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This is probably the most difficult part of the process.

Coming up with the idea is sometimes difficult, some times easy. The reason you are involved is obvious, you are doing this because it is fun, decorating a Martin Luther statue is inherently fun, but what you decorate Marty as is not always as obvious. Consider for a moment Christmas decorations. You could put them up inside your home in July if you wanted to. They would be sentimental, cute, beautiful, festive, and all of the other things that Christmas decorations are. They would also be horrendously out of place. The same is true, to an even greater extent for Marty. Remember that Marty is out in public all of the time, and if the public does not get the joke - it is not funny. So you might have fun putting Marty in his Christmas regalia in July - but no one is going to get it.

Likewise - you might have fun dressing Marty up as your favorite professor - but with out some explanation, most people will not get it, especially those who do not know the professor.

That being said - Holidays make for great opportunities. But even at Holidays it is not clear how Marty should be dressed to express the theme of the holiday.

Halloween seems like a natural. I personally would love to see Marty dressed up as Satan, this would involve horns, a tail, and a pitchfork. A Ghost would be another relatively obvious, and simple costume - if one could employ the help of someone who sews, sewing together 3 sheets and making the appropriate cuts and modifications could be very simple, cost effective, and amusing, in short, a grand slam.

Thanksgiving is less obvious. One COULD dress Marty up as a turkey - though it is unclear quite how that would take place effectively. Marty could become a native American for a few days, though likely someone would complain and suggest that it is somehow racist. Marty could become a pilgrim, but someone would complain that this was oppressive. (And a pilgrim outfit could be really tough to build).

Christmas provides the opportunity to decorate Marty as a Christmas tree. Let me say from personal experience that Marty looks great as a Christmas tree. This involves several large ornaments, no fewer than 400 outdoor lights, and a star sprouting out of his head. If you find yourself unable to decorate Marty as anything else this year, make SURE you get him dressed up as a Christmas tree - this is one of his best, and most traditional outfits. Unfortunately I do not have a picture of what we did with him last Christmas - so if any one gets pictures of this coming Christmas (or has them of last) I would love to have a copy.

This brings up a significant point: Marty looks best when dressed up not as a person, but as an inanimate object. I don’t know why - but I think it has to do with the way he is posed - he is difficult to be made to be holding things, and it is really hard to get clothes on him. Dressing him up like an object of some kind gets around those problems and is just plain funny.

New Years is again difficult. The possibilities are that of Father time / baby new year, or of a drunken reveler. The latter involves a martini glass and a lampshade… but I am not to sure about the others. If you have good ideas - make sure you send me pictures.

Valentines day is another tricky opportunity. I have done the cherub motif - complete with wings, bow and arrow, and of course, a diaper. I am curious to see what other designs appear.

St. Patrick’s day is another opportunity, but how do you make a big German theologian Irish? I suppose he is already green. I wanted to cloth him in a green vest, with one of those crazy helmets you can put two… beverage… containers in, and maybe a bow tie? Unfortunately nothing materialized. It is probably just as well - even though all St. Patrick’s day is anymore is an opportunity to get drunk - someone would have complained.

Tax day provides an opportunity - it seems like a ripe opportunity. But what might one do?

May day provides the opportunity to turn Marty into a May pole. This is harder than you think. It looks simple enough, but dealing with all the ribbon is a pain. On the plus side - you CAN get people to dance around it if you play your cards right. Seriously - I have pictures and video.

Easter is an obvious opportunity. Personally the “Easter Bunny” annoys me to no end as it serves to secularize the Easter holiday - but Marty makes a FINE looking bunny. This outfit involves ears, whiskers and a tail.

The beginning of summer is a nice opportunity - this outfit should involve things like a bikini top, a straw hat, some sun glasses (Giant novelty glasses work well) a Marty-sized inner tube and a few well placed pink lawn-flamingos. You may have other ideas like a life preserver… but a bikini is easier and cheaper to build.

Other calibrations and anniversaries provide opportunities - but the question then becomes - how does one decorate the statue to express the content of the celebration? This is an opportunity to use a sign. We dressed up Marty to look like a professor who was celebrating 25 years of ordination, with a sign that expressed it as “insubordination.”

One thing you want to avoid however is dressing Marty up during times when there are major events at the institution that draw people from far and wide. Dedication of a new building, weddings, graduations are not times when you want the news crews to show up and take pictures of Marty in a diaper. The people at the wedding don’t want Marty’s diaper in their wedding photos either. So do be considerate of the needs of others, and their use of the statue.

One other thing to avoid is the use of too much fabric. It becomes very expensive very quickly, and it is not weather resistant. It is also a LOT of work for the person doing the sewing to sew together what ends up being a HUGE bag. The tough part about making clothing for Marty is that you cannot put his arms through anything, and so the best you can accomplish is a toga - and he is already wearing that… so why go through the expense and the bother? If you have selected your other accoutrements well - changing Marty’s clothing will become unnecessary.

Stoles are a natural thing to clad Marty in - he really needs a complete set so that he can be wearing the proper liturgical colors. Make these out of things like rip-stop nylon or heavy woven plastic tarps to make sure they are color fast and weather resistant.

A good design has a few attributes:
First - it is easily understood without explanation. There is time for a sign at the bottom of the statue, but it should not need to be explanatory.

Second - it should be FUNNY.

Third - it should include no fewer than three elements - if at all possible.

Fourth - Marty looks best as an inanimate object.

Fifth - it should be CHEEP to build and relatively easy to assemble.

Sixth - avoid times when people will be around taking pictures.

Seventh - Avoid the use of too much fabric.