Wizard World Chicago Comic Con

You may recall that for last year's DragonCon, my husband Matt made Eomer's costume.

This year, we can't make it to DragonCon because we're going to the UK for two weeks at the end of September and have no extra time off.  We've been pretty bummed about missing our favorite con, especially after last year's epic Tolkien track programming, including Evening at Bree and 80's Dance Party.

While making his armor last year, Matt ran out of time to make the helmet.  In June, he started casually working on it, thinking he'd have it done in time for DragonCon 2015.

Then we found out that Karl Urban (the actor who portrayed Eomer, for you non-Ringers) was going to be a guest at DragonCon this year, and we went from being bummed to throwing things and cursing.

Before I go on, I should explain something about Matt.  We've now gone to almost a dozen cons together, and he has never shown any interest in meeting celebrities (although, he seems to run into them an awful lot in elevators).  He's barely interested in celebrity panels, and usually just tags along to keep me company.  But Karl Urban is a different story because of the costume.

And THEN, Karl Urban was announced as a guest at Wizard World Chicago Comic Con.  I immediately purchased tickets and a photo op for Saturday.  Matt immediately dropped everything and began working on his helmet during every spare moment - from the second we were done with dinner until past midnight.  It was worth it - check out these photos on his Tumblr! 

We knew we didn't want to be at the con all day because we wouldn't have a hotel room to decompress in, and both of our costumes are quite hot.  We arrived around 11:30, and before we'd even had a chance to register, we were bombarded with photo requests.  That's how it went for the rest of the day, mostly accompanied by shouts of, "Horse Lord!"  He was even approached by a few women who were fangirling over his gorgeous face.  Costume.  Whatever.

Even the guys from Tandy Leather thought he did a fantastic job!

Our photo op was scheduled for 3:15, and we could queue up at 2:45.  Several people waiting in line came over to get photos with Matt (they weren't too interested in me, and one girl even asked me to take the photo!)  I've never done a photo op before, so I don't know if they're always so rushed, but we were essentially herded like cattle through the photo op area, spending less than 20 seconds with Karl.  However, as we entered, Karl said, "awesome costume!"  As we left, he told Matt that the costume was phenomenal.

We also both went a bit nuts today after hearing from a friend that he'd mentioned Matt's costume to her during her autograph signing (not knowing that she knew us).  It seems that he really was impressed!  Does it get any better than that?

Our photo was snapped by so many people, like this one (courtesy of Max/Gandalf on Flickr (https://www.flickr.com/photos/max-tim-tom/14827718039/).  Let us know if you see any floating around out there in the Interwebs, as we have very few photos of us together.

We had a great time, and left around 4:30.  We're both still completely exhausted - my whole body hurts from wearing ballet slippers for seven hours, and Matt's totally worn out from wearing that helmet (which is quite heavy!) and not being able to sit down.

Even though we can't go to DragonCon, we had a blast Ringing it up at Wizard World!

I really should be working on Christmas gifts ...

... but I have gotten the cosplay bug again since leading the Costuming Basics panel at ChicagoTARDIS, and now I want to research some Lord of the Rings costumes!  Someone please drag me away from the computer!  Since I'm a brunette, it makes more sense to make an Arwen costume, but everyone has done her costumes to death.  Plus, there aren't any of her costumes that I just absolutely love.

I'd like to do Arwen's riding outfit for the sole reason of having photos done on my friend's horse, but Kate from www.silivren.com made it perfectly and way better than I ever could.  Check out all of her other LOTR costumes here.  The detail that she includes in her work is breathtaking!

Nadine from Celtic Ruin's Costumes made a gorgeous Elrond costume.  This photo does not do it justice, but here is some detail from the back.  Nadine and Kate lead a LOTR Costuming panel at Dragon*Con each year, and I was just drooling over the detail on all the costumes that they create.  They do a fantastic job on their panel, too, so if you're at Dragon*Con, be sure to check them out.  You'll learn so much, even if you're an experienced costumer.

This year their friend Dustin was there in his Aragorn outfit, and I again was drooling over the level of detail that was put into the leatherwork.  I'm so mad that the shot wasn't in focus, but you get the idea - this costume is absolutely gorgeous.  I don't even want to know how much money it took to create the entire thing, as I know that my Queen Susan costume was hundreds of dollars, and I didn't even use real leather.

If I ever do a LOTR dress, I'd probably want to do this Eowyn dress.  I absolutely love it, and I prefer dark colors to anything too light.

However, the thought of making Eowyn's armor makes me want to jump up and down.  If I did this costume, I know that Matt would want to make Eomer's costume to compliment it.  He's wanted to make Eomer's armor from the first time we saw the film.  Again, both costumes would require extensive leatherwork.  I wonder if we can take classes in leatherwork around here?

I also love this robe, which Eowyn wears in the extended edition when she dreams about Numenor, and I would love to make it, but only to lounge around the house in!  Doesn't it just look so comfortable?

For now, these are just dream costumes.  I'll have to get more freelance jobs before I can even start to seriously think about making any of these!  In the meantime, I'll be ordering new rings to remake my Queen Susan chain maile.