Interview with Be the Spark Cosplay

GeekPost: How long has cosplay been a passion for you?

BetheSpark: I think I’ve had the seeds of a cosplayer since I was a little kid. I remember how I loved to draw my favorite movie and video game characters, often dreaming up new costumes for them to wear. But at that time, living in a small town, I had no idea that people dressed up outside of Halloween!

GeekPost: What was the first cosplay you ever did?

BetheSpark: The first costume I made that I would consider “cosplay” actually began as a dress for Halloween 8 years ago. My daughter was 2 at the time, and wanted to dress up as Belle from Beauty and the Beast. I made her a cute, tiny ball gown – and then realized I wanted to have that dress too! So we walked around the neighborhood dressed as princesses together, and I was hooked on cosplay. There’s nothing more elating than a little girl thinking you might be a real princess! Shortly after that, a friend told me about the San Diego Comic Con, and I was thrilled to hear there was a huge group of people nearby interested in cosplay too. I wore my Belle gown to SDCC the next summer, and I’ve been dressing up every year since.

GeekPost: I know that asking this is almost like asking what your favorite song is, but do you have a favorite character cosplay or concept?

BetheSpark: Cinderella will always have a special place in my heart. That costume was definitely magical in the way it came together, like a spark of divine inspiration. I had been dreaming of making her gown for a few years, but I was never sure I had the skills to pull off a dress made of pure magic. But when I had the idea to give her a glass arm instead of glass slippers, it became a cosplay I had to make happen! When I started working on the dress, I honestly still didn’t have a clue how I would be able to create the glass arm. I happened to mention the project to a friend at church, and he connected me to his amazing artist friend, Gilbert Lozano, who surprised me with his enthusiasm to jump on the project. Gilbert was quite literally my fairy godfather with the beautiful “glass” prosthetic he made for me. When I tried on the full costume for the first time, I felt like a true princess. This version of Cinderella was the kind of character I had really longed to see when I was a kid. To be able to create that character myself was a life-changing moment.

I have to give second favorite to my most recent cosplay – The Sorceress from the tabletop game Cult of the Deep. B.A. Games contacted me last year asking if I would be interested in having my likeness become a character in their game, and of course I said yes! Being a game character is kind of the dream, right? I was even more excited to hear that they wanted to make my limb difference a key component of the character, by way of a magic, glowing prosthetic. This summer I was able to do some cos-ception at GenCon – cosplaying as myself! It was very cool to have a hand in the creation of a character, especially one as fierce and cunning as the Sorceress.

GeekPost: Your cosplays are all creative, inspiring and beautiful. What is one cosplay that you have always wanted to do, but haven’t yet had time or resources?

BetheSpark: I keep coming back to Belle in different forms, but I would love to do an alternate universe warrior version of her, with full gilded armor and a stained glass rose shield. I’m new to Worbla and haven’t used much EVA foam, so I feel like I have several new skills to learn first for that one!