also attached is a pouch for a magical device that may or may not be my phone.

Embellishing

Astra’s armor is decorated with countless snowflakes, icicles, rhinestones and tiny details that you have to really look closely to appreciate.

Arming/How the heck do you get into that?

There is a very good reason why medieval knights had a “squire” to help them prepare for battle.  While I designed the armor to be as easy to get in and out of as possible, I still struggle to do it all on my own.  I am extremely blessed to have a supportive family who not only follow me to conventions but also help me get in and out of costumes.

WonderCon@Home Sign

I had some leather and paint leftover from creating the armor so I designed my own version of the WonderCon@Home logo to use in my video.  I also wired in some LEDs so it would not only match my armor in color and design, but light up like my costume too.

Quick Facts

Time to complete:  About 1500 hours spread over three years.

Main materials:  2 whole hides or around 90 square feet of tooling leather, 25 buckles, 500+ rivets, waayyy too many rhinestones (some are shaped like snowflakes!), fabric, acrylic and a whole lot of paint.

Individual parts:  307

Weight:  About 48 pounds, but it’s spread over the body like real plate armor so I don’t really notice it.

Bio:  I am an aspiring costume artist living in the rural midwest.  I have created many cosplay sets to portray my favorite Marvel characters, but my real passion is in design and I hope to one day go into costume design professionally.  I love armor and have studied medieval plate armor extensively.  I enjoy creating characters and designing armor and have a huge folder of designs that I hope to bring to life one day. I work primarily in leather, which is one of the most time consuming, temperamental and unforgiving materials, but the results are gorgeous, unlike any other medium can achieve. I love attending our local (small but awesome!) conventions and hope to attend some of the larger Cons one day.  

Photo/Video credit goes to my amazing, unstoppable, long suffering, supportive Mom.  Thanks Mom, you really are the best.

The Frostborn:

There are stories of the North… quiet voices, reverent tones, words carefully chosen as if speaking the name would summon their fears.  A chill whispers into the room like a ghost wandering the graves.  Voices quiet.  The stories resume.  Barren lands, cursed by God; so blasphemous that even the sun has forsaken them, they wear a crown of lingering night and spires of unyielding ice. A twisted paradigm where the water of life becomes death; a sharp, draining cold that steals warmth, breath, heartbeats, until all is solid and unmoving, eternally preserved.  It is a land not made for those who live.   No one returns from the North.

There is a reason for this.

We are the echo of ice from the mountains, the glacier’s mournful cry.  We are the footprints that go nowhere, yet are ever behind.  We are the first snow– beautiful, consuming cold that warps everything that is and creates a world of its own.  We are the final breath of life that inevitably yields to the chill of death.  Where all is ice and snow and cold, we are. We are the Frostborn.

And by the time you feel the chill, it will already be too late.

Thanks for reading!!!

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WonderCon Masquerade Contest: Prue Dense, Kai Leigh Bowen, and Kasie Pullan Costume Name: Every Eligible Maiden is to attend the Ball Costume Description: (Recreation Category) All three costumes are made from scratch down to the bloomers and shaping undergarments! Anastasia and Drizella are based specifically off the old Disney parks design, down to all the gold accents. The design researching, fabric sourcing, and construction for them took about 5 months to be perfect for the ball. Cinderella’s dress was made in 14 hours from clearance bin fabric… to emulate the mice’s work like the movie 😉 Cinderella’s dress to rags transformation is done through the magic of Velcro! A new skill we had to learn for this was doing spiral curls wig styling. We tried both steamers and boiling methods to get the perfect curls under our handmade headpieces.

Bio: We are three cosplayers based out of Arizona and Utah! Our friendship began out of a mutual love of cosplaying our favorite animated Disney characters. Prue learned how to sew specifically for cosplay in 2016, but Kai and Kasie have been cosplaying princesses since 2014. These costumes were the first time any of us have worked with organza and it will be our last 🤣 Our favorite part is the ripping action of Cinderella’s transformation, it’s so fun hearing the tearing sound with the Velcro.

Cosplay Instagrams

Cinderella: @Prue_Ductions

Anastasia: @Kaileighbow

Drizella: @Kasaundracosplay

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2021 WonderCon Masquerade@Home - Victorian Poison Ivy

WonderCon Masquerade Contest: Catherine M. Fisher of Cat Designs Unlimited

Costume Name: Victorian Poison Ivy

Costume Description: My favorite character to cosplay all dressed up as a woman of class from the late 1800s!

I haven’t been costuming as much this year as I should be and while I was half expecting there to be a WonderCon Masquerade@home like last year’s Comic Con Masquerade@home, I was still taken by surprise to get the email on March 12 announcing we could submit WC Masquerade entries.  Like last year for SDCC 2020@home, it took me a while to figure out what to make in such a short time that would still be Masquerade worthy.  St. Patrick’s Day was coming up and I don’t know if all that green had anything to do with it, but the idea of a Victorian Poison Ivy popped into my head and I knew she was meant to be my entry this year! I’ve done many incarnations of Poison Ivy (my favorite villainess of all time), and Victorian Poison Ivy is definitely up there as one of my new favorites. I’m better known for my sexy leggy costumes, but after my first foray into period costuming thanks to Gaslight Gathering 2011, I developed a taste for the beautiful formal gowns of the Victorian era and knew one day I’d make a fancy formal version of everyone’s favorite redhead vamp, and this year’s WonderCon Masquerade@home was just the inspiration I needed to make it happen!  I’m very pleased with how this turned out even if it’s a little different than I originally envisioned it to be.  I had originally planned on glittering a TON of ivy leaves and trimming the gown with a variety of glittered leaves, but once it was made, I decided that in Victorian Poison Ivy’s case less is more, and chose to use a few leaves here and there as accents.  Glitter is one of my favorite mediums, and no Poison Ivy costume is complete without a pair of glittered emerald slippers, so I got my glitter fix that way.  There was a lot of fabric involved (9 yards for the gown and 6 yards of netting just for the bustle), a lot more hand sewing than I’d anticipated and in the end, it was 100% worth the extra effort bring Victorian Poison Ivy to life!  I made this gown in about 24 hours over the course of two and a half days, and while she may not show as much skin as my other versions of Poison Ivy, I still feel incredibly sexy sashaying around as Victorian Poison Ivy – if you see her coming your way, you better watch out!!!

Bio: I’ve entered the SDCC Masquerade since my first year attending Comic Con (2005), and I entered WonderCon’s Masquerade from 2008 to 2013.  I was planning on entering back in 2019, but some outside circumstances prevented me from attending that year, so I was hoping to get back into the swing of things this year, but sadly WonderCon was postponed yet again, so this was a great way to jump back into the WC Masquerade scene!  I know this year’s entry isn’t as big or as fancy as some of my past entries, but I think she’s a great addition to an awesome array of entries this year, and as always, it’s an honor to be part of the Masquerade!

Be sure to follow @WonderConAtHome! 

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Dana Sabbe

Eowyn

Re-creation from Lord of the Rings movies

I made this from real leather. Took over a year. I made the scabbard, baldric, bracers, and body armor. I customized the helmet, chainmail, and boots. Loved every minute of it!

EOWYN

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WonderCon Masquerade Contest: Nina London Cosplay

Costume Name: Cheshire Cat

Costume Description: Original Design (inspired by film source)

Bio: “I’m not crazy.  My reality is just different than yours.”  Who among us hasn’t identified with these immortal words from Lewis Carroll’s Cheshire Cat?  And who better to bring this character to life than Tim Burton, perennial lover of all things that appear crazy to some, familiar to others?  This costume was entirely hand-constructed by the wearer.  The tail rests on a harness worn under the dress; its base is 12-gauge wire and quilt batting, and it is covered in fabric, artificial fur, crocheted yarn, and rhinestones.  The claws are made from poly foam caulk saver covered in brocade and rhinestones, and the mask is made from Worbla, wire, and weirdness. 

Photography: Alexandra Lee Studios

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WonderCon Masquerade Contest: Lance Ronald.

Costume Name: Cinderella's Ballgown

Bio: This was Lance's first ballgown. It took around 100 hours to make. Lance made all of the items and styled the wig themself. There are bloomers, a chemise and corset as the underwear, a hoop skirt three petticoats and the main skirt, as well as the bodice and bertha.

Thanks to my mom for helping me move my tripod around the backyard.

