Cosplay Prop Making: Oversized, See-through and Generally Wacky

Rebecca Ryan

Rebecca Roberts Ryan, a native of Utah, transplanted to the East Coast, has been costuming and cosplaying for many years. Creative from an early age, costuming and cosplay were a natural fit for Rebecca, often making elaborate costumes for Halloween, movie premiers, and other occasions. After doing sewing-based costumes for many years, in 2013 she embarked on an ambitious “women in awesome armor” arc – including a Sister of Battle from Warhammer 40K, a Grey Warden from Dragon Age and the Empress from An Empress and the Warriors. Through a lot of trial and error, she has worked with a wide range of crafting media to make many costumes celebrating her love of TV, movies, comic books, video games and sci-fi. She’s even thrown in a few original designs! Known for her attention to detail, her intricate creations have won awards and acclaim nationwide – including Best Workmanship prizes at San Diego Comic Con, Salt Lake Comic Con and Katsucon. She has been a featured guest at several events and is always excited to talk to new cosplayers - to hear about their projects, brainstorm and help find solutions to #cosplayproblems. Her advice to anyone thinking about cosplay is always “Just start!” Rebecca believes that everyone has the ability to express their fandom through cosplay – but you won’t know how awesome that can be unless you start! She feels that the community building that comes from encouraging others and sharing knowledge is vitally important to the health and well-being of the cosplay community at large. Seeing others get fired up about cosplay is one of her favorite parts about going to events.