Photo credit: @jarodburns
Henchwench has officially taken the global cosplay crown. After winning the national title at PAX Melbourne in 2024, the South Australian talent has now claimed top honours at the 2025 Cosplay Central Crown Championships in Chicago with a show-stopping Baldur’s Gate 3 cosplay character portrayal of Halsin.
Competing against some of the world’s most skilled costume artists, Henchwench stood out with the same meticulously crafted creation that earned her Australia’s highest cosplay accolade last year.
The 2025 Crown Championships were held at the Chicago Comic and Entertainment Expo, more commonly referred to as C2E2. This annual pop culture convention is one of the biggest in the United States, and saw over 100,000 attendees pass through its doors.
A big drawcard of the event is the cosplay competitions. Cosplay is a creative hobby where people build or design costumes based on their favourite characters – whether from TV shows, cartoons, films or games. It’s far more involved than your standard Halloween outfit and often requires countless hours of technical work to bring the final product to life.
Adelaide’s Henchwench is currently travelling the US and will return soon with a $5,000 cash prize, a medal, and some pretty serious bragging rights – and the Adelaide cosplay community couldn’t be prouder.
A well-deserved award for someone who’s been honing the dedicated craft for two decades, Henchwench is known for meticulous paintwork and art finishing.
“It was cool to turn 40-years-old and have that feeling of ‘well, guess I’ve still got it after all!’ said Hench.
“Cosplay can be pretty superficial at times and tends to be more of a young people’s hobby,” Hench told GLAM Adelaide.
Henchwench is an experienced costumer with some impressive credentials; including a Costume Construction Degree from the National Institute of Dramatic Art, a Graduate Certificate in Costume Design from the Australian Film Television and Radio School, and training under Academy Award-winning costume designer Tim Chappel. Tim won the Academy Award for Best Costume Design, with Lizzy Gardiner, for the film The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert.
“I used a blend of modern and traditional techniques – combining traditional leather tooling with 3D-printed tooling stamps,” Hench explained.
Hench works alongside her partner Scrap to form the construction duo, Hench & Scrap. Together, they’ve worked on a range of exciting projects for some of the biggest names in gaming, creating props, trophies and plenty of cosplays.
As cosplayers over the years, they’ve judged competitions, made guest appearances, and run informative maker workshops.
Their whole operation is based out of their South Australian workshop, which is kitted out with a sewing studio, embroidery machine, electronic-cutting machine, 3D printers, and plenty more gadgets and gizmos to help them create some seriously awe-inspiring outfits.
What will they come up with next? Only time will tell!
To find out more, you can visit Hench and Scrap’s website here.
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