Valkyrie cosplay: Design and vest

     Bolstered by the success of Thor, I'm starting not one but two slightly more ambitious cosplays. The second one (more on the first later) is the character than Jane Foster became after putting down Mjolnir: Valkyrie. 

     First things first - I am not going to wear a spandex onesie as a base, because a) I'm not that in shape yet, and b) bathroom reasons. I've talked to many cosplayers who have said they just don't drink or use the bathroom when they cosplay, but that's not really an attractive option to me. So - top and leggings, and bathroom-friendly. 

A Way with Words

     When I was 16, I got my first job at the Virginia Renaissance Faire, working in the kitchens. It didn't take me long to figure out that I didn't like food service work (that's a different story), so the next year I worked as a Reveler- ie, unpaid local 'color.' We, the Revelers, were supposed to play the peasantry of the faire. Most of it wasn't bad: we got to interact with the locals, wash clothes in the river (and make as much mess and fuss as we wanted), and had a lot of time that was unsupervised with the injunction to go interact with people. Without a doubt, though, my favorite activity was the Maypole Dance.

     Twice a day, we got to go unwind the ribbons from the Maypole and teach patrons how to do maypole dances. I would occasionally be required to play the music on a recorder, if the musicians were late, but for the most part, I got to dance, weave ribbons, figure out the logistics of weaving and unweaving ribbons and bodies, and encourage people to join in. When it comes to dance, my antisocial tendencies vanish, so I had an absolute ball (pun intended).