When I first encountered Xal’atath in World of Warcraft, I immediately knew, I had to make a cosplay of her.
I absolutely love her design and color scheme — especially since blue and purple are my favourite colours.
Bringing Xal’atath to life was a small challenge, as this cosplay involved several techniques, I was still quite inexperienced with. Despite that, creating this costume was incredibly fun and rewarding.
It took me approximately three months to bring Xal’atath and the Blade of the Black Empire to life. The armor is mainly made from EVA foam and worbla. Using a Dremel helped me achieve clean edges before all armor pieces were primed with Flexbond and airbrushed.
Luckily, a friend provided me with access to a 3D printer, which allowed me to print details such as the crescent moons on the cloak. For the first time, I also sewed and dyed a complete top including gloves out of thin nylon fabric. This made it possible for me to only apply makeup to my face instead of also painting my hands and legs.
Another challenge was finding a solution for Xal’atath’s purple feet without using body paint. To make the “Xalatoes” as accurate as possible, I ordered toe socks, dyed them purple, and added black artificial nails.
For the gemstones, I created my own silicone molds and then cast them using resin.
I made the blade out of 20 mm EVA foam. I really wanted the blade to glow, so I installed a blue LED light inside. Since regular foam is not light-permeable, I used special LED foam for this part.
After assembling everything, I primed the entire piece and then painted it with an airbrush. To achieve the in-game look, I added thin black and white line details.
I am incredibly proud of the final result. When I look back at my very first cosplays, I can clearly see how much I have improved — but everyone has to start somewhere.