We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Jason and Ash West. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Jason and Ash below.

Jason and Ash, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

The most meaningful project we have worked on is actually the one we are working on now. We are renewing our wedding vows at DragonCon in Atlanta, Georgia this year.

We have a tradition where, every 5 years, we renew our vows in a new or special way.

This year we have taken our favorite custom cosplay, a Valkyrie of our own design, and created an entire Viking/ Valkyrie event.

We have updated and upgraded almost the entire cosplay for the bride (Ash) and are currently building a full set of ceremonial Viking armor for the groom (Jason).

We have a full matching wedding party and are working on custom swords and shields as gifts for each of them.

Jason and Ash, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

We are multi-generational military, both having served, Jason is currently still serving in the Army and Ash served in the Air Force.

Neither of us thought this was the route we would go in, knowing very little about cosplay only 10 years ago.

After attending DragonCon once, we decided we wanted to try our hands at making our own cosplays and a passion was born.

One at a time we developed new skills and now work with everything from resin 3D printing props and parts, building full sets of foam armor and weapons, laser cutting, painting, sculpting, sewing, electronics and lighting.

We do plan to make this a career of sorts as we grow and develop our skills.

Can you tell us the story behind how you met your business partner?

How we met is kind of a cute story. We were both assigned to a virtual military experiment, Jason for the Army and Ash for Air Force.

Jason was in charge of making sure the “testers” were following protocol, and it seemed Ash was in charge of testing Jason’s patience, of course never actually breaking any protocols.

It was days before we actually spoke outside, in a non-professional capacity, and immediately hit it off.

The weekend after the experiment ended we went on our first date and have been inseparable ever since.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

One of the most rewarding aspects of being custom cosplay creators is the reactions we receive from people. Not just people who think we look great but also other creators that appreciate the hundreds of hours we put into our work.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @AwwwsomeArtistry
• Linkedin: Awwwsome Artistry