I have a small collection of faux weapons that I have repainted/modified to be a bit more realistic and oftentimes, more… well, gross. When I found this barbed wire-wrapped baseball bat at a thrift store for just $2.49, I had to have it.
There are layers of primer, paint, glazes, and heavy bodied medium.
Also, some fake hair. Made from some now-vintage “animal whiskers” from my stash. I only wish I had more than one color of them.
The heavy bodied medium and hair came in handy covering the “made in china” on the end.
Most of my other faux weapons have built-in loops for hanging, but of course, the bat did not. I considered some kind of wrist loop, but then remembered that I had a wooden rack thing that came with a bunch of lumber and scraps I received from a neighbor earlier this year and that it might be a great little rack for a fake baseball bat! (no before pic)
I gave it the ol’ paint and glaze treatment to distress and gory it up.
I used the dried up bits of paint from one of my paint lids to make chunkier bits of zombie flesh. I also added tick marks to show how many zombies have the Nut Cracker had removed the heads or destroyed the brains of.
I used my Sizzix to cut a soda can into a plaque, then punches to give the weapon a name, inspired by names given to swords in Lord of the Rings and Game of Thrones. I looked up slang for “head” and decided “Nut Cracker” would be the funniest! It could double for a classic testes shot, too.
The hardware on the front is purely ornamental and from the stash of rusty/distressed hardware I have been saving. I used a piece of frame hardware from stash to hang it with.
For now, it’s hanging in the stairwell, at the ready should we need to wake up in the night to defend our home against undead intruders we can grab it as we run downstairs. I didn’t get the other weapons out this year when I decorated. I have a whole remodel/redecorate plan for the stairwell, that I hope will come to pass next spring and maybe this will become a permanent fixture.