Note: The video has no sound

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WonderCon Masquerade Contest: Cassidy Wells

Costume Name: Elizabeth from Bioshock Infinite

Costume Description: Recreation of Elizabeth’s classic corset design from Bioshock Infinite. The costume took 19+ hours to make in quarantine. Combination of fabric on hand and velvet fabric purchased specifically for this costume. The corset contains spiral steel boning for maximum comfort. The choker was bought and the bird broach is an official licensed piece. Wig is styled by me as well. The “missing pinky” trick is done with a thimble and invisible string. The video itself was self filmed in quarantine in a confined space. 

Bio: Cassidy/Horror Queen Cosplay has been cosplaying since 2008. Bioshock is her favorite game series of all time and a personal comfort to play and replay. It is a dream of hers to finally find the confidence and time in quarantine to cosplay such an iconic and amazing character as Elizabeth.

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Sarah's dream ballgown 🔮

WONDERCON MASQUERADE

Josephine/RetroSnowWhite

Sarah's dream sequence gown 🔮

A fully-accurate re-creation from the movie The Labyrinth

✨My goal was 100% screen accuracy. Even the necklace clasp had to be the same. Everything was made by me except for the shoes and ring, including the patterns. I added human hair extensions, as well as lot's of "magic" to get my hair big. The makeup look is pretty simple, mainly purple eyeshadow and enhanced brows. The iridescent fabric is different between the skirt and bodice (it's very loud walking lol) CRUNCH CRUNCH. The muslin lining can be seen in a couple of the pictures. The outer organza skirt layer had to be dyed three times (the first time it caught on fire and I had to make a new one). Finding the lace for the skirt took a long time, as well as the outer bodice fabric. The bodice is constructed with no front seams, so all shaping is done on the sides. There is a lot of inside boning as well. Thanks to hd museum photos I could zoom in on every little detail and get each bead exact. There are so many different embellishments on this costume. Sequins, bugle beads, seed beads, stones, rhinestones, etc. It closes in the back with hook and eyes. The pouch on her skirt has lots of different stones, and I created the netting for it by cutting up a shower loofa. The necklace was especially complicated, it took quite a while. All the other accessories were overall pretty simple to do. I loved this dress as a kid, and I'm glad I decided to make it!

Music: While We Were Sleeping by Vermos

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Elphaba’s Act II Gown

Hey friends! This is my entry into the WonderCon Masquerade with my Elphaba Act II gown from the Broadway musical, Wicked!

Elphaba has taken just over 675 hours to date. Because of my love for earth sustainability I set out to make this gown out of completely recycled materials and fortunately I just about have accomplished that goal. The only things that were bought for the costume was the chiffon for the capes and the glass and wood beads that I used to hand bead the bodice.

The skirt is made of approximately 147 yards of 5” inch strips of fabric that were hand cut and ruffled onto the skirt which is actually a nine foot wide circle skirt made from an old table cloth. All of the patch work on the bodice was all hand stitched on and while this seems like an insane feat, which it was, they were hand stitched because at the time I was working for Disney and would spend about an hour to an hour and a half on the bus on my way to work so I would stitch away. I could also be seen still stitching on my breaks and lunches.

In addition the hat was of my own creation and was sewn by machine and was finished with a hand stitched bias binding with an Incased wire to help the brim hold it’s shape.

Great care was also taken in creating my makeup plot to go along with the costume. I did extensive research into Elphaba’s makeup in the show and am happy to say that I have sourced the official products used in the show and through practice was able to accurately recreate the show’s makeup plot for Elphaba onto myself.

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Comic-Con Masquerade Contest: Birdy Cosplay

Costume Name: Triss Merigold from Witcher III game Costume Description: Costume is made and modelled by me. I really adore Witcher franchise and that it’s inspired by medieval times. When creating costumes I try to stick to the original idea as much as possible. So for this costume I’ve used such fabrics as linen, suede, taffeta, woolen threads. The greatest challenge was to make Triss Corset- west. I’m really proud how it turned out. The  purchased parts are: belt and shoes buckles, buttons for gloves , buttons and loops for corset-west, the wig (I styled it myself). I also bought the pendant and shoes (shoe covers are made by me, I used purchased shoes only as a base).

