The Two Towers

OK, these costumes have a bit of a background story. See, I have married friends with the last name Tower, and for a joke, I suggested they go to the Halloween party as “The Two Towers”. They thought it would be great, much to my surprise! And so, Orthanc and Barad-Dur were born. Orthanc is constructed from styrofoam, a plastic water bottle, much duct tape, and all covered with paper mache. We spray painted it black, added a little black sand for texture, and added a Saruman miniature and little overturned trees (like you’d see on a model train set). I attached the whole thing to a graduation cap and added a strong chin strap for stability. I made a black cloak of a cheap linen-like material and we put white painted hand prints on the back. Her staff is a length of PVC pipe, painted black, with cardboard flanges at the top, and a clear frosted Christmas ornament as the bulb. Barad-dur is made from the black styrofoam packing materials that came with a piece of equipment at work (I work in a lab…so we get lots of strange stuff! – evil grin). We glued on plastic miniatures of orcs and a Gollum in back, then wired up a bunch of little LEDs for torches. It just sat over his head on his shoulders. I made a second black cloak, this one with an EYE of Sauron appliqued on the back. I used a great orange/red/yellow batik fabric and just fused the pieces together.

Back to Barad-dur images

Back to Orthanc images

Back to "Lord of the Rings" Costumes