Victorian Valkyrie

First a little mood music...

The valkyries of Norse mythology were the choosers of the slain, deciding life and death on the battle-field. They brought the dead to Valhalla to become einherjar, or to Freya's hall Folkvangr. Because Freya wasn't only goddess of beauty and fertility, she was also a goddess of war and had the right to half of those slain in battle, and why do people forget this, Freya is badass.

During the Victorian romanticism and national romantic movements the teutonic myths were brought into the spotlight again. Thanks to Wagner, most people associate opera with fat ladies in valkyrie costumes singing impossibly high in German. And that's sorta the kind of costume I want.

Source.

Source.

Bilde @ Ken Howard/Metropolitan Opera. Source.

It's interesting to see how the classic design has changed during more than a hundred years. The original Victorian design is fantasy medieval-ish with some Greek influence and has very little to do with the Viking age, so I'm going down the same road without a care for anything period correct. At the same time I'm going to use some period construction and borrow a few things from my viking wardrobe.

This is costume doodle #3 but I'm sure I'll change my mind about the design.

I forgot I was going to add decorations and started painting it a bit early. Oops. 

I've made a few things already. The iron age shoes are finished, and a little while ago I started on a pauldron in foam because I had some foam lying and I desperately needed a pause from wrestling with a pink corset. Whenever I do a project in foam and hot glue, I'm quickly reminded of my love for sewing,

The tree is supposed to be Yggdrasil, but it's based on a design of Telperion of the Silmarillion. Tolkien borrowed a lot from Norse mythology, so it's okay to borrow some things back.

And since it's not supposed to be used until Banzaicon in April,
it's keeping Iron Man company on my chandelier.

Iron Age Shoes & Hela's Crown

Beetlewings glued onto foam, nothing fancy. 

I have updated Hela's crown. The old one turned out too small and barely showed on the pictures. Hela will be my Halloween costume this year, so I'll add to it. So far I have plans of a flowing sheer and tattered cloak along with more embellishment on the dress - she is a queen.

Made my second pair of iron age shoes based on this tutorial. They will go to a valkyrie costume that will be used at conventions, so they're not exactly period correct. They're made from recycled pleather, taken from an old suitcase that didn't survive travelling with me. 

Since there was no need for period correctness, I put in grommets in the lacing. Hopefully that it will prolong their life. 

Linen thread for reinforcement and because it added detail.

Also pictured: my new needlebound socks. Comfy as hell.