This year for Halloween I decided to go as Harley Quinn. With Suicide Squad having come out earlier in 2016, it was quite a popular costume. Normally I go for more obscure things, but HQ looked so fun, and to be honest, I really only did it for the makeup.
The nice thing about choosing a popular character is that there are plenty of costume pieces to choose from both on the internet and in stores. Any day I can get out of using a sewing machine (which, long story, was not at my disposal) is a good day, but I did miss creating something to make the costume special.
So after watching some YouTube videos and scouring the internet for images of the movie bat and the inflatable costume replica, I decided to make my own version of Harley’s Good Night bat from the movie.
Products purchased:
- Unfinished factory defect baseball bat, purchased off eBay
- Xtreme Sharpies
- Spongy paintbrush thingies
- Tiny paintbrush thingies
- Acrylic paint
- Sealant spray
I also used a tape measure, athletic tape, a pencil, and probably a bazillion other things I forgot because I made this over a month ago.
I started out by painting the diamond on the handle. I followed instructions I found on a YouTube video, only to realize when I was done that the diamond wasn’t at all the same as the movie version. Not gonna lie, I considered buying a new bat or seeing if Nick could sand off the paint, but in the end I came to accept the fact that no one would notice except me.
I found it easier to free hand paint than use the tape. I assume it’s because the bat was unfinished wood. I couldn’t get sharp edges. Also I wasn’t very good at lining up the tape on the lines.
For the Good Night wording, I used the good old Stencil font that comes with Windows. I printed it on plain paper, filled in the back of the paper with pencil, and taped it on the bat. Then I traced over it, transferring the stencil pencil on to the bat.
Once the Good Night wording was done, I sprayed it with a few coats of sealant to prevent the Sharpies from feathering when I wrote the words on the back. I used images of the movie bat, the inflatable bat, and wording that other people theorized was on the bat to make the best interpretation. I had everything written on a piece of paper, in the appropriate colors and placement, but the cat spilled a can of Coke on it and I had to throw it away. Don’t feel too bad for me. This only happened about a week ago. I had ample time to document it.
The last step was to wrap the base with white athletic tape.
TA-DAAA! Here’s the final version of my Harley Quinn Good Night Bat:
