An Axe for Miss Iceland by Becka Noel

Author: Cheryl Kilbourne-Kimpton


Our Cosplay Ambassador, Becka Noel, recently had the opportunity to be involved with the Miss Universe Pageant.  She designed and created a prop axe for Miss Iceland’s contribution for the National Costume portion of the pageant. Oh the places creativity can take you!

An Axe for Miss Iceland by Becka Noel by Manhattan Wardrobe Supply

Miss Iceland’s Axe: Conception

For the National Costume portion of the pageant, Arna Yr, aka Miss Universe Iceland, wore an absolutely resplendent  costume as a Viking Warrior Woman. The detailed costume, designed by the amazing Kristen Regalado, was full of references to Icelandic animals- a ram’s head, raven feathers and fish scales. But the devil is in the details, so when they wanted to put the finishing touches on the costume, they reached out to Becka to take the costume to the next level.

As always Becka put in a tremendous amount of research to create something that would bring together tradition and fantasy, adding to this already incredible costume. No warrior is ready without a weapon, so Becka designed an axe for Miss Iceland to carry, as axes were a traditional Viking weapon.

An Axe for Miss Iceland by Becka Noel by Manhattan Wardrobe Supply

Arna Yr, Miss Universe Iceland

The costume had already been designed, so Becka’s task was to create something that would accentuate the beauty of the costume and bring another element of fun and tradition to this Viking fantasy.

Mimicking the colors and textures of the costume, Becka created an icy blue axe, with black faux feathers and faux fur, and to take it to the height of dazzle, she lit the axe up with LED lights. Miss Iceland looked FIERCE, and weighing in at 8 pounds (mostly because of the battery box for the lights), the axe brought some real gravitas to the costume.

Miss Iceland’s Axe: Construction

The body of the axe was made with Transpa Art and original Worbla, with details in Black Worbla. This was made in four distinct pieces, all held together by a middle tube, which attached to a pvc pipe that became the handle. Becka created a rectangular box at the top of the axe to discreetly house the battery box for the LED lights.

An Axe for Miss Iceland by Becka Noel by Manhattan Wardrobe Supply

Becka Noel

For the blue transparent blade, Becka used Worbla Crystal Art, taking Jacquard Pearl Ex and mixing it in when it was hot. This created just the right icy blue effect!

The entire piece (other than the blue blade) was painted with Jacquard Lumiere paint and Pearl EX pigments, with the faux fur and faux leather providing the finishing touches.

An Axe for Miss Iceland by Becka Noel by Manhattan Wardrobe Supply

This entire project took Becka 21 hours to make and was featured as one of the top ten Miss Universe National Costumes on Pageant Live. What a fantastic collaboration!