A Quick DIY Build - The Holy Water Font

When entering a church, there is always a small font where holy water is kept so parishioners can bless themselves as they enter. I knew my church was going to need one too, after visiting a church several months ago to get some design ideas. Having completed the gothic arch windows, I needed to back up a moment to the church vestibule -- or the narthex, as it's called, and make small prop that would help deliver layers of depth to the haunt and give it a more convincing.

Although I had no clear plan going in, I knew I wanted to use the copper bowl I had picked up at a thrift store the other day to serve as the font itself, but it wasn't until I looked at examples of real holy water fonts online, that the the idea of using a crucifix to complete it dawned on me.

I had picked up one recently from Freecycle and realized would be a great addition it. Originally I had been disappointed with the crucifix, because at the time I had been working on my own crucifix for the haunt, and when I saw it listed as "large" I had in my mind that it would be of a similar size. So when I picked it up, it was a bit of a let down.

As it turns out, it worked out perfectly. Combining the brass crucifix with the copper pie tin would give me the necessary look and feel I was going for.

All that was left to do was to mount them, and that was simple enough using a piece of scrap wood. But rather than just screw it to the plank and call it a day, I traced around the crucifix and bowl, cut out the pattern with my jigsaw, stained it with a dark start (to help the brass crucifix stand out), then mounted them with a couple of copper-headed screws I found laying around.

For what was originally going to be a complicated project -- I was thinking of sculpting something out of paper clay -- it turned into a very quick and simple project, one that I think it looks great and will be a perfect addition to the haunt's prop collection.