I made these Isengardian hats for the theatrical re-release of The Lord of the Rings! Yep. Ben and I spent ~12 hours this weekend sitting in a theater, dressed as Saruman’s minions. Like all the cool kids do.

I was floored that we were the only people there who even remotely dressed up for the occasion. I knew we weren’t going to a Comic-Con or anything (just three legendary movies in a bougie Cleveland-area theater), but still! Where my Hobbits at? There wasn’t a single wizard hat or elven cloak in the entire place! This is the 25th anniversary special showing, people. Get it together!

I initially planned to be a Nozgul, but since that would have required me to purchase a floor-length black cloak, I decided against it. (Not that I didn’t want one, but I'm deathly allergic to sewing, and everything I saw online looked like junk. If and when I’m gonna purchase a ridiculous cloak, it shall be a nice, ridiculous cloak.)

Anyway, I ended up DIY-ing these lovely “White Hand” army hats instead. The hand of Saruman is a flour-water paste because it’s washable, and I didn’t have a good way to test any permanent white paint before committing to it. But actually, this flour mixture worked out even better, I think. Ben found these black hats on Amazon for about $10, which I ceremoniously slapped with my white battered hand and an Uruk Hai ROAR!

SIDE NOTE: I was so pumped when I thought I saw someone enter our dark theater dressed as my beloved Nozgul! Ben insisted it was, in fact, not a Nozgul but a normal human, but, obviously, I didn’t believe him because that was absurd. (Who wouldn’t want to be a Nozgul?) But, alas, it was indeed just a regular suburban lady with long black hair and a stylish—and probably very expensive—black coat. This is not a very fun age in Middle-earth.