For Halloween, some friends and I decided to go as the Sanderson sisters from Hocus Pocus. Once it was settled that I would be Winifred, I decided I needed Book to go with the costume.
I started with an approximately eighteen-inch-tall fake book box made from cardboard and wood. To turn its clean surface into wrinkled, stitched-together skin, I covered it with paper towels and Mod Podge. The hardened towels let me build folds, ridges, and raised seams across the covers and spine.
I painted the surface with layers of acrylic, working from dark base colors into blended brown skin tones. The eye was an off-the-shelf plastic prop. The snake-shaped spine detail, fingers, and eye clasp were 3D printed and painted, with a magnet embedded in the clasp.
Once the surface had hardened, I drilled holes along the seams and stitched them with twine. In some places I only needed to drill through the paper towel and Mod Podge, but other holes had to pass through the box itself. Drilling through the spine was the hardest part of the build. It was much tougher than I expected.
I lined the hollow interior with felt so Book could double as a purse. It did not need a strap; I carried it by hand and used the compartment for everything the costume otherwise gave me nowhere to put.
Book survived Halloween, then came back out when we repeated the Sanderson sisters costume at the Great Pumpkin Beerfest the following year. I still have it, and years later it is holding up remarkably well.