The featured member profile this month is Bronwen Robbins! Bio / A bit about your professional backg

The featured member profile this month is Bronwen Robbins! Bio / A bit about your professional backgroundI am a Fredericton girl, born and raised, except for that three year period where I was a Jamaican girl. I’ve always loved dressing up: I spent many of my teenaged years pretending to be an Elf in the woods at a local Live Action Role Playing chapter and Halloween has always been a big to do for me. I graduated from the New Brunswick College of Craft and Design in 2002 from the surface design studio and that is when I discovered the cosplay hobby. Cosplaying provided me with a new outlet for my love of dressing up, but I wanted to improve my skills, so in 2005 I went back to the college and entered the fashion design studio. I graduated in 2007 with Principal’s Distinction and honours. Along the way I started winning awards for my costumes at conventions and realised that I could turn this passion for costume design into a business, so in 2012 with some coaxing from teachers at the school, I came back and did the graduate studies program with an emphasis on building skills to start and run my own business.Tell us about your business and how you came up with the idea.Delirium’s Edge Designs is a custom costume design business that caters to people who like to dress up for conventions, live action role playing and similar geeky fun. I reproduce the outfits of known characters from cartoons, comic books as well as original sketches. It grew out of a lifelong love of costume design and dressing up. The name comes from a screen name I’ve used on the internet on sites such as deviantART and cosplaylab.com; since it was usually attached to my creative works such as drawing and cosplay it seemed like the logical choice for the name of my new costume design business. The butterfly logo is actually my initials B and R, I’d been toying with making it my signature for years and I guess now in a way it is!Where do you look for inspiration?I’m a big geek at heart and proud of it, so most of my inspiration comes from things like comic books, and cartoons, but I do also have a strong love of history and particularly fashion history, so my designs tend to reflect that. I also love to learn new skills constantly, so if something I see presents a new challenge or a chance to learn a new skill I find that very inspiring.How do you get yourself inspired?It depends. If it is something for myself, it is usually a matter of my liking a particular character enough to want to dress up as them, or I will look through books and pictures of historical fashion design. If it is a client I am working with, be it an original sketch design of their own that they want transformed into an actual garment or just a character they really love from some media, it is their passion and excitement that gets me all fired up.Who are some of your favourite artists in your field?Michele Clapton who is the lead designer on HBO’s Game of Thrones comes to mind. I love how she over thinks everything on that show. Not only are her designs amazing and beautiful, but she has put thought into what kind of fabrics and dyes would be accessible or practical for the people of the different lands and reflects that in her designs.Eduardo Castro who is the lead design on ABC’s Once Upon a Time is another costume designer whose work I find interesting and inspiring. He fuses Victorian, fantasy, and steampunk styles, along with the original Disney character designs and then throws in a dash of modern flare and materials. Since the show is nearly entirely done with green screening, I feel like his costumes really create most of the feeling and mood for the show. I just love to see what he has come up with next and how he is going to portray all my favorite Disney and fairy tale characters though what they wear.What project have you worked on that you enjoyed most and why?I pretty much enjoy everything I have made! It is all about the challenge for me. If a costume requires me to learn a new skill or use a new material that is great: I just spent nearly half a year fabricating an entire suit of armor from a heat molding plastic called Worbla, for example!Actually, I’ve really enjoyed my most recent project; I decided to make it just because of a pair of leather goggles I bought when I was at a convention in Toronto in May. Maybe because I was just making it purely for fun, or because it is a twist on an 1880’s bustle dress and coat and I am particularly drawn to that era, whatever the reason, from just picking out the fabrics and materials to the many pleats that needed pleating, I loved the entire process and can’t wait to wear it.Do you use Social Media for your business? How has impacted your business?I do, but my grasp on it is probably not as strong as it could be. I seem to benefit from good old fashioned social networking more then anything. Be it from former clients telling others who are looking to come to me, or recommendations from other cosplayer peers who know me from judging or helping out at conventions, most of my business is from old fashioned word of mouth actually! As a member of FFC, what do you hope to see the council achieve?I am pretty sure the sky is the limit when it comes to this, but I guess I would love to see some workshops or networking events happen. We have a pretty amazing community of retailers, designers and seamstresses in Fredericton and it would be great for everyone if there were more chances for sharing ideas and experiences. What’s next for you?Feathers. ;) See more of Bronwen’s work at http://deliriumsedgedesigns.weebly.com/ (website)https://www.facebook.com/DeliriumsEdgeDesigns?ref_type=bookmark (facebook group) http://bronwenrobbins.blogspot.ca/ (designer blog) MaleficentCharacter: Maleficent, Disney’s Sleeping Beauty Model: Liz EatonPhoto by: Larry Holder, Point of Light ProductionsSnow Princess Character: Snow Princess Hayane, Shining Hearts video game Model: Laina Martin Photo by : Larry Holder, Point of Light Productions -- source link

More pics about