We chose the best design first...
I purchased a 12" diameter Quikrete concrete tube from Home Depot and cut it to roughly 24" with a Dremel.
Then, I spray painted it black as a base coat to hide the lettering.
Using brown, white, and black acrylic paint, I covered the barrel to look like a real cut log. The ridges were created by an old paintbrush that had dried with paint residue and was hardened.
I cut 12" disks from hard foam craft board for the end caps.
Then, I painted them to resemble the painted ends of the "log" that look like bullseyes. I, also, painted a mask.
From Lowe's, I bought metal duct tape. It's a thin aluminum tape that is easy to work with and gives the appearance of metal bands around the mallet. I painted the harlequin design with Testr hobby paint.
I superglued the disks onto the mallet, then wrapped strips of the aluminum tape around. I left the backing paper on most of the tape to give the impression that they were real metal bands lifting off of the wood, and I used nails to hammer it down to make it more realistic. I hammered the center strip down with upholstery tacs for more of the effect.
This is the end result. The pole is a large wooden dowel painted just like the barrel part of the mallet. Both are sprayed with matte-finish lacquer to protect the painted surface from rubbing and flaking. I used a wide, long length of black satin ribbon for the handle like in one of the reference pictures. I added upholstery tacs to the top and bottom of the ribbon to hold it onto the pole as well as give the handle some character. I added some of the tape at the end of the pole, as well. I'll post pics of the complete costume when she gets dressed for the event.
