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Here's what she says about her outfit: "Todd: It's kind of a funny story regarding how I ended up getting into the show "Xena" and how I ended up making my own rendition of a warrior costume ...I found your site while searching for ways to make armor. (I am looking into joining a Medieval Warfare Acting Troup "Seattle Knights" and will be starting Medieval Combat Training on September 17th and was looking for ways to make a costume of my own design that would be comfortable and light-weight. I am also an artist, graphic designer, kick boxer, body-builder and operatically trained singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist and recording artist. "Seattle Knights" doesn't know where to put me yet!)I was a designer at a local clothing manufacturing company and the girls in the shop (mostly of Vietnamese and Mexican decent) would call me "Xena" all of the time. I never knew what they were talking about. All I knew was that every time they needed the water cooler bottle changed or the candy machine shaken, they would call me and they used the name "Xena". (I am a little stronger than your usual female. My bench is 165 lbs. and I can leg press over 650 lbs.) I wasn't real familiar with the character and was told I should impersonate her on Halloween by another co-worker. (I am tall, muscular, tan, with angular features and naturally black waist- length black hair.) Other people on the street would say I reminded them of "That warrior chick on TV." Then I saw the show ... and immediately started on the costume. I thought it would be fun to freak out those women in production when I came in as "Xena". I created the costume from vinyl and about $70.00 worth of brass ornaments that I had to drill and sew in by hand. (When I tried gluing them, I'd turn a little and a boob would fall off!) I eventually bought out all of the brass in the art shop and had to hand paint pewter pieces to make up for the missing ones. As you can see, it is not actually a "Xena" costume. It is loosely based on it, but is of my own design. I used coat hangers and thin wire for the fittings that run from the shoulder pads to the mock breast plate. There really is no "breast plate". It is built in for quick fitting. The chakram is just plastic and I have my own sword from Spain that I picked up a while ago. (I collect weaponry). The really strange thing about all of this is that I never sewed a thing in my life. I did it all by hand because I know nothing about sewing machines. All of my art has consisted of sculpture and drawings/paintings, so it really surprised me that it turned out the way it did. I am now currently working on one out of leather. It looks much more authentic and will have armor of my own design. I read your information on molds and decided to try doing it my own way. I may just end up pounding out something from actual metal. We'll see. The boots, which are too small for me, are my sister's old lineman boots. I made the knee pads myself and gave them that worn look by rubbing brown and beige make-up on the areas that were to look worn. I can't wait until I have created the real leather outfit. I will send you pictures when I am finished. Thank you for providing the information about how you created everything. It was really informative and interesting. I hope you enjoy my photos. I'll send you hard copies just in case they don't reach you quite right. - Naomi Alias: XeNot the Warrior Wannabe" Well, the outfit looks great, Naomi! What did the girls in production do when you finally did show up in costume? Oh, by the way, could you change my water bottle?...
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Wait
a minute...is that...yeah, it's her! Naomi Beebe!