Valkyrie (Battle Angel) Costume With Magic Bow

This instructable describes how I put together a valkyrie or "battle angel" costume for my 11-year old daughter.

This project consists of the following main parts:

Part 1: Clothing (shirt / doublet and skirt)

Part 2: Armor (helm, corselet/breastplate, vambraces (forearm guards), pauldron (shoulder guard), greaves (leg guards), and foot guards)

Part 3: Angelic wings

Part 4: Magic bow (that lights up!)

Supplies needed:

shirt / doublet / gambeson
white dress / skirt
gold ribbon
gold-colored safety pins
round, gold sequences
Wonder Woman Adult Costume (Item # 51760) from Ame-Comi
"Thor" toy helm
6 white feathers
Acrylic gem
Super glue
White plastic primer spray paint
Blue spray paint
Acrylic paint marker – gold
Angel wings (White Angel Accessory Kit by Leg Avenue)
Velcro
2 plastic styrene sheets, 2mm thick

Tools needed:

Modelling knife
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There were four main influences on the overall design of this costume:

1) Angels

2) Lenneth Valkyrie (from the game "Valkyrie Profile")

3) Valkyries (from the Heroscape game)

4) Wonder woman

The illustration of Lenneth Valkyrie that I am using for the main overview diagram is from the Valkyrie Profile game for the Sony PlayStation.

Step 1: Clothing - Overview

There are two main pieces of clothing in this costume:
(A) The shirt / doublet / gambeson, and
(B) The skirt

Step 2: Clothing Step A: Shirt / Doublet / Gambeson

A.Based on the illustrations of Lenneth, I was looking for a uniform-looking shirt. Because it would be November, I was okay if the shirt was thicker and long-sleeved.

B.I found the perfect shirt at Target in October 2011 (see figure 103).

C.My daughter likes in so much that I did my best to keep in clean and un-modified so that she could wear it on a normal basis after Halloween.

Step 3: Clothing Step B: Skirt

A.I started with a regular white skirt. I found one at Target (see figure 104).

B.I added some gold ribbon around the bottom of the skirt (see figure 105).

C.We used gold-colored safety pins to attached round, gold sequences to the bottom of the skirt (see figure 105).

Step 4: Armor - Overview

A.Here are the components you will make (see figure 201):

Armor Step A: Winged Helm
Armor Step B: Corselet / Breastplate
Armor Step C: Pauldrons (shoulder armor)
Armor Step D: Leg Greaves
Armor Step E: Vambraces (forearm guards)
Armor Step F: Foot Guards

B.I decided to base all of my armor pieces on the Wonder Woman Adult Costume (Item # 51760) from Ame-Comi. See figures 202 and 203. A size small was perfect for my daughter, who was only 11 at the time.

C.Here are the common techniques for all of the armor pieces:

Wash: Use a dish washing detergent and a soft brush to wash both sides of the piece. This removes oils from the manufacturing process.
Sand: Try giving the external surface a light scrub with a fine sandpaper to help the primer adhere better.
Use primer: Prime the external surface of the piece with a white primer designed for use on plastic. See fig 205.
Paint: Paint the external surface with the appropriate main color spray paint. This color is Testors 1211 Gloss Dark Blue, except for the helmet which is metallic. See figure 206.
Trim: Allow the main color to fully dry. Then hand paint the trim with the appropriate trim color paint marker. See figure 207.
Allow to full dry, then spray your item with Krylon Fusion clear coat to lock in the paint color.

Step 5: Armor Step a - Winged Helm

A.The basis of the winged helm is a "Thor" helm that I bought at Target for about $10 (see figure 210).

B.First paint the “wings” of the helmet gold following the common techniques for all of the armor pieces described in the Armor – Overview step. See figure 212.

C.Glue white feathers to the inside of the helm’s “wings” – see figure 213.

D.Add a green “gem” to the front of the helm per figure 214. You can get these at Hobby Lobby store or similar.

E.Finished helm – see figures 215, 216, and 217.

F.For other helm design ideas see figure 219.

Step 6: Armor Step B - Corselet / Breastplate

A.Note: It may help to remove the fabric and velcro pieces from the Wonder Woman breastplate beforehand.

B.To create the corselet / breastplate, follow the “common techniques for all of the armor pieces” described in the Armor – Overview step.

The main color should be a gloss blue.
The trim is gold.

C.Finished corselet – see figure 223.

Step 7: Armor Step C - Pauldron (shoulder Guard)

A.Note: It may help to remove the fabric and velcro pieces beforehand.

B.To create the pauldron, follow the “common techniques for all of the armor pieces” described in the Armor – Overview step.

The main color should be blue.
The trim is gold.

C.Finished corselet – see figure 25.

D.My daughter decided not to wear this on Halloween because the corselet / breastplate seemed to be enough.

Step 8: Armor - Leg Greaves

A.Note: It may help to remove the fabric and velcro pieces beforehand.

B.To create the leg greaves, follow the “common techniques for all of the armor pieces” described in the Armor – Overview step.

The main color should be a gloss blue.
The trim is gold.

C.Finished leg greave – see figure 28.

D.My daughter decided not to wear these on Halloween to make it easier to walk.

Step 9: Armor - Vambraces

We decided not to create any vambraces because the doublet / gambeson had long sleeves. Figure 30 shows the ones that came with the Wonder Woman costume.

Step 10: Armor - Foot Guards

A.Start with the foot Guards from Wonder Woman Costume (figure 231).

B.Use a blue fabric paint (paints designed for use on fabric, such as the SoSoft line from DecoArt) to paint over the red.

C.Finished foot guard – see figure 232.

Step 11: Angelic Wings

A.The wings were one of the key parts of the costume so I wanted to get them right. However, I quickly learned that wings can come in a variety of shapes. From the illustrations that had most inspired my daughter and me, we chose the wings in the White Angel Accessory Kit by Leg Avenue (see figure 40). I think it cost about $20. Unfortunately, it was obvious the weak elastic bands would not keep the wings in place – plus, the bands would be visible from the front of the costume.

B.I wanted the wings to be detachable from the corselet so I created matching velcro wing attachment plates – one for the back of the corselet and one for the wings. XXXXXX. Plastic styrene sheet, 2mm thick. See figures XXX.

C.Attach plate A to the back of the corselet. XXXXX. See figures XXX.

D.Attach plate B to the front of the wings. XXXX. See figures XXX.

E.I sprayed the wings with some acrylic clear coat to help protect them from wear and tear. See figure XX.

Step 12: Magic Bow

The basis of the bow was a child's bow from Dick's Sporting Goods that we already had in our garage.

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To make the bow "light up", I used a battery-powered string of purple lights from [brand name]. I got this string at Target for around $20. It was in the Halloween section.