Exorcist Costume

We all have heros. Some people admire those who work for world peace, like Gandi. Others idolize a particular sports hero who worked hard and overcame all odds to win. There's others who look up to a great scientist, artist, or religious figure.

My husband? He idolizes the Ghostbusters.

Yes, those Ghostbusters. Proton packs, grey jumpsuits, hearse-like car - those guys.

And now he's training for the priesthood. In a denomination where "Exorcist" is an actual position.

I'm going to be visiting a lot of strange places and people in my married life.

Good thing I have a psych background. It's hard to find people much weirder than psych profs. So I'm slightly prepared. Maybe.

Anyway, so with a Halloween Party theme like "Monster Slayer," DH is, of course, going to be some sort of exorcist/ghost hunter. And since he already has most everything he needs for exorcist... well, it was an easy choice.

Does it say anything about the friends we keep that he's going to be one of like five exorcists at the party? Sigh.

Anyway, he had the clothes and he had the props (rosary, crucifix with imbedded holy items, holy oil, holy water, prayer book) but he didn't have any sort of case to carry them in. He's been wanting something for a while but those things are expensive, especially when you want custom-cut foam to hold the items. Or so he thought. Of course, he married someone who believes nothing is too hard to DIYODS (do it your own damn self - thank you Craftster).

I found an old cassette tape carrier in the closet and pulled my collection of history lecture tapes out of it (hey, I might listen to them someday!). It was a particularly ugly light brown faux leather passed down from my grandfather. I think he got it back in the 70s for his collection of Baptist sermon tapes. I hope he's not doing any grave-rolling, I really love my grandpa. DH got some black fabric paint and went to work redoing the outside. I think it turned out quite nice.



It's actually looking nicer now since DH cleaned off the paint that got on the silver trim.

To get the inside ready, DH got foam from Michaels and, using a little saw, carved out shapes for the various items. I wasn't watching so I'm not sure how he did it but it was messy. I'm still finding little bits of foam in corners of the living room. With the foam cut I raided my stash to find some good lining. A dress I attempted to make at the beginning of my sewing career came in handy here. That was back when I hadn't quite figured out RTW size isn't sewing size. Yeah. So the pieces of black satin got shoved in a plastic bag until I found a use for them. Like, say, lining an exorcist kit.

I seriously wouldn't have foreseen that.

But it worked! Dh glued and pinned the lining into place and, voila, an exorcist kit for the price of the foam!
And I just realized these pictures are all from before he lined the bottom part and finished the detail painting. Just imagine, please.