Inside, we all secretly (or openly) want to be a part of the 40k universe. Every Warhammer 40,000 player wants to be a space marine, an Ork, or some other wild being from the forty-first millennium.
Well, two people are one step closer to such. Twenty year old Justina Šniukštaitė, from Kaunas, Lithuania and twenty five Daniel Høgh from, Ikast, Denmark, are the duo to see for science-fiction costumes based on our favourite fictional universe. Running under the name Roses and Boltshells, the couple have come up with many amazing sets of cosplay gear, and show no signs of running out of great ideas.
Daniel has his roots in the wargaming scene, running his local gaming club. He is often fighting at the forefront with his force of Imperial Fists.
When asked about her involvement in our hobby, Justina said: “I would love to be a wargamer, though unfortunately it’s not very popular around where I live. I am aware of wargaming club in the capital, but I'm an university student; don’t think I can afford going to the capital every other weekend just for wargaming”. Let’s hope that a good gaming scene shows up soon.
When asked about her involvement in our hobby, Justina said: “I would love to be a wargamer, though unfortunately it’s not very popular around where I live. I am aware of wargaming club in the capital, but I'm an university student; don’t think I can afford going to the capital every other weekend just for wargaming”. Let’s hope that a good gaming scene shows up soon.
For Daniel, the hobby of costume making came natural. He said: “Making costumes was a natural development for me, as I did a lot of LARPing and role-play. I collected stuff from movies and didn’t want to pay an arm and a leg for replicas from my favourite games/movies. In the beginning I made relatively small items but my eagerness to make a full space marine suit was what sparked my ‘real’ costume making hobby”.His first costume was a Viking, which, to Daniel’s admission, was of “poor accuracy, low budget cloth and insanely bad finishes”. But everyone starts somewhere right?
Justina found the hobby recently, only starting in 2009. But even with such a short time, she has managed to help come up with some amazing costumes and suits. When asked about her first costume, Justina said: “My first one came from back then favourite animation series, called “Soul Eater”. If I had to compare it to my latest one, I have changed skill-wise and visually throughout the years. My first one was barely a few accessories and a fabric dress. Made in two weeks, while now my costumes take months to make”.Whilst the couple don’t plan to sell you a full-sized suit of Power Armour any time soon, they are open to suggestions. Justina said she sometimes sells unique items, so it’s worth keeping an eye out.
If you’re now itching to make your own costume for an event, after seeing all the amazing works throughout this article, Daniel has one great, simple piece of advice: “Never give up! Never surrender! Never shun advice and make it your own!”. Justina goes on to say it can is an expensive hobby, but if you are willing to put the time and effort into it, it will all pay off.
For more pictures, and if you want to ask for advice on making your own gear, check out their Facebook page.
To finish off, here is my new profile picture, provided by Justina and Daniel. Turns out, their artwork is just as amazing as their costume work.