Bio: Hey all, I’m from Lithuania and I started cosplaying 4 years ago. I love this hobby, as you constantly learn new things and meet new people. @ComicConAtHome

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WonderCon Masquerade Contest: Judith Harmon

Costume Name: Ethereal Lightfury

Costume Description: This is my interpretation of Sunset Dragon’s Lightfury design.

Personal Bio: Cosplay is an artform that I love and cherish, I love the moment of inspiration when a new costume idea comes my way. I have been sewing for so many years and enjoy the fun challenges that cosplay brings to me. Each project brings it’s own triumphs and challenges, and I am so excited to share my art with whomever I am able.

Photos Taken by: Nick Ferris

My Lightfury Journey: The first moment I saw this Sunset Dragon design, I was enthralled. I loved the idea of this beautiful creature being captured in such an interesting way. When I started planning out my interpretation of this design, I decided that I wanted a little bit more color and flow in how this was constructed. I thought about the traditional western dragon designs and loved the idea of giving her a scaled stomach, to give a contrasting color as well as an extra layer of shine. I decided to add flow to the skirt, shirt, and hood in my fabric choices, and added rhinestones EVERYWHERE! I found a lovely pink wig to go with this design, but it just didn’t have enough dimension for my use, I added wefts of white hair throughout to give the hair the look of highlights. My version of this design is in seduction mode, she hasn’t snagged her Toothless yet, but it’s only a matter of time

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WoW has dragon Aspects and I thought it would be fun to bring that to idea to Magic the Gathering Dragons. This is my Ur Dragon personified. This cosplay took me roughly 6-8 months complete. I patterned most of it myself with the exception of the gloves (pattern by Yaya Han) and corset (pattern by Firefly Path).

The filigree, small dragon heads, the dragon on the bust adornment and gemstones were cast by me from preexisting molds. The large dragon heads on the pauldrons were created by first creating the master out of monster clay and creating a mold by covering that in brush on silicon. I then cast the head and horns separately by slush casting them. I used epoxy to glue the horns to dragon head.

The larger gold piece of the bust adornment is eva foam covered in black worbla. The horns on the crown are pink foam covered in worbla’s fine art. Fabrics used are leather, vinyl, taffeta and cotton. The base of the armor is EVA foam. The wig is from Arda and I wefted in the cherry red and blue myself.

If you would like to see a more in depth video please refer to

https://youtu.be/so3W60ySg94

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WonderCon Masquerade Contest “Don’t put on the ring, Frodo!”

Michael and Ronald Bowler

Gandalf and Frodo

Recreation: Private Designers

Michael J. Bowler is an award-winning author of Teen and YA novels

Ronald J. Bowler is his son and an actor, primarily musicals and Shakespeare

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WonderCon Masquerade Contest: The Cow Driver from Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome

WonderCon Masquerade Contest: Maxwell James Scheller (That Guy With A Game Boy Camera) with Sandra Scheller

Costume Name: The Cow Driver from Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome

Costume Description: Re-Creation

Bio: I wanted to go for really obscure, so I went with this character from Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome. Very little is known about the Cow Driver. I don’t know who plays him. He shows up at about 82 minutes into the movie, he drives a vehicle covered in Cow print, and thrown out of the vehicle by Max (Mel Gibson). It is said that the vehicle actually appeared in The Road Warrior and was repurposed for Beyond Thunderdome with Cow Print.

The material for this costume came from some sort of faux fur Cow Suit that was on sale when a costume store was closing. My mother, Sandra Scheller, did most of the sewing, turning the material into a Jacket and Chaps. The material also covers a straw cowboy hat. The belt and paintball mask were found at a Swap Meet. Also wearing black boots.

Previously entered the Comic-Con 2020 at Home Masquerade as The McDalorian.

The Cow Driver shows up about 82 minutes into the movie. Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome was directed by George Miller, Costumes designed by the late Norma Moriceau, Mad Max is owned by Warner Brothers Pictures.

My mother sewing the costume.

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WonderCon Masquerade Contest: DAWN WASHINGTON

Costume Name: THE QUEEN OF HEARTS 

Costume Description: Original design -  imagine if the Queen of Hearts were real, and she wore a ball gown for a formal event… . I believe she would wear something like this!

Photo credit: Lyon Hart Photography, JR Vork Photography,  Julio Holgado Photography, Project MegaShip Cosplay Photography