Prancesteps to Becoming a Basilisk

Time for more Arts & Crafts fun!  I will be your host because....  it’s my blog.  And I’m feeling crafty. Today:  Harry Potter costume party.  Check it out.

A friend of mine recently caused a brouhaha by blazoning ‘bout a birthday bash.  Theme?  BHarry BPotter.

My mind pranced about the possibilities of all the mystical creatures or characters I could choose to dress as:  The Boy Who Lived, one of those weird things from the third book, the badger on the Hufflepuff crest, a resurrection stone, a Weasley because I have red hair (if you thought that already, -10 points to your house)...

But instead I made the obvious choice and decided to be the basilisk. Practicality, functionality, and logical thought patterns aside, this is probably the best costume you could come up with.


My mind began to prance anew as I mulled over the different ways I could recreate such a horrifying creature.  But recreate it I did.  Behold my mind’s prancesteps:

Basilisk Ingredients:

• 1 milk carton (gallon)
• 2-3 notecards
• varying colors of paint
• floss or string
• tape
• A Basilisk-colored bed sheet
• No desire to use your arms for any duration of time

Prancestep 1:  Face Time


Time to face it.  You start off with a gallon of milk carton, sans milk.  Unless you want things to get really exciting.  And wet.  Chop that sucker in half like so:

Once the sucker is chopped, then comes the paint.  Apply the desired basilisk-colored paint to the chopped sucker.  Let that layer dry.  Then you can paint the eyessss.  Let that layer dry.  Then you can paint the pupilsss.  You’re looking like a basilisk already.

Once the paint has all dried up, it’s time for some dental work—without even going to dental school.  Dreams do come true.  Cut the notecards into pointy, fang-shaped fang shapes.  Then with the magic of tape, tape them so they’re hanging from the inside of the face in a menacing pattern.  Then put that on your résumé and consider getting a job as a dental hygienist.  Probably never seen someone who has worked with a basilisk before.  ...and/or lived to put it on their résumé.

After you get home from your foray into the world of dentistry, it’s time to continue.  Drill some holes in the back of each of the basilisk’s jaws.  Just like you do with your patients, I’m sure.  Then, stick a piece of floss (or string if spearmint’s not your thing) through each hole and tie it on.  

When you’re ready to suit up, you simply put the top of the head on top of your head, and the bottom on bottom.  Of your head.  You then tie the flosses on each side together so the head is securely mounted on your head.  Like so:

Prancestep 2:  Rock that bod


Time for the finishing touches.  All you do is wrap a musty old $2 dollar sheet around your body and it’s like you’ve transformed into another creature entirely.  Look, smell, feel—you are authentic as can be.  It’s like you really have been sliding your body across the ground for an undisclosed amount of time without bathing.  Congratulations.  

So there you have it.  That’s how you become a basilisk.  Now all that’s left to do is find an entourage and go enjoy your evening.  It’s going to be a blast!  No one will look you in the eye, you won’t be able to touch anything, and the smell of the old sheet will stick to you for days as you sweat up a storm and it all soaks into your skin.  Also, make sure no one tries to stab you through the head or extract your real teeth.  If they do, you don’t have arms to stop them. 

 

Good luck and may the force be with you.